Capturing the Friedmans

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

28K

YOUR RATING

Theatrical Trailer from Magnolia Pictures

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9 Videos

22 Photos

Crime Documentary Biography Crime Documentary

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with sh... Read allDocumentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Director
- Andrew Jarecki
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

28K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Andrew Jarecki
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 25 wins & 16 nominations total

Self
(archive footage)

Jesse Friedman

Self

David Friedman

Self

Elaine Friedman

Self

Seth Friedman

Self
(archive footage)

John McDermott

Self

Frances Galasso

Self
(as Det. Frances Galasso)

Anthony Sgeugloi

Self

Chuck Scarborough

Self
(archive footage)

Joseph Onorato

Self

Judd Maltin

Self

Howard Friedman

Self

Abbey Boklan

Self
(as Judge Abbey Boklan)

Ron Georgalis

Self

Scott Banks

Self

Larry King

Self
(archive footage)

Debbie Nathan

Self

Jerry Bernstein

Self

‘Snow White’ Stars Test Their Wits

Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and director Marc Webb take our Ultimate Disney Quiz.

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9:57

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Trivia
Director/producer Andrew Jarecki was in the process of making a documentary about people who work as children's birthday party clowns in New York which led to the discovery of David Friedman's story. David Friedman was considered the most successful of the city's party clowns. The resulting clown documentary, Just a Clown (2004), is included as an extra on the DVD for this movie.

Crazy credits
Only the immediate members of the Friedman family (listed 1-5) are credited in a standard cast list. The other cast members are identified by on-screen graphics.

Connections
Featured in SexTV: Playgirl/Peter Gorman/Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

Soundtracks
Act Naturally
Performed by Buck Owens
Written by Vonnie Morrison and Johnny Russell
Courtesy of Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI)

User reviews159

Featured review

WOW!!!

Wow! This movie was nothing short of absolutely fascinating!!!!!! It really leaves you with more questions than answers. Just when you think you've got a little shred of truth, your theory gets blown out of the water.

I watched this movie alone, and I've been wanting to dissect it with somebody ever since. To me, the most sympathetic people in the movie were Jesse and the Mother. Yes, the mother was weak and she dealt with a lot of the issues by not dealing with them, but she was at least honest, and honesty was a very rare commodity in this family.

Also,I really tended to believe Jesse. I don't think that his father molested him, but I think that the father might have molested David (the clown). David was sooooo deep and heavy into denial - he completely villainized his mother and held his father accountable for as little as possible.

This movie leaves A lot of fertile ground for amateur psychologists...It is probably the most fascinating "case study" of a dysfunctional family that has ever been documented.

It kind of makes me wonder how must families would end up looking under such close scrutiny....