Any Mother's Son
A mother fights the Navy for the truth about her son's murder.
Directed by David Burton Morris, the 1997 TV movie Any Mother's Son dramatizes the real-life murder of gay Navy sailor Allen Schindler. Premiering on Lifetime on August 11, 1997, it starred Bonnie Bedelia, Hedy Burress, Sada Thompson, and Paul Popowich. The film earned a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie, and Bedelia was nominated for a CableACE Award for Outstanding Actress in a Movie or Miniseries.
Quick Facts
- Based on
- Murder of Allen Schindler
- Writer
- Bruce Harmon
- Director
- David Burton Morris
- Starring
- Bonnie Bedelia
- Hedy Burress
- Paul Popowich
- Scott Gibson
- Michael Gabriel
- Music
- Pray for Rain
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Producer
- Joan Barnett
- Joseph DiPasquale
- Jack Grossbart
Facts from the source article.
Plot
In 1992, 22-year-old Navy sailor Allen Schindler is beaten to death in a public restroom in Sasebo, Japan, his body identifiable only by tattoos. His mother Dorothy Hajdys is denied full details by Navy representatives. A reporter from the Pacific Stars and Stripes tells her Schindler was gay, which she had not known, and suggests this motivated the killing. The Navy has already made a deal with an accomplice, who served 78 days of a four-month sentence after a secret court-martial. Hajdys joins a journalist to force the Navy to reveal the whole truth.
Production notes
The film is told from Hajdys' point of view and based partly on official Navy documents and sworn statements from Terry M. Helvey and Charles E. Vins. The real-life Dorothy Hajdys-Holman selected the title and received $65,000 as technical advisor. The movie was shot in Toronto, Canada, where parts of her house were re-created. The Navy refused to cooperate. Bonnie Bedelia said she found the story astounding and the emotional intensity more demanding than expected. Hajdys said Bedelia captures the heart of her story and cried through her first viewing. In one scene, Hajdys confronts a Navy public relations officer. Vins, contacted by media before release, stated "I don't feel the world needs to know my business."
Critical reception
The Christian Science Monitor said Bonnie Bedelia gave a strong performance and "is the best thing about this fact-based drama, which places more emphasis on weeping than solutions." The Los Angeles Times review stated "the film does not tread lightly on Naval sensitivities, painting a stark picture of official obfuscation and secrecy" and called Bedelia's performance "fine-tuned, understated." A UK-based review called Bedelia's performance "stunning" but felt the movie was "restrained, toned down to not offend an audience with too much grit, drama and realism." Historian Stephen Tropiano, in The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, called it a "powerful made-for-TV movie" with a "terrific performance from Bedelia."
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