Roger Ebert photo

"Ebert & Roeper And The Movies"
Air Date: April 7, 2001 (transcript from show #1532)
"Just, Melvin: Just Evil" (1 of 5 films featured)

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ROGER EBERT:
...our next movie is one of the angriest, most painful documentaries I have ever seen--and it's one of the best. It's titled "Just, Melvin: Just Evil." It debuts on HBO cable in two weeks, and it tells the story of a man named Melvin Just, who as a husband, father, stepfather and grandfather repeatedly committed incest and violent abuse against almost every single member of his family. The story is told by two of the survivors: his daughter, Ann Marie, and her son, James Ronald Whitney, who directed the film.

[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]

ROGER EBERT:
As family members the filmmakers have access to everyone involved, including Melvin's wife, who was Ann's mother and stood by while abuse took place.

[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]

ROGER EBERT:
The litany of incest and abuse continues, as we see a family devastated by this man. And what is incredible is that the filmmaker actually confronts Melvin Just himself, and he talks to him on camera.

[SHOW CLIP FROM THE MOVIE]

ROGER EBERT:
There are a lot of movies about abuse, but very rarely do you get to confront the abuser in person on the screen...This moie is one of those incredible documentaries you can barely imagine being made. Its story is horrifying, and the testimony of the survivors, including James Whitney and his mother Ann, is both grave and inconsolable. What's liberating is they actually confront their molester, and they nail him right on camera. The name of the documentary is "Just, Melvin: Just Evil." It will play twice on HBO, starting April 22nd. You have never seen anything like it...the movie is so amazing: it shows a history, a multigenerational history of abuse in which this one person in this family--without any resources or any escape hatch--was just able to impose his evil will year after year after year...I thought it was really powerful. It debuts in two weeks on HBO.
                                                                  thumbs up logo THUMBS UP! --Roger Ebert


DIRECTOR'S FILMS: GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: New York, GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood, Telling Nicholas, Just, Melvin, TheWorkingGirl.com
Find out more about James Ronald Whitney's Productions at the Fire Island Films website
: www.FIFproductions.com
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© 2003 James Ronald Whitney