The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom
Encyclopedia
The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom is a 1993
comedy
TV movie
produced by and for HBO
. It was directed by Michael Ritchie
and starred Holly Hunter
, Swoosie Kurtz
and Beau Bridges
.
It is based on the true story of Wanda Holloway
, a woman who tried to put out a hit
on one of her daughter's classmates (and the girl's mother) to advance her own daughter's middle school
cheerleading
career. The movie also has themes connected to Operation Desert Storm
, during which the real scandal took place.
This should not be confused with Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story
, a 1992 television film produced by ABC
that approaches the story in a more serious light.
Holly Hunter won the Emmy Award
for playing Wanda Holloway and Beau Bridges won both the Emmy and the Golden Globe Awards for the supporting role of Terry Harper, Holloway's brother-in-law whom she contacted to arrange the hit.
The Holloways live in Channelview, Texas
, a suburb of Houston. Their life was seemingly peaceful, and much the same to other families in the area. Wanda, wanting Shanna to become a cheerleader, enrolled her in various dance and gymnastics class in training to become a cheerleader when she reached middle school. Wanda also got the garage floor laid with a proper dancing surface, and floor to ceiling mirrors encompassing the garage interior, so that her daughter could practice her routines. Wanda forces Shanna, every day, to practice for hours on end, despite sickness or injury.
Next door to the Holloways, lives Wanda's best friend, Verna Heath, and her daughter Amber. Amber was the same age as Shanna, and the two become friends. Verna had been a successful varsity cheerleader when she was young, and hold the same ambition as Verna for Amber. Like Wanda, Verna also enrolled Amber in various dance and gymnastics classes.
Leading up to the cheer-leading tryouts for the Alice Johnson Junior High School, jealousy and envy sparks between Wanda and Verna, despite the fact that their daughters' friendship remains solid. In the months prior to the tryouts, Wanda forces Shanna to concentrate completely on cheer-leading, even doing all of Shanna's homework so that she could focus entirely on try-outs.
When the tryouts finally arrive with heavy competition. Amber Heath impresses the judges with her back flips and high kicks, but Shanna Holloway, despite all of her training, didn't make the grade. Amber makes the squad and Shanna doesn't, disappointing both Shanna and Wanda.
The fact that Shanna didn't make it into the team, and Amber did, puts a final end to the friendship between Verna and Wanda. Wanda even forbids her daughter from having anything to do with Amber. However, Wanda still doesn't give up on seeing her daughter being a cheerleader and decides to try again next year.
Every day until nest year's try outs, Shanna practices very frequently at her mother's command. When the time did arrive however, the Holloways were in for another major disappointment. Like before, Amber Heath made the team (and was even promoted to co-captain), but Shanna had been disqualified due to her mother's attempts to bribe judges and other students. The shock of her daughter not making the team for the second time puts Wanda into a mad fit of rage, anger, and jealousy.
Wanda decides that if it wasn't for Amber, Shanna would have definitely been a cheerleader. She becomes obsessed with the notion that living next door to talented Amber had sapped Shanna's confidence and ruined her chances of success. Wanda even goes as far as to wish Amber's death and decides to do something about it.
In a trailer park on the outskirts of the city, Wanda meets up her brother-in-law Terry to take a hit out on Amber and Verna. Terry listens as Wanda explained the situation. However, he is horrified by the woman's hate for a thirteen year old girl. Killing adults was one thing, but Terry didn't agree with the murder of a young vibrant girl - especially over something as petty as cheerleading.
After the rendezvous, Terry contemplates the situation and decides to turn in Wanda to the police. He pretends to play along with the charade and meets Wanda again, only this time, he takes a tape recorder to record their conversation and obtains proof of Wanda's desire to commit homicide.
Terry sent the recorded message, along with background information, to the police. Wanda was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but is set free when it was discovered that a member of the jury at her trial was on probation. Altogether, Wanda Holloway only served six months for the attempted murder of Amber Heath.
In the end, Shanna decides it would be best to quit trying for the cheerleading team. These days, her mother has different hopes for her daughter. Presently, Shanna and Wanda Holloway reside in California, where Shanna is taking modelling, singing and acting classes. Wanda hopes that one day, her daughter will be a famous Hollywood actress, no matter what it takes.
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
TV movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
produced by and for HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
. It was directed by Michael Ritchie
Michael Ritchie (film director)
Michael Brunswick Ritchie was an American film director.Ritchie was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the son of Patricia and Benbow Ferguson Ritchie...
and starred Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
, Swoosie Kurtz
Swoosie Kurtz
Swoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters...
and Beau Bridges
Beau Bridges
Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
.
It is based on the true story of Wanda Holloway
Wanda Holloway
Wanda Holloway is a woman from Channelview, Texas, known for hiring a hit man to kill the mother of her daughter's cheerleading rival.-Overview:...
, a woman who tried to put out a hit
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
on one of her daughter's classmates (and the girl's mother) to advance her own daughter's middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
career. The movie also has themes connected to Operation Desert Storm
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, during which the real scandal took place.
This should not be confused with Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story
Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story
Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story is a 1992 television film directed by David Greene. It stars Lesley Ann Warren and Tess Harper. It was nominated for a Young Artist Award in 1993.-Cast:*Lesley Ann Warren as Wanda Holloway...
, a 1992 television film produced by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
that approaches the story in a more serious light.
Holly Hunter won the Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.From 1973 to 1978, the category was divided into two separate categories .Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, guest performances in regular television series were...
for playing Wanda Holloway and Beau Bridges won both the Emmy and the Golden Globe Awards for the supporting role of Terry Harper, Holloway's brother-in-law whom she contacted to arrange the hit.
Plot summary
When Wanda Holloway was a teen, her father forbade her to try out for her school's cheer team. Many years later, when Wanda had a daughter of her own, she was determined that her daughter would fulfill the dream she was denied and become a cheerleader--which would allow Wanda to make up that part of her childhood by reliving it through her daughter.The Holloways live in Channelview, Texas
Channelview, Texas
Channelview is a census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area and Harris County. The population was 29,685 at the 2000 census...
, a suburb of Houston. Their life was seemingly peaceful, and much the same to other families in the area. Wanda, wanting Shanna to become a cheerleader, enrolled her in various dance and gymnastics class in training to become a cheerleader when she reached middle school. Wanda also got the garage floor laid with a proper dancing surface, and floor to ceiling mirrors encompassing the garage interior, so that her daughter could practice her routines. Wanda forces Shanna, every day, to practice for hours on end, despite sickness or injury.
Next door to the Holloways, lives Wanda's best friend, Verna Heath, and her daughter Amber. Amber was the same age as Shanna, and the two become friends. Verna had been a successful varsity cheerleader when she was young, and hold the same ambition as Verna for Amber. Like Wanda, Verna also enrolled Amber in various dance and gymnastics classes.
Leading up to the cheer-leading tryouts for the Alice Johnson Junior High School, jealousy and envy sparks between Wanda and Verna, despite the fact that their daughters' friendship remains solid. In the months prior to the tryouts, Wanda forces Shanna to concentrate completely on cheer-leading, even doing all of Shanna's homework so that she could focus entirely on try-outs.
When the tryouts finally arrive with heavy competition. Amber Heath impresses the judges with her back flips and high kicks, but Shanna Holloway, despite all of her training, didn't make the grade. Amber makes the squad and Shanna doesn't, disappointing both Shanna and Wanda.
The fact that Shanna didn't make it into the team, and Amber did, puts a final end to the friendship between Verna and Wanda. Wanda even forbids her daughter from having anything to do with Amber. However, Wanda still doesn't give up on seeing her daughter being a cheerleader and decides to try again next year.
Every day until nest year's try outs, Shanna practices very frequently at her mother's command. When the time did arrive however, the Holloways were in for another major disappointment. Like before, Amber Heath made the team (and was even promoted to co-captain), but Shanna had been disqualified due to her mother's attempts to bribe judges and other students. The shock of her daughter not making the team for the second time puts Wanda into a mad fit of rage, anger, and jealousy.
Wanda decides that if it wasn't for Amber, Shanna would have definitely been a cheerleader. She becomes obsessed with the notion that living next door to talented Amber had sapped Shanna's confidence and ruined her chances of success. Wanda even goes as far as to wish Amber's death and decides to do something about it.
In a trailer park on the outskirts of the city, Wanda meets up her brother-in-law Terry to take a hit out on Amber and Verna. Terry listens as Wanda explained the situation. However, he is horrified by the woman's hate for a thirteen year old girl. Killing adults was one thing, but Terry didn't agree with the murder of a young vibrant girl - especially over something as petty as cheerleading.
After the rendezvous, Terry contemplates the situation and decides to turn in Wanda to the police. He pretends to play along with the charade and meets Wanda again, only this time, he takes a tape recorder to record their conversation and obtains proof of Wanda's desire to commit homicide.
Terry sent the recorded message, along with background information, to the police. Wanda was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but is set free when it was discovered that a member of the jury at her trial was on probation. Altogether, Wanda Holloway only served six months for the attempted murder of Amber Heath.
In the end, Shanna decides it would be best to quit trying for the cheerleading team. These days, her mother has different hopes for her daughter. Presently, Shanna and Wanda Holloway reside in California, where Shanna is taking modelling, singing and acting classes. Wanda hopes that one day, her daughter will be a famous Hollywood actress, no matter what it takes.