A Matter of Justice

This movie made me very sad because it was a true story. Patty Duke's acting in this film is absolutely excellent and at times gave me a lump in my throat, what an incredibly strong character, to have lost her only child to murder then have to fight for her son's widow to be brought to justice and to seek custody of her grand-daughter, what an incredibly strong woman. Dusty was very lucky to have such a sweet, loving, caring husband and to have him murdered was an evil act and I am glad she got what was coming to her. At the end of the film where Dusty is sentenced and when Mary and Jack are alone in the courtroom, I had tears in my eyes when Mary turned to Jack and said : "I wish Chris was here, I want to hold him in my arms and say you can rest now Mum and Dad have taken care of everything", poor Mary and Jack losing that precious boy, but at least they have little Christine to help them go on and at least they got the justice they needed, this was an excellent film with great acting especially from Patty Duke.

shine in this film, which is a disturbing account of a young serviceman, murdered for profit. His young wife ("Dusty"), well-portrayed by Alexandra Powers, may have been the culprit. She has a baby too young (Duke's grandchild) and decides that she is tired of being an army wife, and becomes a prostitute in Honolulu.

When Duke's son is murdered, she suspects the worst. After protracted legal problems, Duke eventually wins a minor victory, seeking justice for her son's murder. Apparently as a resident of Alabama, she only has influence due to the fact that she is in a small town, and must hound and harass the district attorney. Charles Dutton, Jr. is also very good as the detective who tracks Dusty and the grandchild, discovering they are living in squalor in Oklahoma, collecting money from the murdered husband's army pension.

Patty Duke is amazing, because she always transcends material, engaging the audience. While this film was based on a true story, a few liberties were taken, but you will still be interested in the outcome. 8/10.

This TV two-parter is actually very well made. The casting is really good. I find no real fault with the performances. I've been a fan of Sheen since The Subject Was Roses, and Duke has been a TV staple for a reason...she's more than a fine actor. Even the music adds a nice touch, as do the efforts of all others who worked behind the scenes.

You'll find some great reviews on IMDb, so I won't add much more. I will say, however, that it's important to remember that all those TV movies allegedly based on a true story so popular in the 80s and 90s did not adhere to the facts 100%. It's television, for God's sake; and television, my friends is NOT reality.

This led me to do some internet research about the case. What's kind of a tell-tale sign of the perpetrator's true character is what transpired after her release from prison. Her legal troubles did not end with her initial convictions of conspiracy to commit murder and murder in the second degree. Several other charges were levied against her afterwards unrelated to the murder case. The woman was obviously troubled and damaged.

It's my hope that the surviving daughter of the murder victim is living a healthy, happy life with a family that she can call her own.

Worth a watch if you're into these kinds of TV crime dramas that are "based on a true story".

A matter of Justice is an excellent movie featuring outstanding performances by Patty Duke, Martin Sheen, and Charles S Dutton. The true tragic events the story centers around were dramatized to make the movie a little more interesting, instead of making up scenes the director should have spent time on facts. The glaring mistakes to me are the military prison which could have been better represented, and the NIS scene. She calls it Naval Intelligence Service, actually it was called Naval Investigative Service, until 1996 when it became NCIS. Overall the movie contains excellent performances by the leading and supporting actors, Hollywood could spend a little time working on a remake to fix small mistakes.

I do take exception to the portrayal of Ada, Oklahoma in this movie. Since I happen to be from there, I felt it necessary to defend my hometown. I'm not sure where the Ada scenes were actually shot. It certainly wasn't in Ada. Ada is not so small a town that a posse of rednecks in pick-up trucks would run you out of it to "protect one of their own" - as was stated in this movie. To my knowledge that has never happened in Ada. Ada is also not so small a town that everyone knows everyone else. It is not a town of 500 people, it's a town of about 17,000 and it has a state university. I felt this movie painted an unfair portrait to anyone who doesn't know Ada and has never been there, as well as the state of Oklahoma for that matter.