User Reviews

***SPOILERS*** The life that the Chadways lived was anything but normal. The head of the house real estate developer Clay Chadway, Richard Crenna, seemed to take the abuse he suffered from his jealous and neurotic wife Renee, Angie Dickinson, all in stride forgiving her for every crazy and unfounded accusation that she threw at him.

With the exception of Joanne, Molly Gross, Clay treated his children as if they were total strangers to him. Clay drove his son Bobby, Jeff Kizer, to become a virtual shut-in and older daughter Lisa, Christe Lynn Smith, to rarely stay at home spending most of her time, from work at the beauty salon, staying with her friends.

It was when Clay was spotted by Renee at a local restaurant with her sister Ellen, Meg Foster, that all the secrets that he's been keeping from his children as well as himself came to the surface! As if by accident Renee's suspicions of Clay having a relationship with Ellen brought out the truth about her and the circumstance of Renee's marriage to Clay. Circumstance that were too shocking for anyone, even Clay Chadway,to even try to describe!

Trying to put on an act as the caring husband and father Clay's fantasy world was soon to come crashing down on him. It was Clay's wife Renee's unfounded accusations against him that in the end had him finally lose it. Not that Clay wasn't somewhat responsible for his unfeeling treatment of his son Bobby and daughter Lisa, for some reason that would soon come out he didn't feel the same way about Joanne, he in fact was far more innocent of the acts that Renee accused him of then she was!

***SPOILER***It was on one cold rainy night when Renee pulled another one of her disappearing acts on him that the by now out of patience Clay finally lost his cool! And that in the end cost him a lot more then what Renee ended up losing!

Even though he was the heavy in the movie Clay Chadway, or Richard Crenna, was by far the most sympathetic character in the film. Clay did everything that he could to hold his both marriage and family together but the ghosts from his, and Renee's, past were just too much for him to overcome. It was in fact Renee's guilt, not Clay's, that was far more responsible for all the horrors that she suffered in life in trying to keep her past buried.

P.S Look for an almost microscopic cameo appearance, and try to keep from blinking in order not to miss it, of actor Tony Musante as Mr. Lennox the Chadway family attorney. Musante's as the accused gay murderer in "The Detective" and the knife wielding subway psycho in "the Incident", both films made within a year of each other, were two ground breaking roles that finally put stark and shocking realism into movies coming out of the then "World of make Believe" Hollywood studios.

Deep Family Secrets isn't just a strange movie. It's a strange movie based on the true story of Gaylynn Morris, who eventually pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife Ruby. In this film, the names were changed to Clay and Renee Chadway. This may have originally aired on CBS, but it feels like a Lifetime film. And we all know that Lifetime movies are giallo minus the neon red blood and nudity.

Originally airing on April 15, 1997, this made for TV movie is packed with talent. The leads are Richard Crenna (the Rambo series of films) and Angie Dickinson (Dressed to Kill). Along for the ride are dependable actors like Meg Foster (Stepfather 2, They Live), Craig Wasson (Schizoid) and Tony Musante (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage).

Everything seems normal in the Chadway family until daughter JoAnne uncovers decades of lies, adultery, paternal fraud, criminal activities and so much more. She's also a country singer who sounds a lot like Elliot Smith and no one comments that her insanely sad songs completely blow the mood.

I was just watching a Forensic Files marathon on Court TV. The episode was identical to the plot of this movie, right down to the incest secret and the affair-with-the-sister subplot. I don't recall any Based on a True Story disclaimer, but the case does have MOW written all over it. Apparently it chronicles the real homicide of Ruby Morris by her husband Earl, sentenced to 25 years to life for her murder. Just goes to show you, truth can be stranger than fiction, because I thought the Lifetime plot was contrived and a more than "a stretch" insofar as believability goes. I'm with the other posters who said the acting was bad. I didn't notice it with all of the players, though. It was really the lead character, the daughter, whose performance was bad.

This was possibly the worst film I have seen yet. The acting was terrible, and it was lacking the element of surprise. The whole storyline was predictable. This truly seemed like a low budget film. I couldn't be more disappointed with some of the other elements. (SPOILER)They had the son be his mother's son also. Gross! They depicted the mother as some sort of slut, which couldn't have been done in a worse way. I mean, I have no problem with movies that have women sleeping around, however, this one was terribly insane. Who the hell were the writers? See this for yourself to understand my logic. This was the worst film EVER!

This was intolerable. (SPOILER #1) Protagonists avoid the pointless disclosure of agonizing truths to their loved ones, lest they surrender said status and assume the roles of Antagonists. (SPOILER #2) The writers would have us believe that the exposure of multiple transgressions, by the transgressor, presents a threat to, and provokes a retaliatory response by, the primary victim of the transgressions. (SPOILER #3) Until the final 15 minutes, I was anticipating a score of 6 to 8 out of 10; instead, it was kind of like discovering that Lieutenant Columbo's dog is the REAL murderer. The story just wasn't credible, and I don't think the world's best director could have saved it without massive editing.