In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness (1994)
- Directed by
- Jeff Bleckner
- Genre
- drama film, crime film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 3h 20m
- Rating
- 7.3 of 10 from 6 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A custody battle between a woman and her ex-husband leads to a series of murders across two states. The story follows the couple at the center of the violence and the families caught in the tragedy.
tensedarkdisturbinggrimsuspensefulbleakintenseunsettling
What happens
In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness is a two-part American television miniseries directed by Jeff Bleckner and written by Robert L. Freedman, based on the 1988 non-fiction book Bitter Blood by Jerry Bledsoe. The true crime story stars Kelly McGillis and Harry Hamlin as Susie and Fritz, a couple who, as a result of a custody battle between Susie and her ex-husband Tom (played by Keith Carradine), carry out a series of murders across North Carolina and Kentucky in the 1980s. Bitter Blood is the second of Bledsoe's true crime books to be adapted by Freedman for the screen, following Blood Games which was adapted into the 1992 television film Honor Thy Mother. Television networks were apprehensive about the grisly ending in Bledsoe's book, which sees two children violently killed, and the miniseries ended up softening the original ending. Eager to play an antagonistic character, McGillis believed Susie suffered from some form of psychosis and prepared for the role by researching mental disorders. Hamlin and Carradine were both drawn to the project by Freedman's script, and both actors were also keen to take on characters that were a departure from their previous roles. The miniseries was shot under the working title Bitter Blood in Wilmington, North Carolina, in late 1993. In the Best of Families first aired on CBS in two parts on January 16 and 18, 1994. The episodes were watched by 21.3 and 23.9 million total viewers respectively, putting both episodes in the top 20 most-watched programs for their respective broadcast weeks. The miniseries received mostly unfavorable reviews, with particular condemnation for its gratuitous violence and sensationalism. Still, critics found positive aspects in Bleckner's direction and the strong cast. It was subsequently released on home video in Europe under the title Bitter Blood. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
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Beyond Betrayal (1994)
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Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story (1994)
Final Combination (1994)
Beyond Obsession (1994)
Someone She Knows (1994)
Double Exposure (1994)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.