Robert Mitchum
Gary Tison
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ABC. Release. October 30, 1983. ( 1983-10-30) A Killer in the Family is a 1983 American made-for-television crime film directed by Richard T. Heffron. The film is based on the Tison v. Arizona case, which took place in Arizona in 1978. The film first aired on ABC on October 30, 1983, and was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in 2010.
- Crime Drama Thriller
- A Life of Escapes
- The Second Try: Caught Hiding in The Laundry Room
- A Privileged Inmate, with A Desk and Phone
- Robert Tuzon: The Reluctant Accomplice
- 'I'm Going to Crash The Plane'
- Tuzon's Escape: A Cry For Attention
- Tison's Third Escape: Aided by 3 Sons
- On The Run: Flat Tires and 6 Killed
- End of The Road: Roadblocks, Volleys of Shots
- Secrets, Sons Still Locked Up in Prison
The so-called Tison Gang saga is a story of escapes. Three attempted by Tison, and one by another inmate who jumped the perimeter fence with one goal in mind: to let officials know what Tison was planning. Gary Tison infamously succeeded in busting out of prison in 1978. He left with a fellow murderer and with the aid of his three sons. They killed...
Gary Tison's second escape attempt was ill-planned. The prison walls would prove insurmountable. Tison's life revolved around the prison. He had met his future wife, Dorothy, there in the mid-1950s while she came for a visit with Gary's sister. The two wrote letters while he finished his sentence for robbing a grocery store. When he was released, h...
Despite the killing of one guard and his foiled escape attempt, Tison retained favored status as an inmate. He was given the job of directing the inmate activities, a post that came with a desk in an office and a telephone that gave him access to the outside world. Tison had convinced officials he was a changed man, looking to make the best of hims...
Robert Tuzon never thought about escaping prison. He thought he was innocent of the murder charge that put him behind bars and it would be only a matter of time before he convinced the right people. In his first day in prison in 1976, Tuzon figured out who was in charge: Gary Tison, the inmate who somehow kept a derringer in his boot. “He was the c...
It was a weekend visitation day in the outside courtyard. Tuzon’s wife, Irma, met Tison’s sons, Ricky and Raymond. Tison ordered Tuzon’s wife to deliver a rifle that Tuzon owned to his sons. Irma initially balked but her husband told her, “It’s deeper than you think.” The delivery was made, growing Tison’s trust in Tuzon. Next, Tison wanted Tuzon t...
In May 1978, Tison said the plane was in place and the plan was a go for the next week. Tison also told Tuzon he planned to kill six guards on his way out. Tuzon questioned why the guards needed to die when it would be so easy to escape the annex. Tison told him that he needed to do it his way. Tuzon went to the maintenance shack and snagged a pair...
Gary Tison's last escape began in what to guards must have seemed like a routine event. His son, Raymond, 18, came to visit him. But Gary Tison did not have the typical reaction upon seeing his son that July 31, 1978. “Dammit, you guys aren’t supposed to be here,” Gary Tison reportedly said. The two sat outside in the yard. Raymond had brought two ...
On the road to Yuma, according to a 1981Republicstory that reconstructed the incident, the gang’s black Lincoln caught a flat. They mounted the spare and kept driving. Upon reaching Yuma, the car turned north. One officer speculated in the 1981 article that the gang wanted to rob a bank to get some quick cash. Another speculated that Greenawalt wan...
The gang stopped in Casa Grande for at least one day, according to the 1981 article, and visited one relative. From there, they headed towards Mexico, driving through old back roads to avoid authorities. They did not know police agencies had set up roadblocks on every intersection of those roads. Someone reported an attempted break-in at a Border P...
Within weeks, then-Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt would remove Cardwell from his job as the warden of the prison. “That was obviously necessary,” Babbitt said in an interview this summer. “The idea that you had in minimum security a person who was there for the murder of a prison guard was just incomprehensible.” Greenawalt would be sentenced to death....
- Reporter
- Richard Ruelas
- 2 min
Nov 7, 2022 · Robert Berchtold allegedly committed horrendous crimes — and supposedly no one stopped him, despite a seeming plethora of evidence against him. The almost unbelievable, surreal story of his ...
Brief Synopsis. Robert Mitchum is the real-life Gary Tison who, in 1978, was sprung from Arizona State Prison by his teenage sons, along with vicious fellow inmate, Stuart Margolin, and then leads them on a murderous spree across the Southwest.
- Richard Heffron
- Spencer Alston
Oct 30, 1983 · A Killer in the Family: Directed by Richard T. Heffron. With Robert Mitchum, James Spader, Lance Kerwin, Eric Stoltz. A father serving time for murder convinces his three teenage sons that his life is being threatened by fellow inmates and that they should break him out of jail.
- (684)
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Richard T. Heffron
- 1983-10-30
Based on a true story. Ricky & Raymond Tison were under 20 years of age at the time of their family's murder spree. They had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment. Randy Greenwalt was executed in 1997. The film takes place in 1978.
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A Killer in the Family. 1983. A solid crime drama TV movie and true story about a man who manipulates his three teenage sons into breaking him out of prison only for them to find out the hard way what a murderous asshole he is. Robert Mitchum was, of course, perfect for this role, having played sociopaths a number of times before.
