Murder in Coweta County

Some of the other reviewers have remarked surprise at the solid, serious performances of Griffith and Cash. Few people these days are aware that both these fine performers actually first appeared in film in very serious roles, Griffith in "Face in the Crowd" and Cash in "A Gunfight" - both solid dramatic films. Both Griffith and Cash have oddly complex histories as artists and oddly complex personalities as artists - far more so than many of their fans understand.

At any rate, as a TV film, this relies very heavily on the performances of these actors, and they do very well. Cash especially is quietly forceful, as if he were always holding a loaded gun but knows better than ever to pull the trigger. His character knows that to respond to Griffith's John Wallace with a vigilante's fury would be to make much the same mistake as Wallace himself: assuming that human will, and not the law, rules our fates. Since Cash's sheriff sides with and defends the law - and ultimately depends upon it - he represents a truly American heroism, devoted to country as much as God, and to the law for which the country stands. His tearing down of the Wallace empire is thus a major historical change in the lives of the people in the two counties involved - from aristocracy to democratic republic, a change as radical as the Civil War that essentially laid the foundations for it in the South.

One note of caution: Even for a television movie, I found the first third of film a bit disturbing: Wallace's casual viciousness is truly upsetting. He's not a 'villain' because he takes delight in the suffering of others - it's just that others' lives are utterly meaningless to him, except insofar as they contribute to his happiness as tools, or can be readily removed if they become obstacles. Thus his final prayer is not hypocritical - he honestly believes that all God wants of creation is to keep John Wallace happy - a reminder that just believing in God and professing Christ does not one make one a Christian - a reminder crucially important in the current era.

NOTE: After submitting the above I discovered Johnny Cash's real film debut, as a psycho killer in "Five Minutes to Live" - release date 1965, but probably filmed 1959. Very weird performance by Cash. A very young Ron Howard also appears in a brief but important role.