What You're Fixin To See Is A True Story

Bright Wall/Dark Room ^ | Feb. 1, 2017 | Rosie Jonker

[condi2008]

In 1996, in Carthage, Texas, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede murdered 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent. Shot her in the back, stuffed her body in the big freezer in her garage, and went on about his life. When the police eventually found her and Bernie confessed to her murder, District Attorney Danny Buck ran into a problem—he couldn’t scare up a single juror in Panola County who was willing to put Bernie behind bars. Bernie was a sweet boy, the people of Carthage said, and that b***h had it coming.

[condi2008]

Yes, the film's been out four years now, but this delightful review/commentary just turned up, and made me pull out the DVD for another go and some great laughs. See it, if you haven't.

Bernie Trailer

[taxcontrol]

I grew up several dozen mile south of this stories location. Can’t comment on the movie but the author is correct on many points about how southerner natives use the language.

My dad was fond of saying:

Theres them you love
Theres them you hate
And then theres them that just needs killen

[condi2008]

Yep, “he needed killin” is considered a semi-valid plea in some quarters.

[Jamestown1630]

LOL! I’d never heard of this film, but it looks like fun and now I’ve got to see it.

[marktwain]

District Attorney Danny Buck ran into a problem—he couldn’t scare up a single juror in Panola County who was willing to put Bernie behind bars.

---

Sounds like a complete fabrication. That is not the way grand juries and trials work in Texas.

First, they have a Grand Jury to determine if there is sufficient evidence of a crime being committed. That is standard procedure in all Texas homicides.

Then, after a Grand Jury decides to indict, the suspect can plead or require a jury trial.

So, there had to be a Grand Jury indictment long before a jury trial ever was convened.

The movie just sounds like a hit piece on the South and Texas, at least from this review.

[Eagles6]

Well, according to the authorette the movie is racist cause of slavery or somerhin’.

[jch10]

That girl isn’t old enough to speak about real Southerners. Her generation isn’t really Southern, from my experience. They are way more cosmopolitan than my South was.

[Moonman62]

Yep. The article is mostly a slam on the South.

[Rusty0604]

There is a show on IDTV about this. I watched it. It’s amazing that real crime drama is sometimes crazier than anything a fiction writer could come up with.

[Boomer One]

One of Jack Black’s best roles and an enjoyable movie despite the topic. In addition to the movie, the case was shown on one of the reality crime shows. Seems the victim really was disliked that much.

[chrisser]

Rosie Jonker lives, works, eats, sleeps, reads, and writes in NYC, but she's from Louisiana.

Maybe as a recent West Virginian, I'm not Southern enough to make this observation, but it seems to me Ms Jonker is a New Yorker who happened to be born in the wrong state and has self-corrected for it.

[condi2008]

Bit more background here:
Man will stand trial for widow's death

[condi2008]

I did find the paragraph blaming nearly all Southern ills on slavery typically overgeneralized. Much of this can no doubt be chalked up to the age of the author and her current location. Flannery O'Connor's wonderful but shockingly violent stories do tend to slap the self-righteous upside the head.
Regarding that "leisurely pace of life", here's another grim explanation: Southerners Weren't 'Lazy,' Just Infected With Hookworms.
I do detect a genuine fondness for her roots shot through the rest of the story, and her descriptions of people and attitudes are pretty entertainingly spot-on for the most part.

[AZLiberty]

A colorful review, I agree, but the New York is strong in this ex-resident of Louisiana.

Her argument is, basically, (white) Bernie’s murder of (white) Marjorie was only acceptable to his (white) neighbors because, well, slavery.

Not because Marjorie deserved it.

[cornfedcowboy]

Take a look at “In Broad Daylight”
True Story. Probably dozens of witnesses. No one saw a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Broad_Daylight