MovieChat Forums > The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008) Discussion > GR Killer removes anonymity of 'local sh...

GR Killer removes anonymity of 'local sheriff'....

posted 16 years ago by glzimm
11 replies | jump to latest

There is little of actual substance in this directorial and writing failure. The Sea-Tac strip shown in the film bears no resemblance to any part of the strip from the seventies and eighties.

The number of prostitutes displayed at strip sites in the film is grossly exaggerated. Done correctly, this film could have resonated the high standard of 'In Cold Blood'.

This treatment is a blight that is likely insulting even to the scum (Gary Leon Ridgeway) responsible for its existence. Our esteemed congressman, Dave Reichert, is depicted as heroic though his elongated and continuing failure, spanning almost thirty years, eloquently states the opposite. DNA played beacons of light upon Gary Ridgeway, allowing Reichert, finally, to stop by and arrest the meek little man.

Ridgeway propelled a man of inadequate skills to Washington D.C. by killing roughly 49 women. Each of the 49 bodies providing a stepping stone to political mediocrity......Reichert did not orchestrate the GR deaths, but the demise of these women unquestionably elevated an otherwise virtually anonymous 'local sheriff' to a political hierarchy...a realm in which he is an embarrassment...

[–] tatersmami03 16 years ago

ITA.. Its like how could you watch this movie and see him as anything but incompetent? Yeah the actor who played him did an excellent job of showing frustration, and anger, even sadness when he watched the video, but it makes no sense that it took so long to catch this psycho. I know that I cannot criticize police work and how hard it is but they shouldnt glamorize the sheriff and make him out to be some big hero because one day he decided to use dna and he got a hit..... on the person that he kept going back to over and over again.

[–] bmalone135 15 years ago

Well for one, when the firt murder occured, DNA testing wasn't used. A few years into the investigation, DNA was just starting to be used, but it wasn't very advanced.

Why can't you just be glad that he solved to murder. There are plenty of murders that are yet to be solved, and may never be solved. It's not like you go to a murder scene and it's the easiest thing in the world to find out who did it.

[–] gwynethcougar 15 years ago

Looks like your hatchet job failed. Why? I read your synopsis of the movie, but then you turned to politics, so I looked at when you posted and I thought, gee, I bet Reichert is a Republican. Did you post that on many other websites?

From what I can glean, Reichert is a moderate Republican, which seems that he can be a representative in Washington state, which is known to be very liberal.

From a Blue Dog Democrat

[–] GatorMcKlusky 15 years ago

As someone from washington state this place is liberal in most and very democratic in the rest............but reichert was all over the tv leading to the election.

[–] glzimm 15 years ago

gwynethcougar--wish I'd seen your comment sooner.

I didn't switch from the sheriff to politics....the sheriff switched from ineptitude as a 'sheriff' to ineptitude as a politician.

Hatchet job? What have I said that isn't true? I would challenge Reichert himself to specify any 'untruth' in my above statement. I don't take umbrage at his inability to catch 'the Green River' guy while trying for thirty years, I question his 'chest pounding' after thirty years of failure, and using science as a launching pad to Washington D.C..

What did he do to catch this killer? Nothing! Once science caught him....Reichert arrested him! Take a look at Ridgeway....my little sister could have arrested him!

Though I am a democrat, I voted for a Republican for Attorney General....

Reichert is a 'Bush' guy....enough said and a shoe to his head!

Come on Gwyneth...mount a challenge!

[–] chailey 14 years ago

Skipping the politics and back to the movie... I thought that the scenes where Reichert was emoting all over the place in the squad room were there for dramatic effect. I think that he genuinely felt all of that frustration, as did the rest of the task force, but probably didn't show his emotions so much at work.

A lot of people are slamming Reichert for not solving the case for 19 years. Serial killers are notoriously difficult to catch, even with millions spent and a large task force. Zodiac, anyone? Thousands of leads and a transient and uncooperative victim pool didn't help much either. Most of the victims were just skeletons when they found them, which cut down on the physical evidence even more. Reichert's team did at least identify Ridgeway as a possible suspect, which is how they got his DNA sample to begin with.

And they waited so long to test the last few tiny amounts of DNA, because the test itself destroys the evidence. He waited until the technology was able to take those miniscule samples and get a full profile. Would they have been able to convict Ridgeway (or get him to confess) with a partial profile? Possibly, but not definitely.

I'm sure Reichert and many others on his team made mistakes, but they are only human, and this was a monster of a case.

[–] Jusazn 13 years ago

Oh dear god. You realize that the Green River Killer had no hints of him being a killer in his other life?

I had family who used to work with him in his company, Kenworth. He was described as a helpful guy who was actually pretty nice. No one in the company was suspicious of him.

[–] SteveResin 13 years ago

I think the OP is referring to the characterisation of the Sheriff in the movie, who was being portrayed as some kind of hero for capturing Ridgeway. Truth is without the breakthrough in DNA he would still most likely be living as a free man and the police were given the runaround for 20 YEARS with an original task force of 50 officers! If that isn't failure I'm not sure what is.

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The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime

[–] burnplant 13 years ago

OP is correct in that this movie and Reichert's life are completely misrepresented.

Reichert enabled Ridgeway to continue for years after he should have been arrested. One of the earliest victims had a brother and father who found and suspected Ridgeway after their daughter/sister went missing. They gave Reichert his name and address and he let the guy go.

Also, ask the Seattle cabbie who Reichert accused (and smeared) of being the GRK...he killed himself in the 90's.

This movie is a turd and a triumph of Reichert's ego. Reichert is a stooge and deserves the same fate as Gary "stepping stone to my career" Ridgeway.

[–] The_Little_Deaths 9 years ago

Yeah, the people who support Dave Reichert have not looked into the man he is. I was raised in the district he represents. I think there is a very huge problem when the monster you failed to catch for 20 years tells you that he thinks you should run for public office, and you actually do.

The fact of the matter is, a victim's boyfriend and father are the people who caught Ridgeway. He would have been put in prison a lot sooner had Reichert spent less time focusing on the cab driver and taking calls from psychics(granted, the psychic did find a body that the police had missed in the search just a few days earlier). If anything, Officer Brooks should have been the hero of the story.

I've never been to prison for arson, but my musical ability will burn your house down.

[–] katgurl81 12 years ago

I think that what people seem to forget is that you cannot convict someone just because someone says "hey, I think this guy did it." You can't even arrest someone without evidence.

And I didn't view Reichert's reaction at the end of the movie as "chest pounding." I think he was just happy on a personal level that these women and their families would finally have some justice, and that all of the task force's blood, sweat and tears finally resulted in something. Besides, he fully admitted that they had made some mistakes over the years.