Customer Reviews

20th Century with Mike Wallace - Life or Death: A Battle Over Capital Punishment [VHS]

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Anyone looking for an in-depth history on the life and crimes of Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer will be disappointed with this video. The video is hosted by Mike Wallace and features court coverage of the trials of both killers as well as interviews with the victim's families. Some of the coverage of the trials I had not seen before and may be of some interest to die hard fans of true crime, but that is about the only thing of interest in the video. It is not that the video is bad. It is just incomplete. The filmmakers do not go into specific detail about any of Bundy or Dahmer's many crimes so you do not really get a sense of the brutality or enormity of their crimes, and it does an even worse job at detailing the childhoods of both killers so you have very little insight into the environmental and situational factors that created these killers. There are also no interviews with law enforcement or other "experts" who have studied these killers and could have provided explanations for their behavior. Instead, the filmmakers seem to take the attitude that these people were simply born to kill. In other words, there is no explanation for their behavior...

I originally saw this program when it aired on TV in 99. I think I saw all of it but may have missed some of it so I will qualify my review that way.

Mike Wallace has always been a fair reporter as far as I'm concerned. Journalists should look to him for inspiration of what a news man (or woman) should hold themselves to as far as unbiased reporting is concerned.

Wallace does the gun debate justice. No matter what side you may be on you will find this program worth watching. It covers the anti gun viewpoint as well as the pro gun with equal exposure. There are a couple of people on both sides of the debate featured in this program however that I think should have been left on the cutting room floor, because they portray their views very poorly.

If you are just getting into the gun debate, or are a long time supporter or protractor of the 2nd ammendment, this program is worth watching.

Mike Wallace does his usual bang up job. Wonderful execution