Murder in the Heartland

Murder in the Heartland
Genre	Drama Thriller
Written by	Michael O'Hara
Directed by	Robert Markowitz
Starring	Tim Roth Fairuza Balk Brian Dennehy Randy Quaid Renée Zellweger Kate Reid Milo O'Shea Rondi Reed
Theme music composer	Patrick Williams
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Lawrence Horowitz Michael O'Hara
Producer	S. Bryan Hickox
Production locations	McKinney, Texas Van Alstyne, Texas
Cinematography	Ronald Victor Garcia
Editors	David Beatty Scott Vickrey
Running time	157 minutes
Production company	O'Hara-Horowitz Productions
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	May 3, 1993 (1993-05-03)

Murder in the Heartland is a television miniseries that aired on ABC in 1993. It was based on the 1957–58 murder spree carried out by 19-year-old Charles Starkweather throughout Nebraska and Wyoming. Starkweather is played by Tim Roth. The first half of the miniseries covers the murders. The second half covers the trials of Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, his 14-year-old girlfriend accomplice. Their increasingly disparate versions of events are contrasted as the trials unfold.

The film received strong praise from critics and Emmy nominations.

Cast

• Tim Roth as Charles Starkweather
• Fairuza Balk as Caril Ann Fugate
• Randy Quaid as Elmer Scheele
• Brian Dennehy as John McArthur
• Roberts Blossom as August "Gus" Meyer
• Tom Bower as Marion Bartlett
• Jennifer Griffin as Velda Bartlett
• Rondi Reed as Jonette Fox
• Bob Gunton as Governor Anderson
• Ryan Cutrona as C. Lauer Ward
• Angie Bolling as Clara Ward
• Jake Carpenter as Robert Jensen
• Heather Kafka as Carol King
• Don Bloomfield as Bobby Colvert
• John Hussey as Mr. Jensen
• James Hansen Prince as Deputy Sheriff Bill Romer
• John S. Davies as Merle Karnopp
• Mark Walters as Chief Robert Ainslie
• Milo O'Shea as Clem Gaughan
• Gerry Bamman as Judge Brooks
• Jeff Perry as Earl Heflin
• Connie Cooper as Hazel Heflin
• Kate Reid as Pansy Street
• Marco Perella as Bob Von Busch (uncredited)
• Renée Zellweger as Barbara Von Busch (uncredited)
• Gary Mitchell Carter as Rodney Starkweather (uncredited)

Production

The entire film was shot on location in and around McKinney and Dallas, Texas.

An edited version of the production saw a limited release on VHS.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
1993	Artios Awards	Best Casting for TV Mini-Series	Molly Lopata	Won
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special	Brian Dennehy	Nominated
		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special	Ronald Victor Garcia	Nominated
1994	American Society of Cinematographers Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Miniseries		Nominated

See also

• The Sadist, a 1963 film by James Landis.
• Terrence Malick's 1973 movie Badlands, and the title song from Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska.
• The 1994 film Natural Born Killers was also partly inspired by these events.
• The 2004 film Starkweather directed by Bryon Werner.

External links

• Murder in the Heartland at IMDb
• Murder in the Heartland at Allmovie