Meurtre à Central Park

US television drama based on a true crime case starring Lara Flynn Boyle and William Baldwin

This television film, directed by John Herzfeld, first aired on ABC in September 1989. It is based on the actual murder of young Jennifer Levin on August 26, 1986 in New York's Central Park, which was known at the time and even after the television film was broadcast as "The Preppie Murder" (based on a preparatory school as preparation for university studies). Attended by both the victim and the perpetrator) attracted great media attention.

Jennifer (Lara Flynn Boyle), a young girl from a good New York family, meets the extremely attractive Robert Chambers (William Baldwin) in a hip bar in Manhattan, falls in love with the great Hech and spends the night with him. The next day, Robert doesn't want to know anything about her anymore. A loud argument breaks out. At dawn the next day, Jennifer's body is found in Central Park, with significant injuries. Robert quickly becomes a target of the police and finally admits to being involved in Jennifer's killing. But here's the thing: He claims that he accidentally killed Jennifer as a result of violent sexual practices ("rough sex") in which he himself was in danger of becoming Jennifer's victim. What is starting now is a media tornado without equal. This story, with its very young and beautiful participants, is a real hit for the New York newspapers. In court, a sleazy lawyer named Jack Litman (as always convincing: Knots Landing star William Devane) ensures that Jennifer Levin's sex life is exploited and that the murder victim supposedly becomes the perpetrator.

This story actually happened and didn't end with the process depicted in the film. The first part of the film is definitely convincing. William Baldwin and Lara Flynn Boyle fit their roles perfectly as spoiled brats who seem to have everything thrown at them. William Baldwin is particularly impressive as a dazzling-looking but somehow disturbingly crazy little boy. In the second part of the film, the court hearing, everything no longer fits together. On the one hand, the aim is to criticize the way the judiciary and the media have dealt with this bizarre case, but on the other hand, there is a lot of speculation regarding Jennifer Levin's alleged preference for certain sexual practices.

A very strange television film that quite and rightly paid off for the future careers of its main actors. The talented Lara Flynn Boyle was part of David Lynch's television series "Twin Peaks" a year later, and the enviably well-built William Baldwin made it in "Sliver" (1993) even becomes Sharon Stone's super sexy lover (and that's also fully justified). It should also be mentioned that the great music comes from Chris Isaak, who would become world famous a year later with "The Wicked Game" for "Wild At Heart" by David Lynch. The later ACADEMY AWARD winner Sandra Bullock can also be seen in a small role.

With a few caveats, it's definitely worth seeing!

Okay, the film was not that great but the story of the preppy murderer, Robert Chambers, played by William Baldwin in a chilling performance. Lara Flynn Boyle plays Jennifer Levin, the victim of the crime. Chambers was the son of a New York City nanny/housekeeper of prominent East Side families who wanted her son to have the same advantages as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Jennifer Levin was a true New Yorker from a family who was well-to-do. He was from the wrong side of the tracks while she was from the right side of the tracks. Her life would end tragically one night in Central Park. Joanna Kerns took a break from her role as Maggie Malone Seaver on Growing Pains to play Linda Fairstein, the prosecutor, and I believe she did a service to the role. The case itself was on the cover People magazine and the New York City tabloids. Of course, Robert Chambers was a good looking man and too nice to be a killer but I think that was why the case brought so much attention. If you have attractive people like Chambers and Levin, you want to know why. If they were unattractive, I think that we would not care for it.

This movie is semi-engrossing, featuring a Brat Pack that never could have been. It is certainly worth watching (in fast forward) to marvel at this strange amalgam of stars that don't really go together - two Heathers from HEATHERS, Sandy Bullock, Lara Flynn Boyle. William Devane is as smarmy as ever; Danny Aiello is simultaneously a sensitive cop and an ass with an inferiority complex (bizarre combination). The Chris Isaak soundtrack (was this a big enough movie to have a big recording artist do the soundtrack?) only adds to the movie's surreality, as does the presence of feisty Joanna Kerns, who clearly has a thing for Billy. I'll admit I was drawn to Billy Baldwin's murderous magnetism, but then I started to think about how dangerous that can be. Remember SLIVER? Remember FLATLINERS?

The majority of the fascination with the "preppie murder" case revolved around the startling good looks and charisma of the man accused. A very rare few are blessed/cursed with the type of beauty that placed Robert Chambers in an elite above and beyond what most can even imagine. A young Elvis Presley, Ricky Martin or Rob Lowe could also be considered among those few. It was easy to believe that once under the spell of such a an intensely magnetic draw, a young girl could become violently obsessed if rejected. It was absolutely impossible for me to buy this scenario with Billy Baldwin - PLEASSSSE! Who casts these things?

This film grinds along at a confusing slow pace for at least half its length. It also has the look and feel of a low budget production. I was debating whether to bail out or to stick it out, perhaps voting a 1 or 2. The glacial and gummy pace of the film is aggravated by some sort of "method" acting in which people mumble, over react, interrupt each other and in striving for a natural quality succeed only in creating a very unnatural one. However after the crime, when the police investigation and the trial start, it becomes rather compelling. So I bumped up my rating. Although I'm glad I stuck it out, my life wouldn't have been much devalued if I hadn't.