VividSimon Simply Perfect

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

lambiepie-2 Let me begin by writing, one would hope not to be so close to many of the deemed sensational trials of the latter part of the 20th Century, - but I was one of those folks who got to be around two - The Menendez Brothers and this one, The McMartin Preschool Trial. One happened two blocks of where I was living at the time, the other a few blocks from where I worked. And this movie drama enactment was top notch for it's time.There is no doubt about it, this was the most horrific thing I had ever heard of, and it was scary. It was scary because of the victims, the children and everything they were exposed to. I can write from first hand that this was a trying time in that area. No one was 100% in agreement with everything. Everyone had an opinion. People I was working with knew the accused and the accusers first hand. Those that lived in Manhattan Beach (and Hermosa and Redondo the adjacent beaches)absolutely had their views and you could NOT remove them from it. It was volatile. And the more the accusations came out, the more precarious it got. And this whole McMartin Preschool Trial...was almost a DECADE and 13 Million dollars of taxpayer of money (yep!) for acquittals ... and this HBO film hit the nail on the head.This was well written, made your skin crawl, and that is how many were feeling. This did a great job of showing the jockeying between the children, the McMartins, the Attorneys, the child therapist, the teachers(!), the media (ugh!), the parents of the children. What I liked so much about this film --was it did NOT take sides, it presented it as it was, and the end still leaves you to...wonder. Make no mistake, this was real...this happened. And what happened...is more questions and accusations than answers.HBO was starting to make its wonderful reputation of "HBO Films" diving into subject matter Networks were attempting to show but sugar-coated many because of Network Standards, HBO was being raw about their approaches. Actor Henry Thomas as Ray Buckey gives a standout performance. It is cold, chilling...scary. Actor Sada Thompson as the owner of the McMartin Preschool also takes you out of any comfortable place as you are wondering about the grandmother of Ray Buckey and her also as the mother of Peggy Buckey, Ray's mom portrayed by Actor Shirley Knight and it's a performance to behold). It was a family affair. James Woods gives another one of his best performances as Ray Buckey's Attorney Danny Davis against Mercedes Ruehl's spot-on performance as the Prosecuting Attorney Lael Rubin and this is something to watch --and keep in mind this is BEFORE the Menendez Trials and the OJ Simpson Trial in Los Angeles. This is how Los Angeles was...and this HBO film captures it's first case that (in my view) opens up a whole can of judicial worms to come).The film shows also shows how the McMartin Preschool trial also became a web of mass hysteria and yes, 15 minutes of fame that ruined any real judicial hope of getting to the bottom of this. There were victims and they were the children (scared, abused, manipulated), and in this movie you will see that the child victims may have been victimized -- twice. This film does not display any easy answers (there really wasn't any) and you just can't leave it thinking there was a conclusion - the film is clear in stating there was not. Still isn't.In 2017-2018 I am sure people notice that filmmakers are bringing these trials to cable/streaming/movies for this generation -- and they should because it is a not too distant past that no one has made a decent conclusion of. I know the McMartin Preschool Trial will be getting a re-do as well in the future. But before that, please watch this film first. Great performances, great writing, keeps you glued. Rent it, stream it -- as it is one of HBO's 10 best and as relevant today and it was in the 1980's. That is how good this is.

Tournel Henry This just portrays just how lethal the mass media can become especially when people forget that an allegation remains an allegation until it's proved correct. A young man's life ruined simply by a absurd allegation with no proof. Also applies today, especially in "sex scandals".Today, when a woman simply claims that she was sexually harassed by a man, the man is locked up without the woman (so called "victim") needing to prove her allegations. I only hope everyone will learn from this and also, that the justice system will be improved.

disdressed12 while i thought this movie was well made and well acted,the subject matter is very disturbing:allegations of molestation of several children at a preschool by those that run the school and work there.this movie is based on a true story and was a huge scandal at the time.the movie itself is hard to watch,and i think they could have done without some of the vulgar language,some of which was gratuitous,but that's just my opinion.this isn't a movie you could really enjoy.it does appear to be one sided,and how how much dramatic licence was taken is anyone's guess,but the gist of the story is probably here.if you do decide to watch this movie,just be warned,the language is very graphic and the subject matter very disturbing.

sdjar42 Since this movie was produced by Oliver Stone it is predictably well made and acted. My quarrel is not with the standards of the movie as a well made vehicle for the story but with the bias and one sidedness. The McMartin family comes off as beleaguered and wronged while the victims and their families were portrayed as stupid, illiterate and unstable. Abuse such as existed in the McMartin preschool does not only happen to the perfect children and parents but nonetheless it happens. I wonder at the slant of the movie. Why use it as a vehicle to defend the perpetrators, why not do an even handed story? Portraying a fair and accurate account would have served the truth instead of the accused. I always believed that the McMartins were caught being involved in a very lucrative business. I thought that it was all about the money, but the child abuse was such a focus that the lucrative business was not addressed. the movie was disturbing.