Killer Father Knows Best

A KILLER IN THE FAMILY (1983)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

No matter what role he ever had, Robert Mitchum stood tall. He was a muscular, vigorous actor who always gave off the vibe of someone who had lived. Sometimes haggard, sometimes sleepy-eyed but always giving off a blazing amount of dynamism, Mitchum held his own in noir tales from the 50's onwards. With the 1983 TV movie "A Killer in the Family," it is more than a summation of the man's career - it is the nuances by which he denotes sympathy, apathy and a tremendous presence where you are never sure what he will do next. Mitchum is one of the very best reasons to watch "A Killer in the Family."

The film is based on a true story about a convicted killer in prison serving a life sentence, Gary Tison (Mitchum), who is hoping to break out with the help of his three sons. One of his sons, Donny who is studying law, is a little reluctant (James Spader) to partake, but does so anyway to protect them. The other sons, Ray (Lance Kerwin) and Ricky (Eric Stoltz), are somewhat ignorant of their father's true nature and want nothing more than to be with him. The prison break goes without a hitch, and along for the ride is Gary's cellmate, Randy Greenawalt (Stuart Margolin, a terrific character actor delivering a most wicked smile). Tison's hope is to get to Mexico but trouble follows when the car breaks down, followed by the murder of an unsuspecting family by Tison and his accomplice. The kids stare in horror and realize their dad is not the kind man they had thought he was (an early sequence shows them having a family picnic outside the prison and Gary seems gentle and caring). This one murder sequence (the only one in the film, though there is another that leaves more to the imagination) is extreme even for television, all the more effective for not showing blood and gore. 

"A Killer in the Family" is a hardcore, unsettling thriller, dependent on the psychology of a family unit that is slowly breaking apart. The Tison matriarch (Lynn Carlin) is as forgiving of her husband as the sons are. The truth is that Gary Tison was a cold-hearted, vicious killer who still loved his family, and Mitchum evokes the tragedy of a man whose murderous ways governed the rest of his life. Also effective is an early performance by James Spader as the one son who sees beneath Gary's exterior - there is deep-seated anger there, thrillingly paired off with Mitchum in the various scenes they have together. Lance Kerwin's Ray is the son who will do anything for his father, likewise Eric Stoltz's Ricky though both are thrown off course by their father's mercurial personality. There is also a brief part with Catherine Mary Stewart as Donny's girlfriend - you wonder why Donny leaves her behind for a father he can barely trust. It is Mitchum though who gives us the humanism of a killer, and how pathetic and disorganized he was (what kind of life did he hope to have in Mexico with his sons and a killer accomplice?) The magnificent Mitchum and especially a spellbinding Spader give "A Killer in the Family" a pulse.