The Vine: January 28, 2015
There is a movie I watched, probably in the late ’80s/early ’90s. It was probably a made-for-TV movie, because I can’t find it hard as I Google, but it’s really stuck with me because it’s disturbing and I want to know if it was based on a true story.
So, it was about a serial killer who lived somewhere remote — perhaps in a desert. His victims were all boys, and he would bury them in his yard. A motorcycle cop comes to his house and he kills him too and buries him and the motorcycle. That bit I’m absolutely certain of. I think maybe some boys escape eventually and that’s how he gets caught but I might be conflating that with an actual case I read about or another movie entirely.
Thanks,
Kim
Is it Chiefs? Even if it isn’t, we may have to do a Watch-Along of this fine television property, in which Keith Carradine plays a character named FOXY FUNDERBURKE.
Readers?
Tags: Ask The Readers Keith Carradine popcult
Per the trivia page at IMDB, the role of Foxy Funderburke was originally supposed to go to Andy Griffith. I’m having a really, really hard time picturing Sheriff Andy/Matlock as a “maniacal serial killer.”
The second bit about boys escaping made me think of the 2008 Jolie movie The Changeling, about the Wineville Chicken Coop murders. But there wasn’t a motorcycle in that one.
I have no idea, but I second the watch-along because the very idea that someone thought up the name “FOXY FUNDERBURKE” delights every fiber of my being.
It is possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq1sgujG4ps
Jess- have you ever seen Murder in Coweta County? He’s not a serial killer, but Andy Griffith plays a stone- cold small town politician and murderer. Against Johnny Cash as the no-nonsense Sheriff, to boot! It’s a creepy turn for Matlock/Andy Taylor.
Man, that sounds pretty awesome.
For creepy Andy Griffith movies, you can’t beat “A Face in the Crowd.” It shows up on TCM every now and then, and it’s definitely worth the watch. You’ll never see good ol’ Sheriff Andy Taylor the same way again!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050371/
Definitely Chiefs. It was actually a 3 part miniseries, with each Chief being one episode until Billy Dee Williams solves it in the final one. Brad Davis was the Chief on the motorcycle.
I was totally going to suggest “A Face In the Crowd” for creepy Andy Griffith! I heard somewhere that he actually hated playing that kind of part, which is why he didn’t do it much.
Also, Chiefs is based on a novel by Stuart Woods, and as far as I know, completely fictional. Now that I think of it, the basic idea might have been inspired by John Wayne Gacy, as the killer is a sexual predator praying on homeless/drifting teenage boys and burying them under/around his property but that’s as far as it goes.
Ohhhhh, Lynda. That’s exactly what I thought of, and there’s also something Griffith played back in the early 70s (made-for-TV) that was set in the desert and which featured him as a twisted, evil sort, but that doesn’t really fit the OP’s question, so…
Anyone else see “Gramps” – also Andy Griffith, made for TV, also starring John Ritter? He played a sociopathic long-lost dad who gets way too attached to his grandson.
It took my parents a long time to get over that movie (LOL).