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One of the best TV movies ever made, this riveting film tells the true-life story of the murder of a preacher's wife in rural Kansas in the early 1980s.

In one long flashback that covers the year before the wife's death in a presumed accidental traffic mishap, the script meticulously evolves the sordid relations leading up to the tragedy and the suspicion of one highway patrolman that this was no accident. In time, an ongoing tangle of lurid involvement between the preacher and his attractive church secretary leads others to the same conclusion.

As the truth of a conspiracy starts to emerge and with law enforcement closing in, the confidently smug pastor, Tom Bird (Terry Kinney) reassures his panicky co-conspirator, Lorna (JoBeth Williams) that everything will be okay. "Endureth all things, Lorna ... didn't God test Abraham in the same way?" Of course, his naïve parishioners stand by their man, no matter what.

On-location filming in Kansas adds to the realism, as does court transcripts of some dialogue. Cinematography, production design, casting, and acting are all high quality. Editing is especially impressive. Yes, it's a long film, but the complex story involves conspiracy, murder, hit men, adultery, and possible incompetence in public office.

The subject matter is unusual in that we don't normally think of a preacher as a murderer. That only happens in fictional stories. Yet the unbelievable is precisely what makes this film so mesmerizing. The events really happened. For that reason alone "Murder Ordained" is worth watching.

Great acting of principle characters played by Jobeth Williams and Keith Carradine. A lot actors from the day. Good story about an actual crime. If that trooper didn't feel hinkie that case may never have been solved. Its truly a sad case.

I spent ten years working at the correctional facility where both Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson did their time. Lorna was transferred when the female inmates were all sent to Topeka, but Tom Bird remained at Lansing Correctional Facility for his entire incarceration. The resemblance between the real Tom Bird and the actor was amazing. However, the children, especially the youngest girl could have been related. I remember one time feeling especially bad when the children flew in from another state to visit their father, I was working the visiting room at the time, and saw that the movie was playing on a local channel about the time the kids probably got to their motel. They would visit their father for 5 days in a row since they were so far away. The actors that played Tom Bird's parents were uncanny in their looks and actions as well. I suppose this did much to explain my high marks for the movie. I have seen many docu-dramas depend on sensationalism, but this one played it close to the vest, and really did get the point across about the relationship between the two. Unfortunately the movie was made before Lorna Anderson was convicted of her husband's death or before Tom Bird re-married. He was paroled just last year. I am hopeful there will be no cause to make a sequel about the murder of yet another Sandra Bird. Keith Carradine and Kathy Bates were excellent as well in the movie. Their performance was every bit as good as a huge production rather than a made for TV movie. They should all be commended for such good work. It is just sad that no studio will release this excellent work on DVD and the only way to see it is to catch it on late night TV.

I think this movie is excellent. I have followed this case for many years now and I have spoken to Dave Racer thru e-mail who wrote the book about this case and he was strongly trying to get me to see the other side. I read the book, I have seen the movie and I still feel the movie was accurate. I often wondered what the trooper, John Rule thought of the book caged bird and I just finished reading a newspaper article from 2004 that stated he did in fact read the book and he said he was even more convinced of what he believed to have happened. I warred with myself for years over Tom Bird's guilt or innocence and I personally believe he was somehow involved if not directly. The movie is dramatized in places but I think anybody can tell by watching it, that some places are speculation and not fact but I think it was pretty darn accurate even with the dramatization.

This movie, I feel, is so true to life. It is one of those movies that grips you so deeply that is stays with you long after you have seen the movie. I keep wanting new information on the real people who committed this crime and I feel a movie that causes someone to do that is excellent. I thought some of the acting in it was a little over done, but all in all I think this movie deserves a 10 rating.