This is my favorite "Lifetime" movie of all time, from a production period when the movies were about real crime events and the ensuing trials with quality stars, not the cheesy mass-produced drivel they churn out now. Told in the similar format as a flashback/courtroom docu-drama style of The Tracey Thurmond Story and The Burning Bed, this stars Meredith Baxter and a pre-scandal Stephen Collins, and as a true crime genre and forensic psychology lover, let me tell you, Baxter KILLS it. If you watch interviews with the real Betty Broderick, you will see how Baxter masters her self-deluded, persecution complex, functionally crazy personality. It was probably the best TV movie performance I've ever seen. In real life, Betty Broderick had a lot of supporters and this movie explores that, leaving room for the viewer to make up their own mind. It seems to present things from both sides' fairly--neither party is portrayed as a saint: she did sacrifice everything to make her husband successful and he did seem to trade her in for a newer model when he made it to the top, but the creators still tilt the viewer to the fact that's still not an excuse for murder. There's also the follow-up sequel that covers the court battle, portrayed from the prosecutor's perspective, which is also enjoyable. This is truly a based-on-a-true-story TV movie classic.
A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story
(1992 TV Movie)
The best example of Lifetime's Golden Era of True Crime
26 July 2020