Episodes
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The Reign of Terror spanned 1921 to 1925, during which William Hale and his nephew, Ernest Burkhart, orchestrated the deaths of more than two dozen Osage, including the family of Burkhart’s wife, Mollie Kyle. Martin Scorsese, with the help of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse Plemons, depicted these murders in the Academy Award nominated film, Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). Did Scorsese deviate from the actual events and David Grann’s nonfiction novel of the same name? Was there a larger plot against Osage Nation than what the FBI led us to believe? Listen now to find out.
Primary Source:
Grann, David. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. Doubleday, 2017.Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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Walter Keane was one of the most in-demand artists in the 1960s. His portraits of children with saucer-sized eyes could be found in galleries across the world, on advertisements nailed to telephone poles, and on lithographs in department store bargain bins. While Walter was partying with the rich and famous, Margaret Keane, his wife and true creator of Big Eye paintings, was restricted to their basement studio creating new art for Walter to take credit for. Tim Burton, with the help of Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, connected with Margaret’s story and brought it to the big screen in Big Eyes (2014).
Primary Sources:
Parfrey, Adam & Nelson, Cletus. Citizen Keane: The Big Lies Behind Big Eyes. Feral House, 2014.
Keane Eyes GalleryInstagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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Missing episodes?
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New Episodes of Criminal Adaptations season 3 are coming June 17th !
Join our hosts Remi, who spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California, and Ashley, a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in Oregon as they continue discussing some of your favorite movies, and the true crimes stories that inspired them.
Coming soon!
Music: John Bartmann https://johnbartmann.comInstagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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In the conclusion of our two-part season finale, Al Capone is sent to prison after being convicted of tax evasion. After he’s released from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, his brain and body fail him due to neurosyphilis. Listen now to find out how accurately Josh Trank, with the help of Tom Hardy, depicted the final year before the gangster’s death in the 2020 film, Capone.
Primary Source:
Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone. Hachette Books, 1992.Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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Notorious gangland kingpin Al Capone was at the height of his career supplying illegal liquor and beer during Prohibition. Thanks to his ruthless tactics and deep pockets, he essentially controlled Chicago through payoffs given to the city’s highest rank politicians and police force. Fed up with widespread crime, federal agent Eliot Ness put together a small group tasked with finally bringing “Scarface” to justice and putting an end to his reign of terror. Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987) is based on the team who achieved their goal in less than three years, and features a star-studded cast which includes Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, and Sean Connery. In addition to discussing the true story that inspired De Palma’s film, we will talk about how Capone rode to power, earning his reputation as the most infamous gangster in America.
Primary Sources:
Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone. Hachette Books, 1992.
Ness, Eliot and Fraley, Oscar. The Untouchables. Award Books, 1957.
Vanity Fair
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This week we conclude our bonus episodes on Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024). Similar to last week, we casually talk about the remainder of the season, episodes 4-8, and how accurately the show stuck to the real-life events that laid the stage for Capote’s addiction and eventual death.
You can stream the full season of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans on FX and Hulu.Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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One month after our season 1 finale on Truman Capote, TV mastermind Ryan Murphy premiered season two of his anthology series Feud, centering on famous celebrity conflicts. The next two weeks we take a break from our usual content to discuss each episode of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024) and how accurately the show stuck to the real-life events that laid the stage for Capote’s addiction and eventual death. This week we tackle episodes 1-3 of the series, which is chalked full of some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
You can stream the full season of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans on FX and Hulu.
A Visit with Truman Capote (1966)Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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Aaron Sorkin made his directorial debut with Molly’s Game (2017), the true story of world-class mogul skier turned poker princess, Molly Bloom. In just a few short years, Molly went from having $2,000 to her name to being worth multi-million dollars, all by running underground poker games filled with some of the most famous and influential people in the world, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, Nelly, and Alex Rodriguez. Listen now to find out how Sorkin, with the help of an all-star cast led by Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, depicted Bloom’s rise and dramatic downfall.
Primary Source:
Bloom, Molly. Molly’s Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World. Dey Street Books, 2015.Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede II was a beloved mortician in Carthage, Texas who always went out of his way to lend a helping hand. Marjorie Nugent was a wealthy widow with few confidants, until she befriended Tiede, a man 40 years her senior, who oversaw her husband’s funeral. Through this friendship, Bernie went from living a modest lifestyle to jet setting around the world and being next in line to Nugent’s multi-million estate…until her body was found stuffed in a freezer nine months after she was last seen. This week we are back with another Jack Black true-crime comedy, Richard Linklater’s Bernie (2011). Tune in to find out how accurate the movie depicts the murder of Marjorie Nugent, and to learn about the wild sequence of events that unfolded after the film’s release.
Primary Sources:
Texas Monthly – Midnight in the Garden of East Texas
Texas Monthly – Bernie in Hell
Texas Monthly – Lights, Camera, Carthage!
Investigation Discovery
The Austin ChronicleInstagram: @CriminalAdaptations
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a 2005 film directed by Scott Derrickson, in which a lawyerb(Laura Linney) takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed an exorcism on a young girl (Jennifer Carpenter). Based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman who suffered a similar fate, but just how closely does this supernatural horror film stick to the real life horrific events? Listen now and find out...
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Primary Source:
Glatzer, Jenna & Markowitz, Susan. My Stolen Son: The Nick Markowitz Story. Berkley, 2010.
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“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” Most people in the United States are familiar with the Miranda Warning, but few can tell you how it came to be. This remarkable story is portrayed for the first time in Michelle Danner’s Miranda’s Victim (2023), staring Abigail Breslin, Luke Wilson, and Ryan Phillippe.
Primary Source:
Moore, Timothy & Lohr, Clark. Mirandized Nation: The Inside Story of Ernesto Miranda and the Phoenix Police Department. Phoenix Sleith, LLC, 2015.
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
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Just a few days after ringing in the 2008 year, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III was shot and killed by a transit officer. The viral footage, captured by bystanders’ cell phones, sparked protests across the nation. Before he rose to fame with blockbusters like Creed and Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan portrayed Grant in Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (2013).
Primary Source:
Chimurenga, Thandisizwe. No Doubt: The Murder(s) of Oscar Grant. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
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To many, Larry Flynt was nothing but a controversial pornographer responsible for the publication of Hustler magazine. However, he was also a defender of our constitutional right to freedom of speech, the attempted murder victim of a convicted serial killer, and involved in setting legal precedent protecting parody under the First Amendment. His fascinating and proactive life was detailed in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton.
Primary Sources:
Flynt, Larry & Ross, Kenneth. Unseemly Man. Dove Books, 1996.
New York Times
Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770 (1984)
Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1998)
CNN
FOX
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From 1972 to 1983 serial killer and bakery owner Robert Hansen abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women, many of whom he hunted after releasing them into the wilderness. 13 years after Hansen was apprehended, Scott Walker, with the help of Nicolas Cage and John Cusack, brought this story to the big screen in The Frozen Ground (2013).
Primary Sources:
Smith, Jack. The Butcher Baker: Life of Serial Killer Robert Christian Hansen. Maplewood Publishing, 2017.
Alaska Department of Public Safety
Crime Library
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In 1992, Mark Whitacre, vice president of a Fortune 500 company, agreed to be an undercover FBI informant to help an investigation into price fixing. In 1998, he was convicted of 46 felonies involving fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and price fixing; sentenced to nine years in federal prison; and ordered to pay $11 million in restitution to his former employer. How accurately did Steven Soderbergh portray these events in his biographical comedy The Informant! (2009), staring Matt Damon?
Primary Sources:
Eichenwald, Kurt. The Informant: A True Story. Broadway, 2009.
Forbes
Re-Entry Success Stories
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Selena was an up-and-coming Tejano star about to break into the mainstream music scene when her life was cut short by the manager of her boutiques and president of her fan club in 1995. Gregory Nava’s Selena (1997), starring Jennifer Lopez, was released just two years later. Get ready to learn why Selena captivated the hearts of many with her stage presence, kind soul, and powerful vocals.
Primary Sources:
Perez, Chris. To Selena, with Love. Celebra, 2013.
A&E American Justice: The Life and Death of Selena
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New Episodes of Criminal Adaptations season 2 are coming February 13th !
Join our hosts Remi, who spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California, and Ashley, a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in Oregon as they continue discussing some of your favorite movies, and the true crimes stories that inspired them.
Coming soon!
Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
Email us: [email protected]
TikTok: @criminaladaptations
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For our first season finale, we dive deep into the fascinating life of Truman Capote, the man often accredited for popularizing true crime creating the nonfiction fiction genre. The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman earned an Academy Award for his portrayal of the author in Bennett Miller’s Capote (2005). Toby Jones also attempted to capture the author’s persona in Douglas McGrath’s lesser known film Infamous (2006). How do these films compare, and did they accurately portray Truman Capote’s electric personality and fascinating life? This episode will have a different format than our past episodes, but we hope you find it equally as compelling.
Primary Source:
Clarke, G. Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf Publishers (1988).
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Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood captivated the world when it was published in 1966. Richard Brooks adapted the book into a movie under the same name the following year. This week we explore Brooks’s film and discuss how truly it portrayed the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family, perpetrated by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith.
Primary Source:
Capote, T. In Cold Blood. Random House (1965).
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