At the age of 11, I was already a paranoid older sister. I was "trained" to watch my younger siblings with the warnings, "If you don't watch them, someone will snatch them and rape and murder them, and then you'll be sorry."
I'll never have children. I'm not a coward. I've already done the mother thing, and it was a nightmare that only ended when my siblings grew up, moved on, got married.
So in a way, I can identify with the guilt and grief the Walsh family shared. Daniel J. Travanti's performance was so powerful, and so was JoBeth Williams'. This movie terrified me and knocked any remaining naivete from me. I was already a basketcase before the film aired. After, I was convinced that there are too many predators out there, cowards with sick perversions, and that unless you watch your kids like a hawk, one of the millions of lurking demons will come and steal your child. Reve Walsh was gone all of 5 minutes. That's all it takes.
After 30 years, this made for TV movie remains powerful, unbearably real and painful in its production and presentation. Part of the reason it's watchable for me (mostly) is the cast, including one of my all time favorite actors, Richard Masur, along with Martha Scott as Adam's grandmother and Mason Adams as John Walsh's friend and coworker who helped speak to police agencies in Florida to get the search for Adam moving faster than it would have.
It's so terrible how it takes a brutal murder to motivate this country into action. In 1981, the FBI did not place a missing child on their list of priorities. Adam's death caused his parents to go to bat for innocent children. I don't subscribe to that "everything happens for a reason" stuff. When a child is stolen and murdered, it is senseless, pure evil, not the will of "God".
I will say that Adam did not die in vain. His sad story woke up a nation to reality. He is the inspiration and his family are heroes who have paved the way. We now have Megan's Law and Amber alerts. We now know how urgent and imperative it is to react NOW when a child goes missing.
I'll never have children. I'm not a coward. I've already done the mother thing, and it was a nightmare that only ended when my siblings grew up, moved on, got married.
So in a way, I can identify with the guilt and grief the Walsh family shared. Daniel J. Travanti's performance was so powerful, and so was JoBeth Williams'. This movie terrified me and knocked any remaining naivete from me. I was already a basketcase before the film aired. After, I was convinced that there are too many predators out there, cowards with sick perversions, and that unless you watch your kids like a hawk, one of the millions of lurking demons will come and steal your child. Reve Walsh was gone all of 5 minutes. That's all it takes.
After 30 years, this made for TV movie remains powerful, unbearably real and painful in its production and presentation. Part of the reason it's watchable for me (mostly) is the cast, including one of my all time favorite actors, Richard Masur, along with Martha Scott as Adam's grandmother and Mason Adams as John Walsh's friend and coworker who helped speak to police agencies in Florida to get the search for Adam moving faster than it would have.
It's so terrible how it takes a brutal murder to motivate this country into action. In 1981, the FBI did not place a missing child on their list of priorities. Adam's death caused his parents to go to bat for innocent children. I don't subscribe to that "everything happens for a reason" stuff. When a child is stolen and murdered, it is senseless, pure evil, not the will of "God".
I will say that Adam did not die in vain. His sad story woke up a nation to reality. He is the inspiration and his family are heroes who have paved the way. We now have Megan's Law and Amber alerts. We now know how urgent and imperative it is to react NOW when a child goes missing.