****WARNING- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS**** I remember hearing about the real story on the news my first year of high school, especially how people followed the story afterward on and off till the final phase of the trial. Having said that, anyone giving this movie an over critical review really needs to take a look within themselves.While Brooke Shields and Richard Thomas are the stars of this tele-film, the support of the ensemble cast that gives it an even stronger foundation. While liberties were taken with more minor things in comparison to the main thrust of the saga, a number of them were psychologically geared to cover ground on the way far too many viewers took the ridiculously naive positions that either Laura Black led Richard Farley on or that she was "misunderstanding the situation.Even dismissing those things, as well as the comparison of "John Boy" in the role of a disturbed man who was in real life "built like a bear", the heart of the movie is about how a delusional personality can go that intensely spiraling out of control. A man who went from being self-disciplined enough to spend an entire decade in the military to the first ever stalking-connected workplace massacre all because he believed people "thought he was weak" or "a joke" doesn't make anyone feel sorry for Richard Wade Farley, and it shouldn't because it can't. That he "never had a criminal record" nor "committed a single act of violence before" (that is according to his defense at the time...)casts him in an even more despicable light as it spotlights more what he always was: an abusive bully who mastered the mask he wore all of those years looking for the right target.Laura was portrayed as having said "What did I do?" when she was loaded in the ambulance. The film, and how it ends, gives that answer: Laura Black didn't do anything, except be the perfect target for a disturbed sociopath who, even if she HAD agreed to the "one date", would NEVER have let her go. The frightening part is that the way it really turned out made the body count a hell of a lot smaller than it would have been if she HADN'T been that strong to fight him.

I first saw this little gem in 1994 when it came out on TV. After finding it on Amazon under the title 'Stalking Laura', I read about the true story surrounding the events of this movie. Richard Thomas is brilliantly convincing as the psychopathic, unstable Richard Farley (though he looks nothing like the real Richard Farley). His performance as Farley shatters the wholesome image most people remember him for, as 'John-Boy' in 'The Waltons'. Brooke Shields is somewhat effective as his victim Laura Black; she is not a weak-kneed, helpless victim. She fights back against his harassment, first through the company, and then through the courts. For those not familiar with the story, here's a little about it.Richard Farley is a software engineer for KEI, a Silicon Valley technical defense contractor. Laura Black is a new graduate from UC Davis who is starting work there. On her first day she meets Farley innocently while being orientated by Chris, her supervisor. Farley asks her out, and Laura turns him down. But Farley will not take NO for an answer & begins showing up everywhere - at her aerobics classes, while she is filling her car, even taunting her at company softball games. He also employs tricks to get her address, and breaks into her office to see her application for security clearance & finds out the names & locations of her family. When Laura continues to spurn him, he threatens to go after her sisters or mother. Laura goes to the company's HR division, who initially do not take her seriously until Farley threatens Laura while she is out with her girlfriends. Farley subsequently threatens the HR people & is fired. But that does not stop the harassment and Laura is forced to turn to the courts for a restraint order (as it is holding her back at work). Unfortunately, it turns out to be the trigger that sends Farley over the top. He marches into his old workplace carrying an armory of guns & ammunition, and savagely murders 7 former co-workers. Though she is wounded, Laura manages to escape, and Farley eventually surrenders after speaking to a hostage negotiator. He is now on death row in San Quentin.This movie parallels quite closely the events of the actual case. Most of the scenes in the movie are ones that actually occurred, including Farley's threats to the HR people and the horrifying mass-murder at his old firm. Overall, a very well-made TV movie, much better than most of the TV movies popular in the 1990s.

Richard Thomas was excellent playing a really sick individual. Brooke Shields was good and too gorgeous for words.Just a word re: a previous reviewer saying she should have just gone out with him once and that she was a snob.. No, no, no...that just encourages stalkers and can actually make it worse. She did nothing wrong...she was the VICTIM!! It gets kind of blurred sometimes...(Sorry to sound preachy, but, I teach health and healthy relationships in HS and I try so hard to help the kids know the difference).Anyway, good docudrama and can help give some insight into these potentially dangerous situations.

A factual account of a young man who has gone berserk after failing to garner the attentions of a female co-worker. Richard Thomas is as far off from his "John Boy" image as he get get. What a great performance. Brooke Shields is adequate as the stalked girl. The culmination of Thomas' rampage ends with his entering his former workplace armed to the teeth. Too bad it's not on video. If it ever is, catch it and have a "thrilling" time watching it.