292:), threatening him with an awl. George retreats to the basement in the family's home, where Richie follows him. George retrieves a revolver from his toolbox and aims it at Richie, but does not fire it, cocking the hammer back in an attempt to convince his son that he is not bluffing. Richie screams repeatedly for his father to shoot him. George manages to overpower Richie by knocking the awl from his hand, but Richie retreats upstairs and returns to the basement with a pair of scissors and taunts his father over and over again, daring him to shoot him, approaching him closer, thinking that George doesn't have the nerve to do it.
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Though the shooting scene was kept short in order to meet the more restrictive censorship limits of NBC at the time, a brief scream is heard from Richie after the gunshot. This would be edited out in future airings of the movie. The aural intensity of the gunshot was also toned down in subsequent
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Father and son make genuine attempts to meet each other halfway and see some success. Richie gets a job, although he loses it later when Brick and his thugs show up there. George even helps Richie get closer to Sheila (Cynthia
Eilbacher), a girl from school that he likes. But the father-son
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To us you will exist in the flowers, in the trees, and in all the things of nature that God has given us. Richie, you are now in a world of peace and happiness forever. Pray for us as we pray for you. And somewhere, sometime, we will join you. With love from all your
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The movie's climax comes when George intervenes by informing the police of his son's activities in a desperate attempt to save his life. Richie confronts his father in a drug-induced rage (from ingestion of what is referred to as "reds," usually slang for
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relationship worsens as social pressures and personal feelings drive Richie deeper into his drug addiction; as his drug abuse escalates, they have increasingly violent confrontations. Family counseling is offered, but George refuses to participate.
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The movie ends with a brief written epilogue over a still shot of George placing a rose on Richie's casket, stating that a grand jury voted unanimously not to indict George Werner for the shooting death of his son, and that he lives as a free man.
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With a steady hand, George pulls the trigger. A blinding flash from the gun's barrel then morphs into a bouquet of flowers on a mahogany casket in the cemetery from the beginning, rejoining the service. Following
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speaks. An older couple dressed in black is closest to the casket, suggesting that they are the deceased's parents. The grief-stricken father weeps openly and his wife comforts him.
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about the 1972 death of George
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The film opens with a scene of a burial in a large suburban cemetery. Mourners, many of them young people, surround a casket while a
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The story then cuts from the cemetery to a car swerving erratically on a street. Inside is 17-year-old Richie Werner (
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This is the beginning of a series of episodes that bring Richie into conflict with his father George (
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plays his younger brother
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George Diener, the real-life father, died of cancer in April 1981 at age 52.
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Carol Diener, Richie's mother, died in
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plays Richie's loving but ineffectual mother Carol, and
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429:The Life and Death of Richie Diener
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860:American drama television films
408:Movie Guide: The New York Times
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875:Films directed by Paul Wendkos
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582:Guns of the Magnificent Seven
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895:1970s English-language films
726:Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
880:Films scored by Fred Karlin
670:The Legend of Lizzie Borden
598:The Brotherhood of the Bell
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186:Henry Jaffe Enterprises
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845:1977 television films
526:Because They're Young
246:on January 10, 1977.
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870:Films about families
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478:The Burglar
270:Ben Gazzara
110:Fred Karlin
92:Ben Gazzara
74:Directed by
850:1977 films
839:Categories
590:Hell Boats
534:Angel Baby
389:9 December
364:9 December
359:erowid.org
341:References
232:drama film
213:1977-01-10
178:97 minutes
132:Production
64:Written by
806:The Chase
234:based on
702:Betrayal
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305:friends.
298:Psalm 23
256:eulogist
147:Producer
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825:(1997)
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