Customer Reviews

Stalking Laura

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Laura Black (Brooke Shields) just graduated from UC Davis and got a primo job working for a defense contractor in the Silicon Valley. She unwittingly captures the attention of a fellow worker, Richard Farley (played chillingly by Richard "John Boy" Thomas), who becomes fixated on her to the point of obsession. After finally spurning his attentions, reporting him to HR, and filing a restraining order, Richard gets a slap on the wrist, resigns, then returns to the office to seek vengeance against the woman who dared to not return his affections armed to the hilt. Going on a shooting rampage that took a company hostage and left many dead in his wake, Thomas is the epitome of a cold and calculating killer. You won't look at John Boy Walton in the same way after viewing this. Or the Togo's #23 sandwich.

The story is all the more chilling since it is based on actual events which eventually led to California's stringent anti-stalking laws and a company's responsibility to its employees in creating a safe workplace.

This was a great movie. The true story of a woman that was stalked by a man she worked with. He was everywhere she went. She never even dated him. She told him from the beginning that they would only have a professional relationship but he ignored her. Eventually he was fired for his behavior. When the problems he caused were going to prevent her from getting a promotion she finally filed for a restraining order. That threw him over the edge. He armed himself as if he were going to war and went to work with one thing on his mind. Kill as many as he could.

Great movie. This event helped create Anti-Stalking laws in California.

Richard Thomas was at his best in this movie. Forget John-Boy! Thomas was absolutely chilling in his portrayal of a crazed stalker, and eventually, killer. Sadly, incidents such as what happened in this true story have since happened far too frequently, including one just yesterday. Nevertheless, this movie gives you valuable insight into the mind of the type of troubled and deranged person who would do something of this magnitude. Despite the violence, this is a 5 star movie.

I found this little gem after a lot of searching on various sites. Having seen it 14 years ago when it appeared on TV under the title of 'I Can Make You Love Me; The Stalking of Laura Black', and being haunted by how accurate it was, I was thrilled to see it again. Richard Thomas brilliantly plays the computer engineer Richard Farley (though he looks nothing like the real Richard Farley); cunning, fiendish and genuinely chilling. For those who remember Thomas as 'John-Boy' on 'The Waltons', his performance will shatter that wholesome image. Brooke Shields is quite effective as Laura Black, the new computer engineer working at Farley's firm who fights back against his relentless harassment. The actors who play Chris (her supervisor at KEI) and Lt. Grijalva (hostage negotiator) are also effective. Having read about the true story of Farley & Black, I can say with some confidence that the movie is extremely close to the facts of the true story. Richard Farley finds out EVERY detail of Laura's life, right down to the locations of her parents & sisters, then threatens to harm them should Laura continue to ignore him. Farley is eventually fired by KEI for his continual harassment & decrease in productivity. But even THAT does not stop him - he continues his chilling pursuit of Laura by showing up in her garage, at her work, following her when she is dating another man, and, most chillingly - returns for a final time to KEI to carry out a horrifying massacre. It will end with 7 KEI employees dead, SWATs called in to stop the assault, and Farley awaiting a death sentence at San Quentin. Probably one of the finest TV movies ever produced in the 1990s.

I was employed at the same company, ESL, and worked in the same building, M5, as Laura Black. Fortunately for me, I quit the company the day before the shootings took place. Although I worked in the same building and on the same floor, I was not in the same group as Laura. Although I do remember her - she was an attractive young woman.

From all that I know about the actual event the movie is, for the most part, very accurate in both the overall story and also in the details. It seemed particularly accurate in many of the particulars: Farley shooting his first victim at the entrance to the building, Farley shooting many computer terminals, the Togo's #26, Laura being on the 2nd story of a two story building, the restraining order, and many more details.

But there is one area where the movie does not follow what really happened. In the movie Richard Farley is portrayed as a valuable engineer with reasonable physical attractiveness. In reality, Farley was a technician (not a college graduate position), was substantially older than Black, and was not very attractive physically - you can see his picture on Wikipedia. It is not clear to me why the people who made this movie made this change to the story. My best guess is that it allowed the development of the scenes where the HR person at KEI (ESL) implied that Laura shared some of the blame for Farley's advances. In reality it would have been very hard to believe that Laura shared any blame for the situation. Because of this deviation from reality, I am more skeptical that scenes with HR are accurate (of course I don't know the truth here). Also, Laura went back to ESL after she recovered and worked there for years. This indicates that she did not have animosity towards the company which implies that HR did not behave as portrayed in the movie.

Despite these changes which appear to be made to build the drama, I think the movie was a very good portrayal of a very unfortunate event.

Should have been the title for this movie. I was shocked and stunned to see Richard Thomas, everyone's favorite All-American guy, playing a psychotic man with obvious rejection, self-esteem, and erotomania issues. Richard Farley was a man who just did not, or would not, take no for an answer from Laura Black, played to perfection by the luminous and super-talented Brooke Shields. I did not know what to expect seeing Richard Thomas play this role. I had seen television and documentary coverage of Richard Farley and I did not know how he would bridge the gap between his image and the reality of the psychosis of Farley, but he does so brilliantly. Watching Thomas portraying Farley at first unassuming, then pushy, then moving on to breaking and entering after somehow getting in Laura's garage when she lived in a high-security gated community, and then his final descent into madness before beginning the attack on his former employer was shocking. You get a significant sense of Farley's evil and mental illness when you watch him break into Laura's office, rifle her trash and pretend to kiss the tissue upon which she blotted her lipstick, and then find the address book with her family and friends' names, addresses, and phone numbers. Do not watch this film thinking that you know Richard Thomas as an actor. Wait until the film is over before making that determination. He shows his dramatic range perfectly, and his point-perfect demonstration of Farley's obvious glee over his assault on Laura and all of his other former colleagues at their Silicon Valley workplace is chilling, to say the very least. This film is violent and sickening toward the end, so please use parental guidance if children under 17 will be watching this film. If drama and suspense based in reality is something you enjoy watching this film does not disappoint. It was initially a CBS movie of the week, but now all high school and college-aged girls should have to watch this movie to learn what to do, and what not to do, when a guy won't take no for an answer.

First of all, forget about John-Boy. Richard Thomas has proven he can play every character type that spans the entire spectrum between both extremes, from John-Boy to Rich Farley. Brooke Sheilds looks a lot like the real Laura Black, and it's a good supporting cast also. The plot is a good one, and it's a movie that's not only entertaining, but also serves as a portrayal of the realities of those with an obsession. Overall, it's a great movie, but dont' let the kids watch!

Ah yes, one of the Waltons' kids gone bad....very bad. When VHS tapes were all the rage, I taped this show titled "I CAN MAKE YOU LOVE ME." The tape is starting to go bad, and thanks to the network gods who released this program on DVD, I bought it to replace the worn out tape. I'm not a fan of Brooke Shields...but Richard Thomas is worth the price of the DVD. And it is based on a true story. Thank you

"Stalking Laura" is a made-for-TV film based on a true story. I was instantly drawn into the unforgettable plot.

Laura, (Brook Shields), is an engineer who finds a job at a prestigious company. She is introduced to one of her coworkers, Richard Farley, (Richard Thomas), who is immediately infatuated. Infatuation quickly turns to obsession, and when Laura rejects his advances, the brilliant and sadistic Richard vows revenge: not only against Laura, but against all those, according to his warped perceptions, who have mistreated him. The resulting explosive climax will stay with you long after the movie is finished. Laura's courage resulted in more stringent laws regarding the safety of women and men everywhere.

"Stalking Laura" is a true drama that explores the borderline between love and obsession. Brook Shields is totally convincing as the terrorized Laura, and Richard Thomas superbly shows his versatility as an actor by portraying Richard Farley so well. Thomas is chilling in his performance. His gentle, soothing tennor voice provides suaveness for a despicable psychopathic personality, and his brief flashes of rage put the viewer in mind of a coiled snake ready to strike.

Please give this outstanding film a chance. Happy viewing, and God bless.

Richard Thomas is typically excellent, as the psycho-creep Richard Farley, who
tries to force the love of ambitious Laura Black, well played by Brooke Shields.
Note his first clumsy importunity, when he lurches across Laura to yank some
tickets out of the glove compartment of his BIG truck (inferiority complex)?
Farley's obsession builds to such outrageous offenses that you will yell for Laura,
when she can, to shoot him to "swiss-cheese"dom. You will also yell in frustration
at the supercilious HR exec who drags her feet to discipline the loathsome Rich.
"Engineers are often...eccentric," she explains to the exasperated Laura.

Also outstanding is Richard Yniguez as a true hero, the hostage negotiator
detective who uses clever psychology on a murdering maniac, wearing him down
with soothing promises of a quart Diet-Coke "with lots of ice" and a Togo's #26.
("It's the BEST!") The assault on the company HQ will have you jumping with
each resounding shotgun blast! To sum, here's a modestly-produced TV thriller
I can watch repeatedly, for the crazed Thomas, stunning Shields, and persuasive
Yniguez!