Murder One

Murder One (1988)

What happened to an innocent family in this house shocked the nation.

This crime drama is based on the true story of Billy Isaacs. Freshly escaped from prison, Isaac is picked up by his brothers, and the entire dysfunctional brood embarks on a crime spree that takes them through a dozen states, claiming the lives of six innocent people .

Date of release
1988-09-23
TMDB
4.6 / 10 (12)
Runtime
1h 23m
Genres
Crime, Drama
Director
Graeme Campbell

Casting

Interesting facts

Murder One is a 1988 independent biographical crime drama film starring Henry Thomas and James Wilder, based on the 1973 Alday family murders.

Production

Fleming 'Tex' Fuller wrote the screenplay based on his 1977 award-winning documentary of the same name about the 1973 Alday family murders. Fuller sold the screenplay to SC Entertainment, a Toronto-based production company, who specialize in low-budget, little-known Canadian films.

It was planned that Fuller would direct the movie in addition to writing the screenplay, however after one week of principal photography he was fired and replaced by Graeme Campbell on one day's notice. After production wrapped in November 1987, Fuller sued SC Entertainment to prevent the movie being distributed, and with claims that Fuller was only paid $17,000 of the original $90,000 plus royalties scriptwriting and directing package deal.

Film-makers opted to keep the horror of the murders to a minimum by ensuring the brutality was occurring off-screen, yet leaving the viewer in no doubt as to what was happening. Despite being set in the United States, it was shot in and around Toronto. Shooting wrapped around the beginning of November 1987 at a farmhouse north of the city.

The film was criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of real-life events it purported to be based on. In the film, Billy Isaacs is portrayed as a "sympathetic character" by filmmakers, despite pleading guilty to kidnap and burglary. His sentence was 40 years, although in the film this was given as 100 years.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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