Cruel Doubt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Cruel Doubt
Cruel Doubt.jpg
Based onCruel Doubt
by Joe McGinniss
Screenplay byJohn Gay
Story byJoe McGinniss
Directed byYves Simoneau
StarringBlythe Danner
Matt McGrath
Ed Asner
Adam Baldwin
Gwyneth Paltrow
Theme music composerGeorge S. Clinton
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Producer(s)Susan Baerwald
CinematographyElliot Davis
Editor(s)Rick Fields
Michael Ornstein
Running time187 min.
Original networkNBC
Original releaseMay 17, 1992
Preceded byBlind Faith (1990)


Ed Asner, Adam Baldwin and Dennis Farina also star.

The miniseries is based on the 1991 true crime book Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss, which documents the 1988 murder of Lieth Von Stein by his stepson, Chris Pritchard, and two friends, James Upchurch and Gerald Neal Henderson.[1]


In their bedroom asleep one night, Bonnie and Leith Von Stein are violently attacked and stabbed by home intruders. Bonnie barely survives, but her husband does not.

The investigation into who could do such a thing, and for what purpose, takes an unexpected twist when Bonnie's son Chris Pritchard becomes a prime suspect in the case. Police theorize that it is possible Chris provided two friends from school, Henderson and Upchurch, with a detailed map to the Von Stein family's home, resulting in his mother and stepfather being assaulted while Chris and his sister Angela were in their own bedrooms in the house.

The savagery of the crime and the absurdity of the charge leads Bonnie to hire attorney Bill Osteen to represent Chris, in as much as she finds it impossible that he could have played a role in her husband's murder. The more police investigate, however, the more Osteen tries to prepare Bonnie that her son may indeed be involved. And that even Angela may know more than she has been telling.



Although the film brought much attention to the murder of Von Stein, devotees of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons have criticized it for unfairly placing blame of the murders upon the game.[2] The three perpetrating friends were supposedly fanatics[citation needed]. The film unethically featured the actual Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st-edition rulebook (which by then was a multi-million best-seller) but with a piece of artwork visibly pasted into the pages of the book (depicting an orc with a dagger and backpack similar to the ones in the murder depicted), implying that it had caused the murders.[3]


  1. ^ McGinniss misspells the name "Neil," but it is spelled correctly in Jerry Bledsoe's book Blood Games.
  2. ^ The Attacks on Role-Playing Games Archived 2007-08-05 at the Wayback Machine, by Paul Cardwell, Jr., originally published in Skeptical Inquirer, 18:2, 1994 (157-165).
  3. ^ Cruel Doubt on The Escapist's FAQ

External links[edit]