This movie was notable for the sense that the word of a black man about what he witnessed and participated in, namely the burning and disposing of ashes of the body of the young white farmhand, who was killed for stealing cattle in the domain of Griffith's Wallace character. It is quite difficult to call a fact-based movie an allegory for a fictional tale, but the similarities are there. Truth be told, however Cash's Sheriff Potts' strength and honesty, to the point of protecting a family of blacks in pre-Civil Rights Georgia was remarkable in Southern law enforcement, especially RURAL law enforcement. Sheriffs and Supervisors were cash cows for the office-holders, much as the warden and correction officers in Shawshank Redemption. Beyond all this is the strength of the two leads. Griffith seemed eager to shed the skin of Andy Taylor once and for all, and this movie did that for me. Cash showed the side of himself that only his friends knew, the soft-spoken but firm Southern man who took no guff from people who broke the law, no matter their station in life. Interesting film, and in the terms of made-for-TV predating cable's dedication to excellence, this movie rates a 10.
Review of Murder in Coweta County
Murder in Coweta County
(1983 TV Movie)
The facts of the movie are that the non-bigoted aspect of the movie is not about the murder of a young black man.
12 September 2003