Small Sacrifices
- TV Mini Series
- 1989
- 2h 39m
A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.
- Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys
- 1 win & 5 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe real-life case of Diane Downs, on which movie is based on, foreshadows the 1994 trial and arrest of Susan Smith by 11 years. Like Downs, Smith pursued a man who didn't want to be with her because she had children. Refusing to take rejection, Smith also fabricated a story about being carjacked by a strange man, which caused her two small sons to drown while they were strapped in their mother's car. The shocking, disturbing truth was that Smith confessed that she had purposely pushed the car into the river, drowning the children in hopes of winning her boyfriend back. Both she and Downs remain in prison to this day.
- GoofsWhen Diane brings a pizza to her mailman friend Matt Jensen's house, she asks him if he likes mushrooms on his pizza while holding the pizza out to him. He says yes, but it's obvious that the pizza has no mushrooms on it.
- Quotes
Psychiatrist: As a psychiatrist, it is my professional opinion that Diane Downs' personality disorders qualify her as a dangerous offender. She is a sociopath: an antisocial personality without any concern for the rights of others. She has a brilliant mind with no conscience to guide it. A narcissist who sees herself as the center of everything, who will get what she wants no matter what means that she has to employ, no matter who or what stands in her way. She's not able to have or understand love.
Judge Foote: The death of a child is one of life's greatest tragedies, what might have been. When it comes intentionally, at the hands of a parent, it is just an outrage. I've fought my own battles between emotion and reason. To prevent some future parole board from forgetting the enormity of the crimes, I hereby sentence you to the following: for assault in the first degree, counts three and five, twenty years with a ten year minimum; for attempted murder, counts two and four, thirty years with a fifteen year minimum; for first-degree murder, life plus five years minimum. The court hopes the defendant will never again be free; I've come as close to that as possible.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 42nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1990)
- moonspinner55
- May 4, 2002
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