A Heartland Rampage Revisited : The Teen-age Killing Spree That Inspired ‘Badlands’ Is Retold--From Both Sides This Time

Somewhere along the line, Americans turned a soft lens on the 1950s, and the era after World War II took on a warm, rosy glow. But the same decade that gave us Elvis, Ike and Lucy also brought Korea, Joe McCarthy and Charlie Starkweather. Today, the 19-year-old who took 11 lives in a midwinter rampage in Nebraska and Wyoming would be just another grisly headline in an age of violent crime.

But in 1957, the myopic kid called Little Red for his stocky build and the color of his thick, duck-tailed hair was something new and terrifying--a young killer unfettered by conscience and armed to the teeth.

With him on the murderous spree was Caril Ann Fugate, his 14-year-old girlfriend, whose parents and 2-year-old sister were among the victims.

“Starkweather was like the first crack in America’s innocence,” says Michael O’Hara, executive producer of ABC’s four-hour, two-part film “Murder in the Heartland.”

What fascinated the former journalist and NBC official turned TV producer was the question of Fugate’s innocence or guilt. “Was she a hostage?” he asks. “Was she a participant? Thirty-five years later, there’s still no firm answer to those questions.”

But for the first time, the two sides of the story get told, says associate producer Michael Larkin, who spent two years researching the case. “When they were caught, it was only Caril’s story versus Charlie’s story.” But before he became the last man executed in Nebraska, Starkweather changed his testimony seven times, Larkin says.

“The first two statements exonerated Caril completely. His final statements all convicted her on different levels. And the prosecutor (played by Randy Quaid) used it to his advantage.”

But Fugate had one story when she was caught, says Larkin, one of the few media people to interview her since her parole in 1976. “And to this day, she still has one story.”

On the rolling prairie of North Texas, producer Bryan Hickox found the bleak landscapes needed for the chase scenes and a dusty, vacant county courthouse for the his-and-her murder trials.

High in the gray sky over the set in Celina, Tex., a turkey vulture wheels. Below, on hills smudged with green, longhorns butt heads and lick each other. Up the road, British actor Tim Roth, playing Charlie, lies handcuffed on the pavement.

Director Robert Markowitz, a CBS-TV newsman in the ‘70s, is a stickler for detail. Roth’s blue-tipped white boots are copies of the ones Charlie was wearing when captured. So are the used ‘50s jeans and the worn leather jacket.

“The clothing will tell the story as much as the dialogue,” says costume designer Judy P. Swartz, who purposely didn’t see “Badlands,” Terence Malick’s moody 1973 film based loosely on the killings. “I wanted to give it my look based on my intuition,” she says.

“There’s nothing about Charles Starkweather that’s likable, relatable or redeemable,” O’Hara says. “And ABC, to their credit, never asked me to make Charles Starkweather more sympathetic. Nor did they insist on popcorn casting.”

At 31, there was no way Roth could pass for a teen; nor does he resemble Starkweather, who modeled himself after James Dean. “So I had all references to age removed,” the actor says.

After noteworthy roles in “Vincent and Theo” and “Reservoir Dogs,” Roth says he “thought it might be interesting to play a murderer, one who had no qualms about killing people.

“You have to play him as completely reasonable,” he says in a South London accent. “Charlie was a hero in his own mind. If you start out playing somebody as a bad guy, I think you’re screwed.”

But to Roth and co-star Fairuza Balk, 17, who plays Fugate, it’s also a story about child abuse.

Balk says there was no way she could plan her performance as Caril. “Everything in this thing happened so fast. If you try to premeditate what her emotions were, it’s not going to work.”

Director Markowitz calls Balk’s talent “so pure” she is unaware of its depth.

“I have real empathy for Caril,” says Balk. “There’s no way for me to explain it. I know by looking at her face. I understand her.”

At the old county courthouse in McKinney, Brian Dennehy leans his bulk on the witness stand and drums his fingers on the rail. Dennehy says he isn’t sure about Caril Fugate, but he has no doubt about the man he is playing.

“I have a great feeling for John McArthur, the lawyer who defended her. He was kind of an extraordinary man to find in that time and place. He was a civil libertarian and a decent guy who believed in the rules and believed in the constitution. And he watched while they were turned over in the desperate need to convict her and put her away.”

Among his cast and crew, O’Hara says, there was real division about Caril Fugate’s role. “A lot of people think she’s innocent. And I’m not sure. The real question is: Was the punishment proper for a 14-year-old? I’d like the audience to decide.”

“Murder in the Heartland” airs at 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday on ABC.