Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story (1994 TV Movie) User Reviews

Holier then a moth eaten wool sweater

[marbleann · 5/10 · 27 August 2005]

This is a OK movie. We get to see a early Hilary Swank and Carolyn McCormick from Law and Order playing Donna's sister, the Jacklyn Smith character. THis movie is about a battered wife of a police man and it told from her standpoint while her teenage son is visiting her in jail. I am very torn about this movie. Another person pointed out the thing that bothers me the most. Why didn't any one speak out about the abuse they saw? First off we know he is a crazy cop and the cops know he is crazy too. There was a incident in the movie where he uses a gun on a 9 year old. It was on the radio about what he did. So why would it be so far fetched to hear that he was abusing his wife? We seen no corroboration from the Hilary Swank character who is actually living in the house and see all of this abuse. She became pregnant and was so afraid of the Brad Johnson character she had to get Donna to tell him. He went off the deep end. She has a sister who knows what is going on and when she comes to pick her up , Donna stays with him because of his threats! So this women did have a place to go, something most battered women do not and she had support from her sister. Then to top things off she goes to a women shelter with their little boy, he hunts her down and then threatens the woman who is running the place. Where are these people when she got arrested and during the trial? Did I mention he believes her husband may have killed his first wife? Then we have the husbands sidekick, friend, heck I don't know what he is. But he hangs out with him. He see that hubby is taking steroids and is a nut case even with the little boy. He is obviously sympathetic to Donna and he agrees to kill her husband when asked. They said if she pulled the trigger she would of gotten less time. But being this man was a cop I think most people would gotten a hit person if they were inclined to kill a cop who has been beating them. It wasn't like she went to the Mafia or called 1800-EXECUTE and hired one. This guy was a friend of the family who saw everything. In any case where are all these people who witnessed all of the abuse? Oh and it looked like the woman who ran the battered women shelter even called the cops when the husband burst into the house, because there were other women there too. There is no record of that? All we hear about is two doctors at the trial, one who talks about the battered women syndrome and one who refutes it by saying men get battered too. That according to her was enough to sway the jury!

Most of the time women are so scared and afraid and embarrassed it is a big secret about what is happening to them. But according to this movie this was not the case. So here is where I am having problems. This movie is filled with more holes then a spaghetti colander. I think a good case can be made about being a battered wife without making the husband so over the top. So my question begs was this man really the nut we see in the movie? Was he a raging maniac that we see in the movie or was he just like most batterers, seemingly normal men who look like they wouldn't hurt flea? I ask that because of the lack of corroboration offered when Donna is arrested and put on trial.

Jacklyn Smith was OK. But Brad Johnson scared me. He was very good. Hilary Swank didn't have much to do. The movie was OK, but I feel it is not being completely honest with us. I felt they went overboard to stress how bad of a guy he was but it doesn't add up. He would just as much of a villain by just beating his wife as far as I am concerned.

Jaclyn Smith does very well but was miscast

[dewey22 · 6/10 · 2 September 1999]

This is a typical wife-abuse movie which is well acted. The main problem with this production is the casting of Jaclyn Smith. She does a creditable portrayal-however as an obviously intelligent individual, she has to portray someone who does highly illogical things that someone of her intellect wouldn't.

Interesting, but typical of most Lifetime movies about battered women.

[gemini764 · 6/10 · 27 August 2005]

This is the story of a battered woman in fear of her life who elicits the help of two friends to kill her husband. She is arrested and tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The story is narrated by Jacklin Smith's character in jail as she tells her grown up son what happened to his father. Although a very suspenseful look a domestic abuse, the movie follows the traditional Lifetime TV conventional formula of the weak, helpless, ignorant female who is the victim of circumstance and mistreated he husband and by the law. All men in the movie are portrayed as sexist jerks except for her little boy who would do anything to make his mother happy. All the women in the movie are portrayed as weak and passive, helplessly letting men step all over them. So her husband's a cop, that's no excuse for not calling the police and having him arrested when he hits on her. She calls her sister, who's as weak and helpless as she is. Didn't she ever think to call the police and press criminal charges? They may be her husband's friends and colleagues, but if it's a domestic violence call and they have to make an arrest, then they will. And if she had so much money to throw at hit men, couldn't she have gone to an attorney and asked for help in filing a divorce? She never once talked about getting a divorce from her husband. When she tries to leave him with the help of her sister, he says she can't take the baby. Well, if she can't take the baby, couldn't she just leave the baby behind and flee for her own safety? I mean, I know it's a maternal thing to look after your children and their well being, but you can't help them if you can't help yourself. And also, why didn't the people at the shelter help her when her husband came and dragged her away? Because those women are helpless, ignorant fools too! So she stayed with her husband to try to protect her baby and what happens: she kills her husband and gets put away; the baby is now a grown up young man off to start college and begin his life. He walks away free while she stays behind bars. She says she stayed because she loved him and tried to block out all the bad things,but I can't help but wonder if she also stayed because she's a gold digging freeloader? This movie makes Donna Yaklich come across as a stupid, gold digging bimbo who helplessly lets a man kick her around while making no rational attempts to get help for herself except cry to her little sister and stepdaughter who are too stupid themselves to help her. Why didn't her sister testify at the trial? She was a witness too. The most compelling part of the movie was the end, when her son tells her "someday when you're free and will come for you and we will go see the ocean together" since that was always her dream. She looks at the old woman, also an inmate, and knows she may grow old in jail and her dream may never come true. Then she says in narration, "if a man kills a his wife, he gets 6 years, if a woman kills her husband she gets 20 years and I got 40 years". Well, yeah, don't blame yourself for being brainless and stupid, blame it on society and the law. This was a good attempt to make viewers feel sorry for Donna Yacklich.

The Devil is in the Details

[leahsingworld · 14 May 2017]

In the real story as told on the ID Channel's true crime series "Evil Stepmother," Donna Yaklich allegedly, both physically & verbally, abused her stepchildren, especially the youngest, which was her 5 year old stepdaughter. Also, during the autopsy there was no evidence found of steroid use in Dennis Yaklich's remains. Moreover, the decease's family accused Donna of stealing $11,000 from his parents & that she was motivated by greed. Dennis had $325,000 worth of life insurance.

Where does a battered woman draw the line when the violence goes too far?

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 7/10 · 19 January 2015]

Cries Unheard is a Lifetime movie telling the disturbing and sad story of Donna and her family under the thumb of her husband, Dennis. Much like the CBC movie Life With Billy, this movie shows what happens when push comes to shove and abuse goes too far.

Dennis wasn't such a bad guy at first; he appeared on the surface to be a very kind man, respected cop and caring father. Naturally Donna falls in love soon after their first date, but when she notices a disturbing and violent change in his behavior, his hair becoming unkempt and getting acne, so has no idea what to assume. Finally she notices his excessive weight lifting obsessions and pill-popping and realizes that it's steroids, but by the time she realizes the trap she's fallen into, it's too late to get out. Her only wish is either die... or for Dennis to die.

Cries Unheard, for a Lifetime movie, has its moments. It gets very shocking at times, but unfortunately it's a typical movie, very easy to predict. I already knew what to expect right away when the intro started up. Still, the acting was good and the soundtrack as well. If you're looking for a movie just to pass the time, look no further, but don't watch it expecting anything original.

Relatively entertaining but lacking in credibility

[nicholas.rhodes · 7/10 · 22 February 2006]

It's difficult for me to give a totally accurate assessment of this film for the following reasons 1) I am totally subdued by the physical, oral and characterial beauty of Jaclyn Smith as the main character and 2) the film script would appear to be lacking in credibility. But I do enjoy films that illustrate the changes in peoples' character between two points in time, even if a change towards the negative causes me anguish ( I prefer a character that starts out bad and ends up good !! ) In this film then, much as I love Jaclyn Smith in the part of the main character, its just not believable ! Her husband-to-be shows us a sample of his violence BEFORE they even get married and she still goes ahead and marries him ??? No human being in their right mind would do that, and if they do, quite frankly they deserve all they get !! That is my main bone of contention, also Jaclyn Smith is portrayed in an angelic light throughout the film and her husband comes over as an evil bastard. As the film is based on what is supposed to be a true story ( if so, it's unknown here in Europe ), and in true life, nothing is all black or all white, I am tempted to believe that the husband was probably far less bad than was portrayed and that she was not a saint ! To what degree exactly I don't know as I don't have the evidence. The film makes for interesting watching, more so the first than the second half but as I say, I derived a lot of pleasure from the choice of actress for the main part !

Queen of TV movie's strike's again

[steeleronaldr · 7/10 · 22 March 2022]

I gotta hand it Jacklyn Smith as her talent is great, she was named not too only the Queen of Miniseries but TV movie's as well. Brad Johnson (10/24/1959-02/18/2022) had the talent and the gusto. Both however don't seem to fit their given roles. Jacklyn Smith seemed a bit too relaxed during this movie as well as when she was being abused, she fails to capture the same emotional level that her "Charlie's Angels" costar Farrah Faucett achieved in "The Burning Bed". You feel for her and want to help but at the same time her relaxed performance seemed overplayed. Brad Johnson never had that moment in his career and here he played it best as we the audience fear those around him. Together they spark zero chemistry but the subject matter (wife abuse) can override that chemistry.

One thing I thought when watching his emotional moment was "how did anyone know that happened if no one was there" though he could have (and that's a big could have) told Donna Yaklich he cried. Too much here say plays a big part in this movie which subsides the story itself. I mean she was the one telling the story so how did she know what was happening when she wasn't there.

Still this movie does grab your attention and that's what I liked best about it. It moved at a good pace and bared little filler. It's not the Burning Bed but does get it's point across. The sentencing was rough but overall could have been better.

Absurd

[nightroses · 2/10 · 31 May 2019]

Halfway through watching it, I discovered that it was supposed to be based on a true story. I made a Google search and found that the reality was totally different to the portrayal in this TV drama. Even though it claims to be based on a true story, it isn't. That was very misleading. Regards to the facts of the story, one wonders why they made this rubbish and omitted what actually happened. The acting was good, which is why I voted two stars.

Granted, this movie may not reflect 100% fact

[MarieGabrielle · 8/10 · 25 June 2006]

but the truth is, no woman should EVER endure this torture from her husband.

While Yaklich's reputation has been marred as having planned this out (to collect insurance money) this does not mean she deserved to be beaten and emotionally abused by her husband. Yes, he was a vice cop; that does not give him carte blanche to treat everyone as subordinate, which he apparently did.

There is a brief appearance by Hillary Swank, as Donna's stepdaughter. Brad Johnson and Jaclyn Smith fit the roles accordingly, and if even half of this film is accurate, Donna's husband was a monster.

This film is educational, and helpful for women's issues. Whether or not the victim received money, in the end, is a moot point. Donna deserved a stable marriage, and instead endured years of abuse. This is NEVER acceptable. 8/10

Fictional and Self Serving.

[katepig · 2/10 · 16 May 2019]

This woman was a horrific child abuser and murder that murdered her husband and then destroyed his reputation. Her own son wants nothing to do with her. This move was fictional in its' entirety. She was anything but a victim.

Insensitive world we live in

[Jayegilleland · 8/10 · 1 February 2006]

I am shocked at the manner in which some people view domestic abuse. It seems that if the woman is being abused, she did something to deserve it and the punishment is light. I believe that Dennis Yalkich was a bully and abused his position as a police officer. It is a known fact that he intimidated his co-workers and would stop at nothing in order to get his way. Why didn't others report him? Are you kidding me? Would you report someone who might come and terrorize you and yours? Where could Donna go? 'Leave her child and flee for her own safety'?? What mother in her right mind would leave her child with a monster? The injustice and unprofessional manner in which the judge acted is such a poor example of our justice system. While I think that the movie could have been 'better', I still thought it was good enough to watch on 2 different occasions. I've read nothing but support for Dennis and how he was the 'victim' here. I see a lot of other victims, those who sympathize with those who abuse their positions and take advantage of others.

Poorly made pack of lies

[highwaytourist · 1/10 · 20 May 2017]

This poorly made movie failed to get the facts. Donna Yaklish was proved to be a liar. In fact, she abused her stepchildren when her husband was at work. On the TV show "Evil Stepmothers," her stepdaughter claims for the record that Donna threatened and beat her. While Donna is portrayed as prisoner in the home, she actually led a very active social life, which included cheating on her husband. She stole money from her husband's parents. No one ever saw bruises on her even when she wore revealing clothes. The autopsy showed no steroids in her husband's body. After her husband died, she kicked her stepchildren out of the house and kept the insurance money for herself.

This film is not only a slander to an innocent man, but it's a disservice to women who are real victims of domestic violence.

Jaclyn Smith is sensational! Possible spoiler if you haven't seen it

[timothy-5 · 26 September 2002]

Having walked her way through Charlie's Angels with the emotional range of a cold fish, Jaclyn Smith redeems herself with this movie. She has to do many difficult scenes where she suffers physical and emotional abuse from her husband, and the most heartbreaking is where she weeps when her husband forces her to look at photographs of mutilated bodies. This story is true, and that makes it all the more unpleasant.

lies

[hulseken · 1/10 · 22 September 2017]

If you want to watch a fictional movie then fine. if you think it has any relationship to the truth it doesn't. IT is filled with lies. No steroids were ever found to have been used by the husband/ she forged checks and ruined him financially/had multiple affairs and lied throughout. If they want to play this as fiction fine but lies pretending to be truth is deplorable. ASk the children of this poor guy about how wonderful or supposedly abused this killer was

Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story

[gransom · 9/10 · 15 March 2005]

I remember my mom telling me a story about a women who was beaten to death by her husband in her hometown in Portsmouth, VA. Folks in the small neighborhood heard the man beating his wife. In fact, the beating was so severe that mom said it sounded as if he was chopping wood. However, it was during the era when people didn't interfere with a man "disciplining" his wife. The man got less than 5 years for the murder. Similar to the facts in the Donna Yaklich Story -- folks who could have made a difference stayed loyal to the old myth that what a man does with his woman is his "business" -- no matter how terrible. I'd like to think we've grown more as a society, however, my perception is that lawsuits against law enforcement agencies has been the main factor in changing laws that affect the abuse of women. As with everything else, it's a matter of money and politics. I wish Donna hadn't felt so helpless, and had taken greater steps to protect her life via the legal system.

Ignores the truth

[bregund · 1/10 · 15 October 2005]

Yes abuse is awful, but Donna Yaclich was a scheming, greedy, manipulative woman who had her husband killed for insurance money. To this day she shows no remorse for hiring some guys to kill her husband. Any way you slice it, she is an evil woman and deserved every moment of the forty years that she got in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. Unfortunately, this movie casually ignores the horrible thing she did to her husband and to their children. Let's say she killed him because she could no longer stand the abuse and wanted to protect her children, that might be believable, but no she did it for the money. And because her husband was "killed" in the line of duty, she got double the money. This is no accident, she carefully planned it this way all along, knowing that her husband's life insurance policy would pay double if he were killed on the job. Then after the funeral she partied in Jamaica. No remorse whatsoever, this woman is unbelievably evil. I don't know how anyone can watch this movie and feel sorry for Donna Yaclich, she is a horrible woman. Even today in t.v. interviews, she expresses no remorse for having someone killed.

Excellent movie

[jenniferny · 10/10 · 4 April 2008]

This was an excellent movie that tells TWO important stories: Story One is the story of the true life of a battered woman, Story Two is the story of how cops and the cities that employ them cover up the wrong doing and illegal activities of one of their own. Each story is unique unto itself and both are excellent examples of why Donna Yaklich should have been found not guilty of an wrong doing. She tried to leave and her husband used his credentials as a police officer to locate the shelter, remove her from the shelter against her will only to take her back to his house, hold her prisoner there against her will and continue to abuse her at will, something she tried to but was powerless to stop or to protect herself from it or to leave. She did the only thing she could do to stop the abuse and if he had been anything other than a police officer he would have been unable to even find the location of the shelter and even if he did find the location if he were anything but a police officer HE would have been the one arrested. The entire production and direction staff along with the cast and deserve the credit for an excellent movie and for telling a story that needed to be told. Both the direction and the acting were well above average. Its a movie that you can watch over and over and enjoy it every time.

Grueling "based on a true story" garbage...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 5 March 2009]

Jaclyn Smith, arguably the most beautiful of Charlie's Angels--though not especially the best actress of the bunch--goes the 'abused wife' route in this undernourished made-for-TV movie. She's a young woman who, after two dates with a single dad/narcotics officer/ex-bodybuilder, decides to move into his house and act as best friend to his miserable daughter. Brad Johnson is the widower who is described as sweet and gentle, yet we can see from the get-go that he's overly-intense and a little dangerous. One comment from a friend about his shrinking muscles has Johnson injecting himself in the bathroom and popping pills, all of which hopes to explain his violent behavior towards Smith, but I didn't buy it. As presented, this telefilm is lopsided and badly handled. Johnson's character is clearly a handful even before Jaclyn marries him, and her character's stupidity in falling for his little-boy tricks is a turn-off for the audience. Although based on a true story, this tale of possible vengeance follows a tried-and-true pattern; nothing which comes out of it is remotely surprising or enlightening. It exists only to exploit the problem of spousal abuse--and to give Smith a meaty acting role.

she said - he dead

[westpac · 28 April 2003]

Typical battered wife movie overlooks the main point in that it offers virtually no corroboration for Donna Yaklich's supposed abuse at the hands of her husband, a decorated police officer, and instead attempts to justify her decision to hire two bumbling petty crooks to gun him down in cold blood by showing, well, nothing. A scene of the husband forcibly removing her from a battered woman shelter begs the question: did no one at the shelter make any attempt to notify the authorities that he had essentially assaulted and kidnapped her? Isn't that what shelters are for? Endless scenes of him lifting weights (and obviously not Brad Johnson) and steroid taking do little except pad out the running time. The story is obviously told from one point of view only, but then since the other point of view was gunned down by the first POV there isn't much to tell.

Lie!!!!

[lgamergirl · 1/10 · 15 April 2022]

Donna was never a victim, she mistreated her stepdaughter and murdered her husband for money and revenge! This movie is a lie! It is unacceptable that they made a film to denigrate the image of the husband murdered by the ambition of this unfortunate woman! The autopsy proved that he was not on steroids!

ANY ABUSE SHOULD BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY!

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 22 June 2003]

This true story shocked me with the fact that women are given longer prison sentences than men for killing. Women receive 40 years for killing a husband and men get from 2 to 6 years. WHY IS THAT? The same goes for the wages that men receive over the years, vs women. Jackie Smith(Donna Yaklich) gave an excellent performance in her acting as Donna Yaklich. Brad Johnson (Dennis) made you hate him beyond words, the way he treated his wife. However, there is always a better way to solve a problem in a marriage when the husband becomes a Frankenstein.(even if he is a policeman) Having someone kill for you is no solution to any problem and only makes matters worse. Having to sit in a jail cell for 40 years and think about your horrible decision is WORSE! Donna Yaklich should have screamed HELP, while her husband was busy lifting his WEIGHTS!

the most awful movie based on lie

[edb-30100 · 1/10 · 21 February 2023]

Well, apparently you can hire two hitman to kill somebody and still be innocent and everybody sympathize you! How? Guess what! The victim was a man and the person who hired to kill him was a woman!

That was the story which this movie claims to be based on!

Seriously?! Cries unheard? Well, definitely the 11 women of jury had heard her enough. And everybody believed the best police officer with no history of violence was violent toward a woman who killed him and took the insurance money and had fun with several bulky lovers.

That guy wasn't around to defend himself, and she also didn't have any substantial evidence to prove he was violent.

But she had one enormous advantage; EMOTIONS!

Nice job.

This woman got a totally raw deal from the justice system!

[BreanneB · 10/10 · 16 July 2012]

Donna Yacklich was a battered woman who was trapped and beaten mercilessly. She tried desperately to get away from Dennis Yaklich with no success whatsoever. He was a very nasty sociopath who took steroids and lifted weights obsessively. He was also a police officer who abused his position in society.

I find it sickening that Donna got such a harsh sentence, 40 years to life. I think she should have been fully acquitted of the crime. She had nowhere to turn. Where was she suppose to go? Not the cops obviously he was one of them. Do you know how hard it is to get around that.

Watch and learn about red flags of abuse.

[chula1 · 30 August 2005]

Unless you have walked that path of abuse it is really hard to say what is rational and what is not. I know from experience that all you do is try to escape and when there is no out because he comes after you every time then your mind begins to think of any means out for a normal life. It is sad when I read the comments of others about yelling HELP etc. because she did when she went to a shelter and asked his friends for help. The only thing to do is to look for red flags in a relationship and get out at the first sign of violence. She should have left when he threw the can at her but unless you know about abuse and violence you have no idea of what you are in for.

I believe it is a true story despite reading here it's not. 8 stars due to Brad Johnson and Jacklyn Smith!

[taylor8519 · 8/10 · 22 July 2023]

I'm a fan of all lifetime(non-fiction books, movies).the beautiful Actress from Charlie's Angels, so beautiful(still)old now, yes, senior citizen as she is so good in this as a much younger Jacklyn Smith portraying Donna Yachlich. I am thinking that she was doing the "best"she can per script. Was not able to cry alot,however, in a few scenes, she did. I am one who love her acting, with the good looking & quite handsome,but sexy-ruggedly hot & handsome, "average actor, playin' an abusive cop, Dennis Yachlich, (Brad Johnson)..Cried at the last part, regarding her cute son, 18 now(back then) hope he is good in life. No 1 deserve to be murdered, but, i do "understand it."Adios.