Death In The Shadows (DVD)

One night, Chip (Sam Reese Sheppard) is woken up to find his house in madness - his mother is dead and his father has been badly beaten. Even worse is to come though, when a few days later, Chip's father, respected surgeon and serial philanderer Sam Sheppard, is accused and eventually charged with his own wife's death. Even this is not the end of the tragedy, when Chip is a teenager at military school, his father is suddenly released when evidence ...
...decides to go on a campaign to prove that his father did not kill his wife, which leads to a lot of soul searching, all the more complicated because Chip's relationship with his father is weak. Did Sam Sheppard kill his wife or not? And will the final truth enable Chip to close the door on that part of his life?

I was persuaded to watch this film when shown on TV one afternoon when the presenter said that the Sam Sheppard story was ... more

One night, Chip (Sam Reese Sheppard) is woken up to find his house in madness - his mother is dead and his father has been badly beaten. Even worse is to come though, when a few days later, Chip's father, respected surgeon and serial philanderer Sam Sheppard, is accused and eventually charged with his own wife's death. Even this is not the end of the tragedy, when Chip is a teenager at military school, his father is suddenly released when evidence taken at the time is found to be dodgy. Chip decides to go on a campaign to prove that his father did not kill his wife, which leads to a lot of soul searching, all the more complicated because Chip's relationship with his father is weak. Did Sam Sheppard kill his wife or not? And will the final truth enable Chip to close the door on that part of his life?

I was persuaded to watch this film when shown on TV one afternoon when the presenter said that the Sam Sheppard story was the basis for the film The Fugitive (although I haven't found any other evidence to show that this is the case). As I have watched and enjoyed the Harrison Ford version, I was intrigued enough to keep watching. As a criminologist, I'm always interested in watching true crime anyway, although I was later to discover that evidence unearthed after the film was made in 1998 has proved that this film is not perhaps as 'true' as the director would have us believe.

As the film covers a number of years, there are actually three actors who play Chip - Bradley Reid as the little Chip, Jonathan Kroker as the teenage Chip and Henry Czerny as the adult. I thought Bradley Reid did a fantastic job of portraying a little boy who loved his parents and is devastated both at the loss of his mother and the incarceration of his father. Left with an uncle, he has a tragically lonely childhood, and despite being a complete cynic, I found myself crying at Reid's performance. This was a really strong piece of acting from a small child.

Henry Czerny as the adult version of Chip was also fantastic. Despite the realisation that his father is a difficult man - at one point the teenage Chip finds him canoodling with his (Chip's) girlfriend - and he has a terrible drink problem, he is still convinced that, for all his faults, his father is not a murderer. He shows real strength of mind as he fights to be given access to the evidence that convicted his father and I found him totally realistic and very moving in the role.

The top billing should go to Peter Strauss as Dr Sam Sheppard. This is not an easy role - Sam Sheppard is not a nice man, yet Strauss manages to show this while at the same time inspiring sympathy in the watcher. His treatment of Chip did make me angry though - when he is released from prison, Chip rushes home to welcome his father, only to find that his father has gone on holiday with his new wife. As he slowly goes to pieces towards the end of the film - he is unable to find work because he is blacklisted by the medical profession - I did really want him to be proved innocent though, which can only prove that he is a good actor.

The 'Sam Sheppard story' really does make for great film material. There is the little boy whose family is destroyed and then there is the man, who although obnoxious, is apparently not guilty of the heinous crime for which he has been charged. By the time the ending comes around, all the ends are tied and the audience can switch off with the comfortable feeling that all is right with the world. Unfortunately, it would seem that the film isn't as closely linked to reality as we are led to believe and I think it only right that anyone who wants to watch the film should be aware of this. That aside though, this is a really compelling film with good actors who are simply following the lead of the director.

I don't have any regrets at the hour and a half or so that I spent watching this film. I am disappointed to find that it is probably not a completely realistic portrayal though - I was really convinced by Peter Strauss that Sheppard was innocent, which I again shows the power of his performance and I was gutted for Chip, who must have felt he could finally lay his ghosts to rest. However, it is still a good film that just needs to be watched with a pinch of salt. Recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £4.95.

Classification: 15

Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes 

...less