Dated, by todays standards, but still compelling. First half is interesting, and you are glued to the screen trying to absord the information given by Coyote's character, yet hoping he turns out to be the good guy. Little by little we're given bits and pieces of what happened, but only through Coyote's character, who turns out to be a manipulating deceiver, cold and scary with his Manson like powers over less experienced people.The second half is confusing, and Coyote and Loggia are off screen for nearly forty minutes. In the ending court-room drama, we don't see a flashback or re-inactment of what "supposedly" happened to this female school teacher and her two children. I guess both Coyote's character, Bill Bradfield, and Loggia as Dr. Smith did commit the crime. But, we as viewers don't feel or see any concrete evidence, and this leaves something to be desired. Based on a true story that took place in 1979 in Pennsylvania, and a case that lasted seven years. Just too many questions left unanswered. Yet, Loggia is awesome, and scary (wait until you see those "eyes".) And it's always a pleasure to see Peter Coyote, a very under-rated actor. I don't know...maybe I should've read the book instead.