The Matthew Shepard Story (2002 TV Movie) User Reviews

A National Symbol Of Hate Crime Against Gays

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 January 2009]

We live in a visual age and the horrifying thing about Matthew Shepard's demise is that it is far from an isolated incident. I'm in a better position to know more than most because I worked for New York State Crime Victims Board for 23 years. I can give the reader the names of several victims of horrifying incidents that resulted in homicide or serious injury, but these cases were covered locally or at most statewide.

The real hero in The Matthew Shepard Story as far as I'm concerned is some anonymous individual working for a wire service who picked up the local story of a kid being left for dead on a lonely road on a barbed wire fence in the state of Wyoming in a coma. The visual picture of little Matthew all 5'3" of him stretched out like he was crucified gave a nationwide picture for America to ponder the effects of hate crimes against GLBT people. For the first time in our history a case like this got national coverage.

There were rallies in all 50 states calling for GLBT inclusive hate crime legislation. I remember attending one in Buffalo and with me was a friend who actually went to the University of Wyoming some twenty years earlier. He told me that Laramie, Wyoming was not the most gay friendly place in the world, but that he never had any serious problems that put him in fear of his life there.

The Matthew Shepard Story is as much about his parents Dennis and Judy Shepard played here by Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing and there efforts to support their gay son in life and give his death meaning as it is about Matthew who is portrayed by Shane Meier. Matthew was nothing special in life, just your average gay kid, trying to fit into a world that can be real hostile. He had his angst over his sexual orientation, but looked to be adjusting to it.

In my life I've also seen parents who behaved abominably when their kids came out or even when they suspected. The support that Dennis and Judy Shepard gave in life and after can never be overestimated. Sam Waterston has had many a courtroom moment as ADA Jack McCoy, but addressing the court and the perpetrators in the penalty phase of the trial of McKinney and Henderson might just have been his best.

Philip Morris, Wayne Purviance, Julio Rivera, James Zappalorti, Henry Marquez all may have met Matthew Shepard as he went from one plain of existence to another. Any one of them could have gotten the national coverage that Matthew Shepard did, it was fate that got him the national coverage they didn't have. Matthew was a national symbol for them as well as millions of others over time.

And so he tragically remains.

In response to earlier Comments. Sorry: SPOILER!

[MR-Tommey · 8/10 · 5 October 2005]

It was a great movie, and a story that HAD to be told, and has to be told for many more years to come. The senseless beating up of people just because they are different has to stop. The play of Stockard Channing is dignified and a worthy tribute to Matthew, Besides that, this movie is a great display of thoughts AGAINST death penalty, and I just hope that death sentence will stop, sooner or later.

In response to earlier questions: Matthew lived another 5 days, before he succumbed. And McCinnick still serves his sentence, did not go to death-row, and I hope he will serve his sentence for many more years, in remembrance of Matthew.

A Good Dramatization Of The Events Surrounding The Murder Of Mathew Shepard And The Trial Of His Murderer

[sddavis63 · 7/10 · 24 July 2010]

Essentially, this should be looked upon as a sort of companion piece to "The Laramie Project" - which also came out in the same year and dealt with the Mathew Shepard murder. The other movie adopted a documentary- style approach as it deals with the impact of the murder of Mathew Shepard on the town of Laramie, Wyoming, while this one offered a dramatization of the events. "The Mathew Shepard Story" does offer a fairly graphic and hard to watch portrayal right off the top of Mathew's murder (made even more graphic by the fact that some of it was shot in slow motion.) The movie then switches back and forth in two directions. We watch Mathew's parents (played very well by Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston) as they deal with their son's death, and particularly how they deal with an upcoming victim impact statement that has to be made and as they wrestle with whether or not to demand the death penalty for Mathew's murderer. Waterston especially was impressive as he portrayed Mathew's father making the victim impact statement. The emotion he offered up seemed both real and raw and was very moving to watch. We also watch snippets of Mathew's life, his struggles to come to terms with being gay, some of the hardships he had to deal with because he was gay, and finally how he was lured into the trap his killers set for him. Shane Meier did a great job with the role of Mathew.

I was a little bit surprised to discover that this was a Canadian movie, and it was a good one, which seemed to offer a fitting portrayal of Mathew's life.

Tragic True Story

[Ryguy7 · 18 March 2002]

The night I saw this movie, I had no idea it was going to be on. I don't remember seeing any promotion for it - and wonder how many people actually watched it.

On that same note, I really didn't know much about Matthew either. I'm a gay male, who's grown up in Canada all my life. I remember when it happened, reading it in the newspaper. Talking about it one night, but not knowing anything about it other than that it had happened.

I've read a few reviews on this movie, most of them saying this movie doesn't portray Matthew enough, that he lacks presence in the movie. I disagree.

At the end of the two hour special, I was in tears.

If you haven't heard, the Matthew Shepard story is a true story about a young man from Laramie, Wyoming who is beaten to death by two men - because he is gay.

The movie mainly focuses on his parents, played wonderfully by Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing - a year after his death and how they are dealing with the trial. Should they, or shouldn't they ask for the death penalty for his killers. Matthew appears <in a lot of the film> in flashbacks that show you most of his adult life.

You see him leaving for Switzerland while his parents are working in Saudi Arabia, learn that he is raped in Morocco <on a class trip>, comes back to Laramie, moves to Denver for awhile and comes back - only to be lured away by his two killers.

It's a great film, that managed to keep me interested for the entire two hours. Matthew was so innocent, and I can't believe things like this actually still happen.

If you haven't seen, I hope they'll run it again some time. It really is something to see. To watch how innocent he was at it all is really sad. As I said, I was crying - which is something I don't usually do at a TV show. I strongly recommend it, not only for it's true portrayal of this family's grief but to also learn that people's lives are taken away for such stupid reasons.

Matthew's become sort of a gay icon in North America, I can see why.

RY

Foolish Man Beats Gay Young Man To Death. What Was The Sentencing?

[james362001 · 7/10 · 17 March 2002]

Bravo to Executive Producer Goldie Hawn, however I thought the use of grainy film footage for the flashback scenes were unnecessary. This film would have played better if told in a three-act style (beginning, middle, end). I appreciate the fact that someone cared enough to tell this story about Matthew Shepard who apparently, according to this movie, had a private life, a personal friend, and had his whole life ahead of him. Everything looked good. Then he was unwillingly raped in Morocco. After coming to grips with his homosexuality and after he moved back to his hometown where he felt safe, another tragedy happened to him. An innocent night out turned into someone tying Matthew Shepard to a fence out in the middle of nowhere and repeatedly beat him with a pistol. It was fatal. Two things bother me about this film is that when (according to the movie) the police woman found Matthew Shepard the next morning during twilight/sunrise, still tied to the fence, we see a close-up of tears running down his face. This might make you think he was still alive when the officer found him. Having not paid attention to this story on the news, I do not really know what the actual facts are, but I would like to know if Matthew Shepard died during the beatings or did he die the next morning with the police officer holding him tenderly. The other thing is after the movie has ended we still do not know what the final sentencing of the criminal is. Did he get life in prison? They should not leave the audience hanging on like this.

Humanity wins

[Rod Evan · 10/10 · 7 October 2005]

The subject matter of this film was fairly abstract to me until I saw this film. You read the story of the murder and the trial, but somehow you don't get a clear picture of what really happened.

This is a heart breaking film. Some of us tend to judge America by its awful Capital Punishment laws, its brutality, its terrible president and we can forget that there are people working against these horrors. It is people like Stockard Channing and if my eyes didn't deceive me Goldie Hawn (executive producer) who can help make you reconsider what is happening there.

What was on trial in this film was humanity itself and against all the odds humanity won over. Lets hope that George Bush and his reactionary government will accidentally see this film one night when they have something better to do. That's my fantasy and like the film's ultimate hope I'll stick to it.

The Matthew Shehard's Parents' Story

[Suradit · 7/10 · 19 July 2013]

A tragic story that needed to be told in a medium that would be likely to catch the attention of at least some people who would otherwise not bother learning about someone like Matthew. The fact that people with the Hollywood credentials of Goldie Hawn, Stockard Channing and Sam Waterson were involved undoubtedly has also attracted some attention to the production.

This presentation of the story does seem to give greater attention to the parents and to their struggle to deal with all that happened than it does to Matthew himself. So many people in the film expressed their love for Matthew and stated that he was a caring person who was concerned with others, but there wasn't much evidence in the movie portrayal of him to support those claims. He seemed to come off as an extraordinarily naïve, self-centered, overly dramatic, two-dimensional individual. Maybe that's who he really was, but I think he was probably someone who was genuinely loved by others and he could have been portrayed with greater depth and in a more sympathetic manner.

It is good that his parents were accepting of who he was and tried to respect him, but as he said in the movie, he was really alone with no one to talk to about his problems because his parents, as loving and overly indulgent as they seemed, had no experience or realistic understanding of what he had to deal with.

His father got only the barest first hand glimpse of what it was like when he overheard jokes about gays in the bar where he went for a drink and seeing the hate mongers outside the court. Experiencing those sorts of things on a couple occasions is nothing like dealing with it every day of your life, often from a time when you're quite young and have no idea why or how you are different from others. Telling Matthew they loved him was great but woefully inadequate support for someone who was receiving constant reminders that so many people hated him and would like to do him harm.

High marks for telling the story about Mathew's parents, but I wish we had learned more about the real Matthew. As understanding as his parents tried to be and as much pain as they felt, the person who was trying to come to terms with the inescapable hate and who eventually was crushed by that hate, was Matthew and to one extent or another, all those of us who have to try to cope with that hate throughout most of our lives.

Quite often it does get better if you're able to survive long enough, but the "getting better" usually depends on you learning to cope with it all rather than because there's any great environmental change over time.

If it really happened that way...

[antares74 · 10/10 · 16 March 2002]

Then my crying after the movie was completely justified. I had no idea! I did not really follow the entire case (scary, huh? especially since I *am* gay and was in school -- okay, graduate school) which is probably why I didn't get caught up with the story, back then or subsequently.

I'm glad NBC decided to air the movie (which does not surprise me, since "Will & Grace" is also aired on the same network, as are several other shows with gay characters).

I liked the acting in it very much -- Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston were really good. Shane Meier (sidebar: yum!) was excellent and convincing and really knew how to elicit sympathy from the viewer. I hope this comes out on video or gets packaged for sale on video soon. I am not a human rights or gay rights expert, or even activist, by any stretch of the imagination, and will not pretend to be one now, but the movie really was quite human and tugs at your heartstrings. Clearly, for other than sentimental reasons, this is a good movie to have been made and aired -- perhaps in some small way, it would contribute to fair and respectful treatment of others who are of a different persuasion altogeter.

While still disturbing, a lot easier to watch than I thought it would be, but greatly flawed.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 14 May 2023]

Openly gay Matthew Shepard died tragically and became the poster boy for homophobia and hate crimes, creating memorials nation wide both in gay meccas and even in select horrified straight communities. Like seaman Alan Schindler nearly a decade before, Matthew brought the horrors of homophobia to life, and this TV drama shows the pain of parents Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston as they deal with the trial of the accused, the shameful public reaction and the impact on their marriage as they struggle with their guilt. Flashbacks of Matthew (Shane Meier) coming to terms with who he is, unable to deal with a kiss from a female classmate after a dance and how his first boyfriend couldn't deal with Matthew's openness which lead to him first being gay bashed.

This certainly could have been better, as structurally it is out of sequence and starts rather abruptly after the prologue showing the attack on that fateful night, not giving the viewer the opportunity to feel the parent's agony, with the parents just holding in all of their emotions at his funeral. But it could have been done in a more exploitive manner, and fortunately the script avoids that. Both Channing and Waterston are very good, but I never felt that I was seeing the characters, not the actors. It's obvious that they decided to play it safe, and while it is a good film, I didn't feel the full power of a very important story that could have been a profound film. Meier makes Matthew flesh and blood and realistic, but found Damien Atkins obnoxious as someone he meets at college, cloying and cliched and not remotely likeable. The party scene at the Shephard's home is another out of place moment that should have been underplayed, or possibly eliminated.

A great tribute to a great man.

[kc7nnw · 10/10 · 17 March 2002]

The Matthew Shepard Story was a great tribute to his life, and what happened to him when and after he died. You will have to see it to make your own opinions, but my opinion is it was undoubtfully great! So many things remind me of my own life, which make it even better. I do recommend this movie to young/old, gay/straight, man/woman, just everyone!

Truly Tragic Case

[adamshl · 7/10 · 26 July 2008]

Viewing this film prompted me to investigate the facts of the case in some detail. Apparently all three youths involved (attackers and victim) had longtime deep social issues.

In the case of the attackers, both young men had troubled childhood backgrounds, with a history of "meth"-addiction playing a large role in the proceedings. While intimidation was a motive, so also was robbery. It seems drugs took over, helping to release pent up rage which got out of control.

In the case of the victim, Matt's history also suggests a troubled history of cover-ups, suppressed emotions, and excessive pill-popping (the last probably a way of escaping reality). Some reports hint that he also may have been HIV-positive.

Writers John Wierick and Jacob Kruegar unfortunately failed to disclose full details of these pathetic kid's backgrounds, or paint a picture of the national attention given this case (including a Presidential statement). Omitted too was a disclosure of the source of the conservative opposition, characterized by banner-carrying throngs outside the courthouse. Much background and facts were likewise smoothed over, weakening the impact of this important story-- and the grainy, jerky "art shots" and erratic flashback sequences didn't help matters. All of the above make this a not-too-definitive representation of this event.

There were no problems with the powerhouse cast, headed by the great Stockard Channing as Judy. Sam Waterson as Dennis and Shane Meir as Matt also rendered wonderful performances, along with the talented supporting cast, all of whom deeply felt and executed their roles.

A great Story for a tragic incident

[southbayj · 10/10 · 20 March 2002]

Why does it take something this idiotic to create such a fantastic story. The fact that this story is true, is truly sad. Stockard Channing and Sam W. did a great job portraying a couple torn over the senseless loss of a son. The fact that Matthew Shepard was portrayed as a less than perfect human was well done. To demonstrate that we are all imperfect, but deserved to be loved for the beings we are. God loves all of us, and anyone who say other wise is Wrong, Ignorant, Stupid, or Blind!

Too many questions and not enough answers

[steeleronaldr · 5/10 · 5 April 2020]

I decided to rewrite this because I feel I wasn't as honest with the first. So I'm re-adding it to give a much clearer review.

When I first saw this movie I was moved to tears, the second time I watched it brought red flags. I say that because for the first view the viewer is caught off guard and starting the movie out as brutal as they did really draws you in. Now I admit that I was totally sucked into this movie from the first couple minutes of this movie. I was so appalled by the opening that most the movie didn't really seem as it was. After a second viewing after I purchased it did I notice several red flags and many unanswered questions.

The movie gets a bit rushed and starts to make him look very arrogant and being all about me. He was always out about his sexual orientation which is shown in the beginning after the movie begins telling the story. It doesn't however get into his relationship with his parents as much as it should have and does even tempt to show how his relationship with his younger brother was either.

In one scene when he meets the boy who became his first lover it doesn't really dwell on it. When his class goes to Monaco for a class trip he starts flirting with his boyfriend who warns him of the dangers of being in a foreign country. After his boyfriend leaves upset we see him get raped then jump to him in a room where his mother show's up. The next scene he's graduating and his now ex-lover asks why he was acting differently. In the book it explains that he was kept separated from the other students due to the rape and his injuries during. The movie failed to explain that. In another he's camping with his parents who fully support him but he seems to want more from them. Like the movie as well as the book (I tell you this, I couldn't wait to read this book) he comes off arrogant and totally self-centered.

Stockard Channing does a great job playing the mother who shines throughout the movie. Sam Waterston also gave a great performance as the dad. Wendy Crewson as his best friend also shine but the real stat is Shane Meier as Matthew Shepard. In the book Matthew and his attackers actually knew each other in real life and the movie doesn't show that. It also shows that the father was absent through most the trial which he wasn't. It also fails to show that Matthew spend thousands of dollars on escorts and not paying his bills which upset his parents namely his mother.

After watching the movie and reading the book I conclude that I have different feelings about the whole ordeal. I'm left wondering 1. Did he ask for it. 2. Was it a planned attack. 3. Was this related to something more personal than what was actually going on and 4. What was the real motive behind the attack. Sadly the book and movie failed to provide the answer.

clues

[Kirpianuscus · 20 October 2021]

For many reasons, more than a biographic film. In fact, this film propose not a story but few serious fists of questions. About be parent, be gay, to be front to the cruel death of your son and to expect radical form of justice , to see the things more clear, to make your duty and to accept yourself. The story of Matthew Shepard can not be exposed by a film. But the film, in this case for beautiful acting and inspired exploration of case, gives some clues . Not exactly for conclusions or verdict. But for understand something defining the evil inside and near us , the options and inner fights of self acceptance. And, sure, the essence defining the status of parent.

Preaching to the choir?

[palleman · 9/10 · 18 March 2002]

I can only hope that at least a few people who were not familiar with the case saw this thought provoking accurate portayal of a horrendous hateful act and its aftermath. As usual, Sam Watterston and Stockard Channing did an excellent job portraying the grieving parents. Any parent should relate to the turmoil, self-blame and general heart break that Judy and Dennis Shepard went through during that horrible period of time. Also, the agony that Dennis Shepard endured before he finally made his last minute decision about the death penalty was extremely well-done. I hope this movie will pave the way for others like it and and hopefully change the minds of some who might be "on the fence" regarding hate crime legislation.

A sad story that continues to send shivers up my spine

[pharmacy_lad · 10/10 · 6 January 2007]

What shocked me the most about this film is that I was also born in 1977 and was just coming out at university in 1998. I could totally identify with the young innocent Matthew walking along the street seeming slightly embarrassed behind his new gay friends from university. I did many a similar thing and what gets me is that I too could have been killed. But at the time, I felt free as a bird and like my life could not get any better. Thats what gives me the chills - it could have happened to me. It still could happen. Its frightening.

I was swept away by his relationship with Pablo; the stolen kiss; the painting; the play. I cried when after he was raped, Matthew came out to his mother, and she said, "I know". It was all too familiar, how his mum saw the photos on the wall and suspected he was gay. I watched the film with my mum the other day, and it reminded us of the time when mum suspected I was gay, and she said to me, "a mother always knows these things". How true.

The movie is well made, I actually enjoyed the flashbacks rather than having it presented in sequential order. It will be repeated on FOXTEL here in Sydney this month (Jan 07) and I will be taping it. Special praise is due to the actor who played Matthew and his parents.

Ultimately, the movie gets my thumbs up because, as you can see, it reminded me a lot of my coming out experience and my younger days when I began exploring the big gay world. I'm thankful I am still here to remember it, and I deplore what happened to Matthew. Poor Matthew and poor parents. :-(

Emotional and powerful, with one flaw in the gem

[Dr_Coulardeau · 9/10 · 31 August 2013]

This is a short film about a young man who was the victim of some homophobic hatred. No matter what the circumstances could have been, no matter what the condition, language or behavior everyone could have demonstrated, killing someone just because he is different is simply absurd. And I say any difference cannot justify killing him, her or them illegally or legally. All act of lethal violence against any one has no justification at all.

But in this film, in this case the emphasis is not so much set on the son who finds out he is gay in high school, probably when he went to his first homecoming dance with a girl he could not cope with, but about his parents who had accepted this fact, about the parents after his death, after the first part of the trial that convicted the killer, a young man like Matthew, of the crime, and before the second part of the trial when the jury is going to decide on the sentence. The death penalty is sure but a plea can always be accepted by the parents.

The question is what can the parents do? What would Matthew tell them to do? Will he require the death penalty or will he request mercy for his killer? If Matthew was a beautiful person;, an intelligent person, a gracious person, he must have known violence leads to violence and some one some time must stop the hate machine and say: "Okay, you killed me. Okay you meant to kill me and you abandoned me in a place where I took two days to bleed to death, to die, before my body was discovered. Okay you intended to kill and to torture. But you did all that from a crooked belief that people who are different have to be gotten rid of and that did not come from you, and anyway I cannot find closure and peace in your death. I can only find closure and peace in forgiving you and hoping you will forgive yourself.

I regret a little the father decided to follow another line in front of the court and to accept to show mercy and take the plea from the defense but for the wrong reason, so that the killer may suffer remembering his crime all along his long life. It does not even matter whether the murderer does or not. What matters is what the world can remember from Matthew, the message he can transmit to us from beyond his grave, from beyond his torturing chamber, from beyond the long agony and suffering ending in death. And that message has to be a message of mercy that may lead some people to realizing the way out in a divided situation is necessarily to come to terms with the difficulty and moving on towards more tolerance and more understanding.

But the message is for us today that we have to put that division, that antagonism behind us and move towards providing everyone in this global society of ours with the same rights and the same duties, no matter what their personal choices may be. But remember: we cannot respect something, a religion, a sexual orientation, a culture, an ethnic origin, or whatever you may think of, if we do not know about it, if it is kept and has to be kept locked up in a closet.

A very strong film on a situation that will little by little tend to move away and get lost behind us and bygones will have to be bygones. The day is close when this will happen, will be the case.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

All you need is love

[gossamer-6 · 10/10 · 28 August 2010]

I have read all the summaries, all 21 of them. What a turnout of a 300 million inhabitants. It seems to me that there are only a handful who care or have the gumption to express an opinion about the film. This makes me sad and tired. In my humble opinion Matthew Shepard died for noting, nothing at all. This otherwise admirable nation is cloven into a myriad of minorities held together by something called America. It is foolish to use this term to judge the innocent lifestyles of others. Matthew is a case in point. Yes he was raped in Morocco but he was bludgeoned to death in America. There are many more intelligent and eloquent people than me who have expressed their views on this site. But do tell me in what civilized society has a person been killed for his or her sexual preference in the last hundred years? America, you have a lot to learn even in warfare which does not seem to go too well lately. I mean no harm. The players were exquisite one and all. There is only so much you can fit into a short TV-film. Looking back on Brokeback Mountain. Isn't it high time that the gay man doesn't either go mad or is brutally killed and maimed. As an admirer of American cinema I long for that. When do you think that will happen. Never I fear.

Agenda driven

[ken_benson · 1/10 · 10 May 2020]

Lying by omission is when a person leaves out important information or fails to correct a pre-existing misconception in order to hide the truth from others.

Heartbreaking tale of hate and murder

[bjmatchett · 24 February 2003]

I found this to be a very touching and moving movie with wonderful performances by all, however, I felt it would have been much better without all the grainy and artistic camera shots, and that the movie would have been more effective if told from the beginning to the end rather than jumping forward, back, forward, and showing so many flashbacks. It was beautiful and brave to show the kiss between Matthew and his friend, but they could have explored that relationship a bit more so that we could feel a little more like we knew something of Matthew's life. Overall, I think it was a very sad and scary tale of what hate and discrimination and prejudice can do to everyone when they get out of control. I seriously hope everyone will learn from the tragic tale of Matthew Sheppard's life and this movie.

Excellent Movie About a Wonderful Man!

[BreanneB · 10/10 · 13 May 2005]

I thought that this was a great movie about a great and wonderful person. I had to tape this movie because I like it so much. My favorite part is when Matt, is getting ready for the prom and when him and Pablo paint each other's faces with Home Depot like paint. I think that it's a tragic story about him going through so much trauma in his life. I know what all that is like because I have also had to go through all that too. I have a lot in common with Matthew, not about being gay, but I've also got ADHD and other disabilities. I have also had other people sometimes ridicule me. But I have found my own friends and I thank God for that and that I have all the support I need. Kudos to everyone! Two Thumbs Way Up!

A Constant Reminder

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 18 April 2011]

THE MATTHEW SHEPARD STORY is a made for television movie made in 2002 and only recently released on DVD. It is time for us all to see this film again as a reminder of how heinous was this incident that rocked the world. Matthew Shephard (December 1, 1976 - October 12, 1998) as a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and beaten and left o die on a barbed wire fence in the prairie of Wyoming - because he was gay. Writers John Wierick and Jacob Krueger gathered the information surrounding this event and the subsequent events following his death, focusing on the trial and the difficult gesture his parents made concerning the fate of the murderers.

Roger Spottiswoode directed this compelling film, electing to engage the talents of Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston as the parents of Mathhew (played with great dignity by Shane Meier). The remainder of the cast includes such touching portraits of the others involved in this tragedy as played by Tani Gellman, Wendy Crewson and Kristen Thompson. While the dram a of this film is not in the same arena as 'Teh Laramie Project', it still is a potent reminder of an unnecessary injustice that unfortunately is still being played out across the country. Perhpas with the DVD now available for wider viewing the crime will affect more people to action begun by Judy Shepard. Grady Harp, April 11

everyone deserves to have the right to live.

[thomasmclain94 · 10/10 · 13 May 2014]

This young man had every right to live the same as us but because of bullies and people who hate homosexuals because of their lifestyle I have several friends that are homosexual so give them the respect that they deserve they have enough problems without people adding to them. I watched the television movie and it broke my heart to see how they beat and left him for dead. I support the Matthew Shepard foundation I know that his Family will live that horrible day over and over my heart and prayers will continue to be with the Shepard Family. I lived the homosexual life and I was always on edge I did not want anyone to know how I spent my free time so yes it is not an easy life to live. try to keep an open mind so the next time you meet someone that is homosexual treat them with respect. but I believe that his story tells it all and helps people come more to understand and respect homosexuals. If you have not seen "The Matthew Shepard Story" you need see it.

Rest In Peace Mattew

[jdickinson-49959 · 10/10 · 13 October 2018]

The Matthew Shepard Story Very Powerful Film Please Check It Out I Just Got Done Watching It Very Powerful Rest In Peace Mattew Shepard

Tragic but slightly cheesy TV biopic

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 22 October 2017]

In 1998, a gay college student was brutally murdered in a hate crime. His was a heartbreaking, tragic story, one that was tastelessly turned into two television movies in 2002: The Laramie Project and The Matthew Shepard Story. Wasn't his family put through enough, without being haunted with Hollywood renditions of the worst part of their lives?

In any case, I've seen both versions. The Laramie Project was shown to me in school, and I rented The Matthew Shepard Story solely for review purposes on Hot Toasty Rag. It stars Sam Waterston and Stockard Channing as the Shepards, and Shane Meier as Matthew. Most of the film is told in flashbacks from before his murder, but the first scene is a blurry, jump-shot rendition of the incident. As Sam and Stockard sit through the murder trial, they relive memories of their son and come to terms with his life and death. All in a ninety-minute TV-movie. How convenient.

If you're particularly passionate about this subject, you can rent one of the two Matthew Shepard movies, but it's far from an enjoyable film.

DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie is not your friend. During frequent flashback scenes, the camera blurs, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"