PodBill Just what I expected

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

dhainline1 "Small Sacrifices" is based on the story of Elizabeth Diane Downs aka Diane Downs who shot her 2 daughters and 1 son in 1983 on a lonely country road while she was driving the kids home from a friend's house late at night. Diane said time and again a strange man with shaggy hair came out of the shadows and demanded her car. When she refused, he shot her sleeping children. In the book by Ann Rule, the kids are named Christie, Cheryl and Danny. In this treatment, they go under the aliases of Karen, Shauna and Robbie. In a way this confuses me because the real names of the kids are in the well-known book and in the TV movie of the same title they go under other names and everyone can find the real names by reading the book! Mild criticism aside, this movie shows another great performance by the late, wonderful Farrah Fawcett! She is so good as the narcissistic, sociopathic Diane Downs who wanted her new boyfried, Lew Lewiston (Ryan O'Neal) to be a father to the kids even though he went the permanent route of ensuring he would never have children by getting a vasectomy. After his rejection, Diane basically loses it and writes him letters proclaiming her love for the married Lew. This was the catalyst for the shooting of the three children by their mom. All the performers are great in this movie! John Shea goes toe-to-toe with Farrah as Frank Joziak the prosecutor and he really cares about her children. A very young Emily Perkins is also wonderful as the traumatized Karen who saw her mother shot her brother and sister and her. She is the one who testifies against her mother because Shauna was shot to death and while Robbie was paralyzed by the bullet, he was too young to testify in court. Next to "The Burning Bed" Farrah has another winner in the TV movie arena!

BreanneB I have been a fan of Farrah Fawcett ever since I first saw her performance in "The Burning Bed." She no doubt plays just as good in this film. I was sad when she died.I'm going to read the book that this movie is based on. Diane Downs was an eccentric, enigmatic, cold-hearted selfish person who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. She even went to the extreme of killing her one daughter and trying to kill her other daughter and her son just so she could be with a man. Scummy bitch.Of course when she is questioned by the authorities she gives them this bogus story that when her and her kids were driving down a dark road some bushy haired guy flagged them down claiming to need help. She also tells them that he then brandished a gun and fired at them. How ridiculous is that? Nobody would stop on a dark street in the middle of nowhere and let a total stranger get near them like she claimed.Diane got away with it for awhile but she finally got caught, thank God. Also, I'm glad she was sentenced to two life terms plus some other additional time. She deserves it. I'm also happy that the DA in that case adopted her two surviving children. They deserve loving and caring parents, not a scumbag like her.

triple8 I had read the book, and have to say the movie, for the most part, is very similar and is just done very well. Everything from the acting, to the directing etc etc, is superb. This movie is, sadly, a true story. It stands at 4 hours or so but it always keeps your interest. Farrah Fawcett loses herself in her character, and I have to say, I don't see how this movie can be watched, without the watcher coming away with a very healthy respect for Ms. Fawcett.This true life story is so disturbing, the thought has to flash through your mind whether you can sit through a 4 hour drama about it, and although of coarse some scenes are extremely difficult to watch, as you'd expect them to be, this movie is not something you can turn away from once it's on and is both shocking and horrifying.It is directed and acted on a level as good as major big screen releases and the character development is great as well. There isn't one bad piece of acting in the movie and this Is the best I've ever seen Fawcett.

freebird-10 Here's TV doing true crime the way it should be done--slowly unfolding plot through character, threading the cops and perps stories together, good courtroom drama--it's spellbinding. Farrah Fawcett is exceptional as Diane Downs, the woman who manages to kill one out of three kids. The two surviving kids are also stand-outs, especially the small daughter who must choose whether or not to testify against the monstrously narcissistic Downs. John Shea is also good as the D.A. A must-see for crime buffs.