This true-crime drama is a perfectly reasonable if not absolutely outstanding film. Starting with the good things, it is ably directed by Tom McLoughlin, Treat Williams is excellent as Michael Peterson being very enigmatic, and Kevin Pollack is just as good as his unprincipled defence lawyer. The other performances are variable, some are good others are so-so. The music is also very nice and the film is wonderful to watch visually, and the script is reasonable. While there are some good plot twists, the film can get episodic in places, and the pacing is pedestrian in parts. The characters also could have been developed more, that way I would have felt empathy for them, while the ending is just nice if not exactly one that makes you think wow that is clever and ingenious, why didn't I think of that? Overall, a nice crime drama to watch, but not outstanding. 6/10 Bethany Cox
The Staircase Murders
2007
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
The Staircase Murders
2007
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
When Michael Iver Peterson, a successful novelist and aspiring politician in Durham, North Carolina, finds his wife Kathleen's body on the staircase, bloody but still breathing, he calls 911 in panic. His son Todd confirms his parents were in true love, would never harm each-other. However the police, notably Detective Joe Castel, and D. A. Jim Hardin, holding a grudge for a column the author once wrote against the incompetent force, disbelieve their postulation she fell from the stairs, notably because her blood was found very high. Adoring step-daughter Caitlin, who privately shows suspicious pleasure in the jewelry inheritance and is named executor of Kathleen's estate, was all night at her Cornell sorority. The female coroner excludes her trainee's preliminary theory of a fall, bluntly stating multiple blows and at least two hours painful death-struggle. Wine - and blood traces suggest Michael may have staged her having drunk too much wine and tried to wipe her blood. The family is banned from the house, all his research etc. confiscated. After star lawyer David Rudolf accepts his defense, and gets prizewinner Erica's TV crew to include his case in its critical story on the U.S. justice system, the press recalls he probably lost the mayoral election because his claim to have been awarded two Purple Hearts was refuted by the military. Michael must admit he is a bisexual who picked up men at the gym. Caitlin moves in with Kathleen's sister Candace, who claims she would never have allowed that, while the rest of the family sides with dad who claims Kathleen knew and understood; when he passes on bills for funerary arrangements Caitlin made behind his back, she bitches Kathleen never actually signed her $1,4 million life insurance. Michael's lawyer also investigates the death of his other adoptive daughters' mother Elisabeth Ratliff, wife of an army mate of his in Germany (while he was married to Patty, who still loves him as father of her children),also fallen from a staircase, both she had a blood disease; after an autopsy, Michael is charged with a second murder and put on trial. The defense does a great job concerning forensics, especially the lack of a murder weapon and of any markings on the alleged one (a blow pipe for the fire place),and credibility of hostile witnesses...
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Good but not great
Staircase Murders- Watch Your Step Please ***
Treat Williams gives another excellent performance in this true story about a supposedly successful writer on trial for the murder of his second wife. Did he or didn't he kill her by the staircase and make it look like an accidental drunken fall?
Williams does best when he is the victim of accusations. His sinister performance is remarkably done.
Did anyone ever bother to question why the other woman who met her death on a staircase 18 years before looked so good when her body was dug up?
This is also a story of strong family relationships. It depicts how part of that relationship begins to break up as the evidence begins to pile up.
A footnote to all this is that one should never start rejoicing with their attorney until the verdict is announced.
Decent
I have never heard of this case, read the novel, watched the Sundance film that I understand, and believe to be, far superior to this, nor did I know of the existence of any of the aforementioned until earlier today, when I spotted this in the listings. Phew. Did you catch all that? I figured I'd give this a chance, and when the first few minutes of it revealed Treat Williams in the lead, I certainly felt confident that it would be worth the time. This deals with the case of a man who may or may not have pushed his wife down the stairs. The plot isn't bad, and it definitely develops plenty throughout. Pacing is reasonable. The mystery is genuinely interesting, and the many twists and turns kept me guessing from first to last frame. Acting varies, but I didn't find any performances to be downright poor. Cinematography and editing were surprisingly great, for a made-for-TV flick. I kind of agree with those that express the opinion that this sensationalizes something that really happened, and that that's not in good taste. There is blood, violence, disturbing content and, in the dialog, sexual material, in this. I recommend this to those that find themselves attracted to it. 6/10