Echoes in the Darkness (1987)

Beautiful, moving film.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There are two versions of the original mini-series and one cuts out the Jay Smith trial(DVD version). The VHS version includes the Smith murder trial and is about 90 minutes longer than the DVD. Sometimes, Amazon sells copies of the movie, on VHS, but obtaining a VCR to watch it might be a problem.The movie is true to the book except it cuts out one important character: Rachel (Her real name is Joanne Aiken). Aiken was the only Bradfield girlfriend that did not turn on him. She testified in both of Bradfield's trials but for some reason, she does not appear in the mini-series.The only problem with the movie is the story did not end with Jay Smith's murder conviction, in the mid-1980s. In 1990, evidence from Jack Holt's garage was discovered that led the Pa. state supreme court to overturn Smith's conviction and declare double jeopardy because the police and DA had suppressed evidence that would have probably led to a not guilty verdict, in Smith's murder trial.The movie is truthful to the facts of the case but it left out things like the author of the book paying Holt $ 50,000.00, if Smith and Bradfield were convicted of murder.It is an additive story and to know the whole story, one needs to read a book called "Principle Suspect" by Smith's second lawyer. There are four books about the murders and each provides a unique view of the case that make them worth reading.

I found this site by accident. I went to Upper Merion too, 1975. I remember Mrs. Reinert and the rest of the English department. It is sad that we will never know what happened to her children. It was so strange watching the whole thing unfold, involving people I knew; then the books and the movie. Like others have said the movie got a lot of things wrong, but I always figured they were intentionally trying to make things look less like the real thing for some reason. Dr Smith was a joke (we called him JC) but he was the principal. I remember him doing morning announcements and just rambling on and on about nothing. It was great cause we missed part of first period, but he was a weird guy. If you wonder how so many people could be taken in by Bradfield I could never figure it out either. Most of my girl friends had Bradfield's class and they just thought he was wonderful, some kind of genius. I never got it, he always seemed so phony to me, but then I never had a class with him. I had Miss Myers for English and what a shock it was to find out she was dating anyone, let alone living with Bradfield. She was a lot mousier than she was portrayed in the movie, always wore her hair in a bun. I've always had one big question that never got answered: The newspaper stories always talked about JCs family: his wife who died and his daughter Stephanie & her husband who disappeared suspiciously, but they never ever mentioned his other daughter Sherry, she was in my class. The movie didn't go into this side story about JCs daughter & son in law, the local cops thought JC killed them too but couldn't prove anything. It was just odd that in all the background stories that were printed, a second daughter was never mentioned. I always wondered why. Did JC do something to her too?

I remember seeing this when it debuted on TV (well, the first part at least) and finally got to catch up with it again. This is an epic miniseries (a 2 nighter) about English teacher William Bradfield (Peter Coyote) who is suspected of murdering his fellow teacher/secret lover Susan Reinart (Stockard Channing) and her two children. Policemen Joe Van Nort (Peter Boyle) and Jack Holtz (Gary Cole) spend nearly 6 years trying to get info on the guy. Based on the true crime novel by former cop Joseph Wambaugh (THE NEW CENTURIONS, THE ONION FIELD), this one really packs a punch with the multiple twists and turns. Coyote is excellent as the eccentric Bradfield. One has to wonder how so many people could fall under this guy's spell in real life, but Coyote gives a performance with such conviction that you begin to see why. The supporting cast, which also includes Treat Williams and Robert Loggia, is great with Gary Cole giving a really good performance.

Just happened to see this web site. I was the Lynn Reinert that was featured in the film. My then husband, Ken Reinert, and I had been married about 2 years when all this occured. The movie is very accurate. Joseph Wambaugh sat down with me for a month and interviewed me for the book. It was a nightmare and is still hard to believe that it happened to us at all. If anyone has any questions about the whole thing, I'll try to answer them. Ken died 2 years ago this June. At least now he's with his children and knows what happened to them. It was a very disturbing thing to go thru and something that I hope no one else ever has too. As I said, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them.