Themes: Serial Killers, Missing Persons, Murder Investigations
Release Year: 1985
Country: US
Run Time: 245 minutes
Plot
The Atlanta Child Murders is a five-hour, two-part dramatization of one of the most tragic and controversial homicide cases of the past twenty years. From 1979 through 1982, some 28 African-American children and young adults disappeared from Atlanta--some without a trace, but others to later turn up as murder victims. Part One (which debuted February 10, 1985) details the beginning of the manhunt conducted by the Atlanta Chief of Police (James Earl Jones). Screenwriter Abby Mann uses the actual events as a springboard for his thesis that the case and its outcome revealed many uncomfortable truths about the still-fragile state of race relations in the New South. Both parts of The Atlanta Child Murders were later combined into one 245-minute "feature film."
The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This first-rate television docudrama boats a varied and stellar cast, a sensational subject, and a crackerjack script by Abby Mann, writer of Judgement at Nuremberg and countless classic TV dramas. Morgan Freeman, Martin Sheen, Rip Torn, Jason Robards, Ruby Dee, and James Earl Jones are only the most recognizable names in a film that also includes fine work from future Matrix star Gloria Foster, Roots actress Lynne Moody, and a young Bill Paxton. Mann's script employs meticulous research and a definite point of view to explore not only the murders that panicked Atlanta from 1979 to 1982, but also the sociological backdrop to that era. Racism, integration, affirmative action, and the emergence of the African-American political elite all find their way into this dense film, which clocks in at more than four hours even when sheared of commercials. Yet, for all its scope and the weighty issues it addresses, The Atlanta Child Murders remains a gripping piece of entertainment that builds from police-procedural meticulousness to the courtroom denouement. The questions lingering over the eventual supposed resolution of the case have spawned plenty of subsequent literature and television footage, including the 2000 Showtime drama Who Killed Atlanta's Children? But, The Atlanta Child Murders served up a compelling dramatization of -- and inquiry into -- the case when the story was still fresh and the questions still pressing. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Cast
Christopher Allport - Larry Peterson; Gary Graham - Ken Lawson; William Allen Young - Withers; Tina Andrews - Gwendolyn; Michael Alldredge - Bobby Tolin; Jim Antonio - Gilliland; Stephen Godwin - Jerry Heckler; Ernest Harden Jr. - Cool Breeze; Don Hood - McLean; Ken Kimmins - Broderick; Christopher Maher - Dr. Saleh Zaki; Veronica Redd - Sharon Blakely; Henry Sanders - Judge Clarence Cooper; Lisa Blake Richards - Helen Dettlinger; Barbara Sammeth - Connie Levine; Essex Smith - Robert Henry; Harold Sylvester - Hindsman; Royce Wallace - Margaret Carter; Charles Weldon - John Bell; Mark Arnold - David Dingle; Beau Billingslea - Commissioner Lee Brown; Ed Cambridge - Mr. Cobb; Marilyn Coleman - Lois Evans; Noel Conlon - Psychiatrist; John Devlin - Cassidy; Clarence Floyd III - J.J. Coleman; Zero Hubbard - Patrick; Barbara Iley - Mary Welcome; Steve James - 1st Policeman; John La Fayette - Young Lawyer; Lawrence Lott - Dr. Sack; John Petlock - Pathologist; Jack Rader - Rackleff; J.W. Smith - Nathaniel Carter; Maurice Sneed - Roommate; Christopher St. John - Baltazar; Kristoff St. John - Sheldon Kemp; Olga Talyn - Mrs. Sack; Robert S. Telford - Polygraph Operator; Anthony Thompkins - Darryl; Ellen Tobie - Gloria Patterson; Myrna White - Robin Shelter; Erica Yohn - Ruth; Paul Benjamin - Homer Williams; Guy Boyd - Mike Edwards; Ruby Dee - Faye Williams; Gloria Foster - Camille Bell; Jason Robards, Jr. - Alvin Binder; Anne-Marie Johnson; James Earl Jones - Major Walker; Calvin Levels - Wayne Williams; Alley Mills - Amy Kinnear; Lynne Moody - Selena Cobb; Bill Paxton - Campbell; Felton Perry - Reverend Avery; CCH Pounder - Venus Taylor; Andrew Robinson - Jack Mallard; Percy Rodrigues - Mayor Jackson; Noble Willingham - Jerry Armstrong; Morgan Freeman - Ben Shelter; Martin Sheen - Chet Dettlinger; Rip Torn - Lewis Slaton; John Wesley - Tombe Chorro
Credit
John Erman - Director, Neil Travis - Editor, Billy Goldenberg - Composer (Music Score), James Hulsey - Production Designer, Victor J. Kemper - Cinematographer, Bill Finnegan - Producer, Abby Mann - Screenwriter
