cinema obscura: Tony Richardson's "A Death in Canaan" (1978)

Made-for-TV movies had a successful run during the 1970s - and also experienced something of a bum rap. The assumption was that they were inferior, simply because they were filmed for television. Never assume.

While it's true that most of these efforts were workmanlike, there were also some truly superior results, such as Buzz Kulik's "Brian's Song," with James Caan; John Badham's ”The Impatient Heart,” starring Carrie Snodgress (and written by Alvin Sargent, no less); John Korty's "Go Ask Alice," based on the popular book, and Daniel Petrie's "Silent Night, Lonely Night" and Lamont Johnson's "My Sweet Charlie," both based on plays.

There are many more. If I missed an important one, share!

This brings me to "A Death in Canaan," adapted from Joan Barthel's acclaimed piece of investigative journalism from 1976 and, arguably, the best of the lot. The film is noteworthy for three reasons - its intelligence, an astonishing lead performance by the ever-underrated Stefanie Powers and the TV directing debut of the great Tony Richardson.

The film's solid acting ensemble includes such reliables as Brian Dennehy, Kenneth McMillan, Conchata Ferrell, Jacqueline Brooks, Charles Haid, Charles Hallahan, Tom Atkins, Bonnie Bartlett and Paul Clemens in his first role as Peter Reilly, a New Canaan, Ct. teenager who found his mother, Barbara Gibbons (Sally Kemp), dead and mutilated and who, after being terrorized by police, was charged with her murder.

Based on a true story, "A Death in Canaan" follows Powers, playing Barthel, as she tries to document the investigation of the 1973 case and the hands-on involvement of the townspeople, friends and neighbors of the solitary, fatherless -Gibbons-Reillys. It was just Peter and his mother.

Powers plays Barthel with a perfect blend of nerve, insecurity, resolve and charm. Clemens, the son of Eleanor Parker, is astonishing. Around the same time, he also appeared in another fine lost film, Jerome Hellman's "Promises in the Dark" (1979), starring Marsha Mason, Kathleen Beller, Ned Beatty, Susan Clark and Michael Brandon.

Profoundly moving, "A Death in Canaan" is enhanced by Richardson's subtle direction of an exceptional cast.

The movie, now very difficult to see, aired on CBS on March 1, 1978 in a 150-minute time slot. (Without commercials, it runs 125 minutes.)  One of its last airings was on the Lifetime channel which ran a considerably shorter version in a two-hour time slot. I've no idea who made the decision to cut it, either Lifetime or Warner Bros., which produced it.

But the editing remains inexplicable.

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~images~
(from top) 

~The title card for "A Death in Cannan"
~photography: Warner Bros. Television 1978©

~Stefanie Powers as writer Joan Barthel in a scene from the film
 ~photography: Warner Bros. Television 1978©

~Director Tony Richardson, circa 1978