The Atlanta Child Murders (miniseries)
{{short description|1985 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox television
| image = The Atlanta Child Murders (miniseries).jpg
| writer = Abby Mann{{cite news |last=Rosenberg|first=Howard|date=July 16, 2000|title=When the Media Burned Atlanta|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-16-ca-53595-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|location= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last=Swan|first=Christopher|date=February 8, 1985|title=Controversial docudrama grapples with the Atlanta child murders|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0208/latl1.html|work=The Christian Science Monitor|location= |access-date=}}
| starring = Calvin Levels
Morgan Freeman{{cite news |last=Hill|first=Michael E.|date=February 10, 1985|title=MORGAN FREEMAN/Narrator Expresses Doubts About 'Atlanta'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1985/02/10/morgan-freemannarrator-expresses-doubts-about-atlanta/f1592abf-890c-4499-9078-0929684f1be3/|newspaper=The Washington Post|location= |access-date=}}
James Earl Jones
Rip Torn
Jason Robards{{cite news |last=Corry|first=John|date=February 10, 1985|title=TV VIEW; 'THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS': A TRIAL BY TV|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/10/nyregion/tv-view-the-atlanta-child-murders-a-trial-by-tv.html|work=The New York Times|location= |access-date=}}
Lynne Moody
Ruby Dee
Gloria Foster
Paul Benjamin
Martin Sheen
Andrew Robinson
Bill Paxton
| country = United States
| network = CBS
| first_aired = {{start date|1985|2|10}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1985|2|12}}
| director = John Erman
| producer = Bill Finnegan
Abby Mann
Sheldon Pinchuk
Carl Pingitore
Gerald Rafshoon{{cite news |last=Clark|first=Kenneth R.|date=February 10, 1985|title=CHILD MURDERS: A MINI-SERIES SURE TO SHOCK|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-02-10-8501080583-story.html|work=Chicago Tribune|location= |access-date=}}
| runtime = 245 minutes
| language = English
| music = Billy Goldenberg
| budget =
}}
The Atlanta Child Murders is an American television miniseries{{cite news |last=Wilson|first=Joycelyn|date= |title=The Music of the Murders|url=https://bittersoutherner.com/from-the-southern-perspective/the-music-of-the-atlanta-child-murders-joycelyn-wilson|work=The Bitter Southerner|location= |access-date=}} that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS.{{cite book |last=Cook, Gomery, Lichty|first=Philip S., Douglas, Lawrence Wilson|author-link= |title=American Media: The Wilson Quarterly Reader|year=1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smYJJWTnzzUC&q=atlanta+child+murders+1985+cbs&pg=PA182|location= |publisher= Woodrow Wilson Center Press|page=182|isbn=9780943875095}}{{cite book |last=Bogart|first=Leo|author-link= |date= September 29, 2017|title=System and the Public Interest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88s3DwAAQBAJ&q=atlanta+child+murders+1985+cbs&pg=PT328|location= |publisher= Routledge|page= |isbn=9781351527613}}{{cite news |last=Kempton|first=Murray|date=March 14, 1985|title=Misjudgment at Atlanta|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1985/03/14/misjudgment-at-atlanta/|work=The New York Review|location= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=February 6, 1985|title=Experts Debate 1983 Atlanta Murders|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1985/2/6/experts-debate-1983-atlanta-murders-pwayne/|work=The Harvard Crimson|location= |access-date=}} The miniseries is a dramatization of the "Atlanta child murders" in which 29 African American children were murdered in Atlanta from summer 1979 through spring 1981. City officials, who had opted not to participate in the production, expressed disappointment at it.{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Kenneth |title=CHILD MURDERS: A MINI-SERIES SURE TO SHOCK |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-02-10-8501080583-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |date=February 10, 1985 |access-date=24 December 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Howard |title='MURDERS': TENSE DRAMA, LIGHT ON DOCUMENTARY |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-06-ca-4538-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=February 6, 1985 |access-date=24 December 2022}}
Cast
- Calvin Levels as Wayne Williams
- Morgan Freeman as Ben Shelter
- James Earl Jones as Major Walker
- Rip Torn as Lewis Slaton
- Jason Robards as Alvin Binder
- Lynne Moody as Selena Cobb
- Ruby Dee as Faye Williams
- Gloria Foster as Camille Bell
- Paul Benjamin as Homer Williams
- Martin Sheen as Chet Dettlinger
- Andrew Robinson as Jack Mallard
- Bill Paxton as Campbell
Plot summary
Between the summer of 1979 and the spring of 1981, 29 African American children, adolescents and adults were murdered in Atlanta, Georgia. The killings gained nationwide attention, with many suspecting that they were the work of the Ku Klux Klan or a similar white supremacist group. However, in June 1981, a 23-year-old African American named Wayne Williams was arrested for first-degree murder in the deaths of 27-year-old Nathaniel Carter and 29-year-old Jimmy Ray Payne. Eight months later, Williams was convicted of both killings and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Some parties speculate that Williams was not the real killer, and that local law enforcement officials used him as a scapegoat to bring a seemingly unsolvable case to a close. However, it is generally presumed that Williams was the culprit in most of the murders, if not all of them. No one was ever tried in connection with the other killings.
Reception
- Atlanta officials criticized{{cite news |last=Lohmann|first=Bill|date=February 12, 1985|title=Wayne Williams views film of Atlanta child murders|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/02/12/Wayne-Williams-views-film-of-Atlanta-child-murders/1688477032400/|work=UPI|location= |access-date=}}{{cite news |last=Kelley|first=Bill|date=February 10, 1985|title=ATLANTA MURDERS; MINISERIES CREATES A STORM OF PROTEST|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1985-02-10-8501050049-story.html|work=Sun Sentinel|location= |access-date=}} The Atlanta Child Murders, claiming that it distorted{{cite news |last=Schmidt|first=William E.|date=February 1, 1985|title=TV MOVIE ON ATLANTA CHILD KILLINGS STIRS DEBATE AND CASTS DOUBT ON GUILT|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/01/us/tv-movie-on-atlanta-child-killings-stirs-debate-and-casts-doubt-on-guilt.html|work=The New York Times|location= |access-date=}} the facts{{cite news |last= |first= |date=August 19, 2019|title=Atlanta child murders: A chronology of the missing and murdered cases|url=https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/atlanta-child-murders-chronology-the-missing-and-murdered-cases/NJ61ANzP7lxyrVqisqEzYK/|work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|location= |access-date=}} of the case.{{cite web |url=https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/541777|title=THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS CONTROVERSY #541777|last= |first= |date=February 13, 1985|website=Vanderbilt Television News Archive|publisher= |access-date= |quote=}} After a series of negotiations, CBS executives agreed{{cite news |last=Harris|first=Art|date=February 10, 1985|title=Reliving the Murders in Atlanta|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1985/02/10/reliving-the-murders-in-atlanta/3cd9f360-46c9-4b9f-8378-2f6b03e27a3b/|newspaper=The Washington Post|location= |access-date=}} to insert a disclaimer{{cite news |last=Levine|first=Bob|date=March 11, 1985|title=Atlanta's long nightmare|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1985/3/11/atlantas-long-nightmare|work=Maclean's|location= |access-date=}} alerting viewers that the film is “not a documentary, but a drama based on certain facts surrounding the murder and disappearance of children in Atlanta” Joseph Drolet, [https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Atlanta-Child-Killer-Forensics-ebook/dp/B0BBPQ4GGY/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=joseph+drolet&qid=1663977395&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjk4IiwicXNhIjoiMC45MiIsInFzcCI6IjEuMDAifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=Joseph+Drolet%2Cstripbooks%2C116&sr=1-1 The Pursuit of the Atlanta Child Killer: Facts, Fibers, and Forensics] (Alpharetta, Ga.: Booklogics, 2022), p. 313. and includes fictionalized events and characters.{{cite news
| author=Sally Bedell Smith
| title = TV Notes; CBS Turning Cameras on Its Decision-Makers
| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E1DA1739F93AA35751C0A963948260
|work=The New York Times
| date = 1985-02-09
}}
- In a February 10, 1985 review of The Atlanta Child Murders, the New York Times questioned whether the program should have been made at all, calling it "an irresponsible piece of work."John Corry, [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/10/nyregion/tv-view-the-atlanta-child-murders-a-trial-by-tv.html?searchResultPosition=5 "TV View: 'The Atlanta Child Murders': A Trial by TV,"] New York Times, Feb 10, 1985.
- In 2000, Showtime aired a similarly-themed movie entitled Echo of Murder, starring James Belushi and Gregory Hines. When released on DVD, it was retitled Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0088750|The Atlanta Child Murders}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlanta Child Murders (miniseries), The}}
Category:1980s American television miniseries
Category:Films about race and ethnicity
Category:American crime drama films
Category:Films directed by John Erman
Category:American television docudramas
Category:Crime films based on actual events
Category:Television series based on actual events