Vittima d'amore

This is the actual true story about The Guenthers in Colorado. The one review was incorrect. A 34-year-old man who contended that he shot three neighbors in self-defense was acquitted Thursday of one count of second-degree murder and two counts of assault. David Guenther, 34, of Northglenn had once based his defense on Colorado's "make my day" law, which permits the use of deadly force against intruders, but shifted to conventional self-defense for this trial. Guenther still faces trial next year for first-degree murder in the slaying of his wife -- the woman he said he was trying to protect when he shot his neighbors -- and the wounding of her male companion earlier this year. Burden of Proof A judge last year dismissed charges against Guenther in the April 19, 1986, shoot-out, citing the "make my day" law. However, the Colorado Supreme Court later ruled that the burden of proof was on the defendant and ordered Guenther to stand trial in Adams County District Court for second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault. Josslyn C. Volosin, 26, was killed by a shot in the heart, and her husband, Michael, 27, suffered wounds to the thigh and wrist. Robbie Wardwell, 27, was felled by a bullet in the abdomen during the shooting. Earlier that night, Michael Volosin, Wardwell and their friends, who had been partying at the Volosin home, had been rowdy and raucous in front of the Guenther house across the street. Defense attorneys argued that Guenther fired his .357 magnum pistol in self-defense. He was afraid for his life and that of his wife, Pamela, and their two children, public defender Robert Perin told the jury in closing arguments on Wednesday. The law was named for a line from a Clint Eastwood movie in which the actor muttered "make my day," apparently hoping for an opportunity to shoot a felon.

Los Angeles Times March 28, 1988, Monday, Southland Edition SECTION: Part 1; Page 16; Column 1; National Desk LENGTH: 126 words HEADLINE: MAN IN 'MAKE MY DAY' CASE CONVICTED BYLINE: By AP DATELINE: BRIGHTON, Colo. BODY:

The first man to invoke Colorado's "Make My Day" defense in a shooting has been convicted in a separate case of murdering his estranged wife and wounding her boyfriend. David Guenther, 35, was found guilty Saturday of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault in the 1987 shootings. He faces at least 40 years in prison before parole, and prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. The "Make My Day" law allows residents to use deadly force in their homes against intruders. Guenther's acquittal with that argument for the 1986 fatal shooting of a neighbor and wounding of two others was overturned by the state Supreme Court. But he was re-acquitted in that case with a self-defense argument.

I too seen the movie and really liked it. I always try and look up any information on a true movie as in trying to find the real names the location, the trial etc....Here is what I have found so far. I hope this helps.

David was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault in the 1987 shootings. He faces at least 40 years in prison before parole, and prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. David Guenther -- 6-foot-5, 260-pounds -- beat Pamela regularly for 15 years. Her close friends knew it. But she stayed with her husband, who was unemployed and apparently universally disliked. When she finally left David, Pamela took her two children and secretly moved in with her boss -- who later became her lover. David -- who in 1986 killed a neighbor woman and wounded her husband in a bloody quarrel on the doorstep of the Guenther home in a Denver suburb -- tried to kidnap Pamela in a doughnut shop parking lot and threatened her life repeatedly.

After she got a restraining order forcing him to leave their home so she could move back in, he forced his way into the house and held her hostage at gunpoint for four hours before surrendering to local police.

Yet, eight hours after David was arrested, he was out on $10,000 bail, charged only with burglarizing his own home -- a fact that outraged Pamela's friends and neighbors. He began stalking Pamela, who hid from him in a shelter for battered women and insisted upon -- and got -- police escorts to her supermarket job. A week after the hostage episode, David jumped out of his car in a parking lot and shot Pamela to death in front of their children. He is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

I teach an 8th grade health class. One of the units we do is on abuse, including domestic violence. I show this movie to my students during that unit, as they are able to see how the abuse not only affects the victim, and the lengths the abuser will go to, to achieve their goals, but the students also see how the abuse affects the children in the family. The movie also depicts how others in society (family, friends, law officials, the court systems) approach the topic of abuse/domestic violence. My students thoroughly enjoy this movie, gaining terrific insight into abuse. It is very much true-to-life, and it was as a result of this case that domestic violence laws were enacted. I highly recommend this movie for all ages.

This is an excellent film about domestic abuse and its shattering impact on the life of a family.

Good acting saves this from a typical "Movie of the Week" fare. I would STRONGLY recommend this film. The only flaw, would be that the love-scenes seem to drag the film down a bit. But otherwise, good acting throughout.

If anyone has any information of the real case, (Were the names of the main characters, The Cochran's changed for privacy?) please post as I can not find anything about the case on line. Does anyone know when this case/trial actually happened?

Presumably, as Executive Producer, Michele Lee has strong feelings about the subject of this made-for-TV movie on domestic abuse, which highlights a "make-my-day" self-preservation statute and the police review of domestic violence protocol. It's just a pity that she cast herself in the main role. Based on the true story of Gary and Jessica Cochran from Glen Oaks, this is the tale of a husband as abuser and wife (and her children) as victim.

The teleplay by Cindy Myers doesn't provide much backstory. The treatment begins with the Cochran's moving into a new house, after we are told 15 years of marriage. Gary (James Farentino) is long-term unemployed, and Jessica (Lee) works at 2 part time jobs, at a bakery and diner. At one point Gary says that he won't go back to jail, though we aren't told why he was there before or for how long. Gary's past seems to be of some importance for our understanding of him. All we get is his talk of feeling empty and alone as a child, and that being with Jessica makes him "one person", and that he beats her because they become "too close".

Myer thankfully shows an escalation of Gary's anger, so that he is not presented as unreasonable from the start (I had no problems with his dislike of smoking and alcohol, for example), but the issue of his make-my-day killing of a neighbour is a plot point that is left unresolved, and he does not bother to defend himself when Jessica applies for a restraining order. Jessica is provided with an employer Walter (John Spencer) as an alternate romantic interest, and a co-worker Lee (Lee Garlington) who leads her to a "underground" women's shelter, though Myers saves her trump card for the end. Two interesting touches are a scene where Gary tries to teach his son Peter (Damion Stevens) how to fight, and Jessica's redemptive sexual attraction to Gary, whereby his "anger" transforms into lovemaking skill.

Myers has Gary and Jessica give to-camera confessionals, where they both use the expression "anyways", and cliches like "walking on razorblades", "You made your bed, now you have to sleep in it", and Jessica considering herself a "hostage". We get the standard "If you hit me again, I'll leave you. If you leave me, I'll kill you" rhetoric of the genre, but also one funny line. When Jessica is asked how dangerous Gary is on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being lethal, she replies 11.

Director Armand Mastroianni plays with the confessionals, cutting from Gary's "There was nothing I could do" and "Stop it" to the same lines from Jessica, and we only get visual cliches like slow motion for a shooting in the climax. Mastroianni also dissolves from a smiley face drawing by Peter to a close-up of Gary, and has Jessica look beyond a over-the-shoulder reaction shot to watch Gary when she is being police interviewed. However a swat team that arrives in the face of Gary's violation of the restraining order is ludicrous. Mastroianni repeatedly uses invasive close-ups of Gary to make him look monstrous, however does the same for a kiss between Jessica and Walter to also show its awkwardness.

In spite of the treatment's bias, Farentino (who was married to Lee at the time of filming!) makes Gary more pitiable than Jessica. Lee tends to pull faces, though she does provide some animal noises of fear when she goes to bed with Gary against her will.