The Staircase Murders

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.

This film is a run of the mill, made for TV drama, which I happened to catch in the middle of the night on a cable channel.

There's nothing exactly wrong with this movie, but the documentary "The Staircase" (Soupçons) by Jean Xavier Lestrade is far superior. It's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.

The documentary is extremely suspenseful with unbelievable twists and turns.

Why settle for this fictionalized version?

Maybe I'm biased. If I perhaps hadn't seen the documentary I would have enjoyed this movie more. There's certainly nothing wrong with the acting or the suspense of the subject matter.

THE STAIRCASE MURDERS is based on the actual Michael Peterson case and is one that I watched as it unfolded on Court TV several years ago. I was intrigued by the case since it involved a very nondescript looking man suspected of a heinous crime, who happened to be a respected writer who had a good reputation in his neighborhood.

Here the man is played by TREAT WILLIAMS, who does a very effective job of playing the rather snobbish author who looked down on the justice system in his community, alienating the police force by his critical newspaper columns about their ineptness in solving cases.

Watching the case with all of its twists and turns as it actually unfolded in a courtroom was much more interesting than this reenactment, even though the made-for-TV movie has a number of good points. The script barely has enough time to touch on all the incidents (including financial and sexual problems) and has changed things around for dramatic purposes to make things more concise.

None of the subordinate characters are really fleshed out, so the film depends heavily on the central performance of Treat Williams and that of his step-daughter, Caitlin (SAMAIRE ARMSTRONG) who begins to doubt his innocence after viewing the autopsy photos of his dead wife, Kathleen Peterson. She has presumably been killed in an accidental fall down a staircase.

Wisely, the script mentions several times that there was "far too much blood splatter" to account for a mere fall down the stairs. It also shows him staging the scene after her death. And when it turns out that his previous wife had a met a similar fate overseas, the doubts about his innocence become more evident by the time he goes to trial.

He's now serving life in prison without parole. Frankly, I never had any doubts about his guilt in the crime, but I note from the other comments that several viewers are left wondering whether he was innocent or not--which means that the screenwriters did not present the incriminating evidence against him strongly enough and made his character appear too sympathetic.

Let me tell you, Michael Peterson was a far less charming person in real life than he is in this film--although Treat Williams does a creditable job of depicting the man's flawed character. But the man was so complex that the actor is unable to fully suggest the evil intent required to commit the crime.

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

I watched the documentary on t.v some years ago, and was just not shocked about the raw brutality of this story, but the whole circus of having a camera crew involved in a part of this families life. How can you open you life up to a circus show when you just lost a loved one? The t.v film tells the story to great detail, but having seen the documentary before hand I advice to find a copy of it, although none have been found as a torrent as yet. When I hear or see any story about a crime I tend to have an open mind if some one is guilty or not, as that is part of the justice system, but the rule that goes hand in hand for me is, where there is smoke there is fire! and this case has lost and lots of smoke around it for me to have made up my own mind about what happened. If you watch this film I urge you to try and get your hands on the documentary, it is still by far the most bone chilling story I have ever seen, not just due to the nature of the crime, but the whole camera in your face allowing circus that goes with this story,I gave the film a 7, but a 10 out of 10 for the must see documentary.