And the Sea Will Tell

You may also be interested in the book, which was written by Vincent Bugliosi, author and former California prosecutor ("Helter Skelter" encompassing the Manson murder cases of 1969).

Richard Crenna, as usual, is very good as a high-profile attorney who actually ends up defending Jennifer Jenkins, an innocent bystander, who was involved with Buck Walker, in a murder case which occurred on the South Pacific Island of Palmyra. Rachel Ward is very believable as Jennifer, and Hart Bochner plays the dark and dangerous sociopath to the hilt.

Deidre Hall and James Brolin portray Mack and Muff Graham, a semi-retired couple who sail as a vocation- (Mack enjoys it, Muff does not) The ominous incidental music and clues into the treachery of the open sea are hinted at.

The Hawaiian and South Pacific photography is quite beautiful, you can imagine yourself living in such an environment, and assimilating into it. Buck Walker, an apparent sociopath, enjoyed the high life; while he could not afford it, he found other ways to attain it.

In a sense, the Buck Walker character is similar to Charles Manson. A sociopath with a sense of entitlement, he and Jennifer sail to Palmyra on a broken down make-shift boat, but he sees Mack Graham (and his million dollar boat) as fair game. Jennifer, while friendly towards the Grahams, does not ascertain the depth of Buck's envy and capacity for violence.

Since this story took place in the late 70's, Buck and Jennifer were considered by Mack and Muff Graham to be "hippies", harmless enough, who just happened to run out of food and supplies on the desolate island of Palmyra. As it turns out, nothing could have been further from the truth.

A very interesting story which will leave you interested in the true story, and Bugliosi's book. 9/10.

I saw this movie at 5am on a Friday morning, on EDrama. It has a cool vibe that pulls you in. Basically a good version of a Lifetime movie. The guy who plays Buck does a good job of playing a real creep. Movie takes place in Hawaii, and the scenes where they are out in the boat are pretty creepy, thanks to some good sound effects and camera work. Richard Crenna is good in this, but of course he basically always plays the same character in everything. Watching this straight through as a movie is a little weird, because every 10 minutes or so there is a weird break in the continuity due to the fact that it was originally made for TV. Rachel Ward plays dumb in this one, and it isn't that believable that she would be with "Buck". I do like Buck's style though; a mix of creepy cheap bar guy and Matthew Mcconaughey (or is that the same thing?).

Told in flashback this true-crime mini-series is very hard to follow. Having read the book several years prior to viewing the movie was quite a help to me. The film does present some questions to the viewer in a very subtle manner, but upon closer inspection, one has to wonder if Bugliosi was just trying to salve his conscience for defending a murderer. The movie shows that Bugliosi is just as adept in jury manipulation as a defense attorney as he was as a prosecutor. This one is easy to pass up.

Movie was very good. I'm familiar with Buglioso(sp?) from Manson trial. This was a very difficult case to try either way; no witnesses and ambiguous evidence. If the facts were drawn out I'm sure that screen play writers had much to do with the result. The way Crenna played Buglioso was consistent with my previous recollections of his personality and legal style. To say that an atty. that takes people's cases is an "ambulance chaser" is dumb; professionals of every skill devote their lives to their professions; teachers want to teach, doctors to treat patients, cops want to find the guilty, etc. In fact, for a "made for TV show, I thought that it was very well done and followed legal procedure closely

I read the book a few years after it was published, but I just discovered that they had made this TV movie only recently. It was difficult to track down, but I got a copy. It was worth the time and effort and money.

The story of And the Sea Will Tell is completely fascinating. I read most of the long book on a long flight (I'd love to read it again, but no longer have my copy). The movie does a terrific job of telling this story from start to finish. I would suggest reading the book first.

There are a lot of TV movie screw-ups in the film bit they don't take away from such a great story. For example, when they first see land in Palmyra, there are mountains when the island is a tiny atoll just above sea level. And obviously, there was no diction coach on set to steer Rachael Ward through some American vowels. She had many moments revealing her English roots. Once again, the story survives.

P.S. There is no way the girlfriend was innocent. She should still be in prison. I would imagine that Bugliosi was doing her. It shows once again, if you have money in America, you can literally get away with murder.