Small Sacrifices

Enjoyed viewing Gordon Clapp,(Detective Doug Welch),"Splendor Falls",'99,)(NYPDBLUE), who starred in this picture and really gave Farrah Fawcett,(Diane Downs),"The Cookout",'04, a very hard time because of things that happened to her very own children. This story is about a Diane Downs who is desperately seeking to find true love in her life and winds up going from one husband to another and plenty of one night stands. Diane claims that her very own father molested her many times and gave her very little attention except for sexual advances. This story goes into great detail about all her affairs and there is a very long trial which Diane has to encounter. Farrah Fawcett gave an outstanding performance and I wish she would perform in many more pictures.

Farrah Fawcett's Emmy-nominated performance is the centerpiece of SMALL SACRIFICES, a riveting, ABC mini-series based on the true story of Diane Downs, a cold-blooded woman who was sent to jail for murdering two of her three children. This teleplay presents Downs as the lonely, divorced working mother of three who appears on the outside to be a devoted and loving mother but as no qualms about putting her own needs first when the opportunity presents itself. While working at a post office, Diane begins a romance with one of her co-workers, Lew Lewiston (Ryan O'Neal)and things are going well until Diane learns that Lew doesn't like kids and has no desire to be a stepfather so Diane decides to kill her children. Fortunately, her daughter, somehow survives the brutal shooting and is taken into protective custody not only to protect her from further harm by her mother but to use her to help build a case to convict her mother. Fawcett gives the performance of her career...an icy, heartless bitch who shouts of her innocence throughout the proceedings, even though all evidence points to her and has the nerve to be baffled by the fact that her daughter wants nothing to do with her. O'Neal's role here is more in the way of stunt casting as he was Fawcett's real life romance at the time and is wasted in a thankless role, but there are two solid performances from John Shea and Gordon Clapp as the two police detectives caught in the deadly cat and mouse game of trying to slip Diane up in order to nail her for this horrendous crime. Despite it's almost three-hour length, I found this movie fascinating from start to finish, thanks primarily to a powerhouse performance from Farrah Fawcett who got the role of her career and ran with it.

... and that's not to say that the rest of the production and cast are not top notch.

The film starts with Diane Downs (Farrah Fawcett) arriving at the hospital with a bullet in her arm and her three children seriously wounded. The fact is that the middle child is already dead, but that is not known at this point. Diane tells a tale of a "bushy haired stranger" who came up to her while she was parked on a lonely road, said he wanted to steal her car, and then just shot her and her children. The police are called in to begin investigating as well as one ADA Frank Joziak (John Shea). But as the investigation continues there are inconsistencies in Diane's story and suspicion begins to fall more on her. Her two surviving children, have injuries that will last a lifetime. Robby, 3, will be permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The oldest daughter, Karen, 8, is old enough to say what happened, but she has had a stroke from blood loss and cannot speak. This may or may not resolve with time. When Diane comes to her bedside and speaks to the unconscious sedated girl, her pulse and blood pressure rise dramatically, indicating she is fearful. Why?

All of the performances were good here, especially the child actress playing Karen, whose account of what happened that night is of key importance. But Farrah Fawcett is extraordinary portraying the complex sociopath Diane Downs who wants what she wants when she wants it. She is clingy, rather scary when told No, and lies like a carpet to the point I think that she believed her lies. For example, she says she gave up medical school for her married ex-lover when she is in fact a high school dropout who couldn't concentrate long enough to get through night school.

The earliest thing I remember seeing Farrah Fawcett doing was "Murder on Flight 502" in 1975, and she wasn't very good in it. Or more precisely, she just had no presence. 14 years later her performance makes this film.

Just when you think Farrah can play an incredibly sympathetic passive victim (the Burning Bed) or a victim turned enraged avenger (extremities) here comes a sociopathic monster you'd like to strangle for her arrogance and cruelty This is the best characterization I've ever seen from a once pretty face who turned heads with her beauty and serious ability to act. We miss her since we lost her far too early This is based on a true story and fascinating look at the antithesis of motherhood.

Today, we've been true-crimed to death. Yet, this story was one of the firsts of it's kind and not to mention the best. Akin to Burning Bed, Fawcett rings in an absolute superb performance as she realistically and accurately portrays the sociopath known as Diane Downs. The movie carefully plots the turn of events without over dramatizing. The moving portrayal of Christie Downs (known as Karen Downs in the series) is quite haunting. Many true crime dramas leave me with a taste of ratings-desperation in my mouth. The focus of these are not feelings but instead dramatic effects. This series however was much different. What you find here is Diane's self-centeredness and apparent inability to feel sorrow contrasted with a child who, even without speaking, manages to convey a fear of her mother as well as true love for her in a very tender heart wrenching way. While this description may very well sound overly dramatic it truly isn't. This is just such a well made series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.