On a tué mes enfants

After playing TV-movie victims for years, Farrah Fawcett is terrifically good (almost surprisingly so) cast as real-life child-killer Diane Downs, who tried to convince the police she and her kids were victims one night of a car-jacker with a gun. One is tempted to go on and on about Fawcett's multi-layered portrayal of a sociopath, yet this is a long movie--four hours with commercials--and Farrah has the burden of it resting on her performance (she carries it off with gusto). Ryan O'Neal is very strong, too, playing the lover who doesn't return her affections. A sad, violent story, but told with an intense, focused energy which makes it completely absorbing and ultimately moving. Farrah does Emmy-worthy work.

Farrah Fawcett's Emmy-nominated performance is the centerpiece of SMALL SACRIFICES, a riveting, ABC mini-series based on the true story of Diane Downs, a cold-blooded woman who was sent to jail for murdering two of her three children. This teleplay presents Downs as the lonely, divorced working mother of three who appears on the outside to be a devoted and loving mother but as no qualms about putting her own needs first when the opportunity presents itself. While working at a post office, Diane begins a romance with one of her co-workers, Lew Lewiston (Ryan O'Neal)and things are going well until Diane learns that Lew doesn't like kids and has no desire to be a stepfather so Diane decides to kill her children. Fortunately, her daughter, somehow survives the brutal shooting and is taken into protective custody not only to protect her from further harm by her mother but to use her to help build a case to convict her mother. Fawcett gives the performance of her career...an icy, heartless bitch who shouts of her innocence throughout the proceedings, even though all evidence points to her and has the nerve to be baffled by the fact that her daughter wants nothing to do with her. O'Neal's role here is more in the way of stunt casting as he was Fawcett's real life romance at the time and is wasted in a thankless role, but there are two solid performances from John Shea and Gordon Clapp as the two police detectives caught in the deadly cat and mouse game of trying to slip Diane up in order to nail her for this horrendous crime. Despite it's almost three-hour length, I found this movie fascinating from start to finish, thanks primarily to a powerhouse performance from Farrah Fawcett who got the role of her career and ran with it.

I watched Small Sacrifices again just recently after many years. Farrah Fawcett should have got an Emmy for that portrayal of Diane Downs. Her performance in this mini-series is incredible and the fact that the mini-series follows the book closely. Ann Rule's book of this horrible crime leaves you wanting more. So much that I reread the book again. Farrah should be honored for such a fabulous performance. Just watch her in the Burning Bed as a battered wife. Farrah Fawcett headlines Small Sacrifices but everybody else in the film including John Shea who plays the District Attorney and her then real-life lover, Ryan O'Neal, plays Diane Down's married lover who does not want children and would help the police convict his former lover. Ryan, John, and even Gordon Clapp are all wonderful and memorable in their roles. They do not make television mini-series like they used to anymore with cable making the movies for television. If this film was released in the cinema, Farrah would have been nominated for an Oscar for this role. She probably would have won the award!

Enjoyed viewing Gordon Clapp,(Detective Doug Welch),"Splendor Falls",'99,)(NYPDBLUE), who starred in this picture and really gave Farrah Fawcett,(Diane Downs),"The Cookout",'04, a very hard time because of things that happened to her very own children. This story is about a Diane Downs who is desperately seeking to find true love in her life and winds up going from one husband to another and plenty of one night stands. Diane claims that her very own father molested her many times and gave her very little attention except for sexual advances. This story goes into great detail about all her affairs and there is a very long trial which Diane has to encounter. Farrah Fawcett gave an outstanding performance and I wish she would perform in many more pictures.

Two thumbs up to Farah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal and the ever talented John Shea.

So much for being a dumb blonde - Farah rocked. She took being "unfit" to a whole new level. I thought I had seen the best in her in "Extremities" but she once again showed the "acting world" that she is a force to be reckoned with. Ryan has still got the good looks and the acting to go with it.

John Shea's portrayal of the Prosecutor was RIGHT ON! He exhibited a determination that wasn't his job . . . . it simply was the right thing to do for the protection of the children.

A must have for a movie collector (it needs to be in DVD form also)!