Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story (TV Movie 1992) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
6 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
Texas "Pom Pom Mom" Gone Berserk
sol-kay9 September 2005
(Some Spoilers) True story of Texas "Pom Pom Mom" Wanda Holloway, Lesley Ann Warren, who went as far as having her ex-con brother-in-law Terry Harper, William Forsythe, through his prison connections get a hit man to murder her 13 year-old daughters Shanna, Olivia Brunette, rival Ambers, Lauren Woodland, mom Verna Heath, Tess Harper. Wanda did this in order to get Amber so upset and thus lose the upcoming high-school cheerleader contest to Shanna.

Schocking because the reason, if there's any reason at all to have someone hit or taken out by mobsters or anyone else, is so out and out ridicules. Wanda and Verna were at first the best of friends as were their daughters but the obsession of Wanda wanting Shanna to become a cheer leader for the high school football team drove her almost to commit murder and risk life behind bars or even the death penalty. Amber being far more talented then Shanna was well on her way to get one of the two opening on the cheerleader team and Wanda in her disturbed mind felt that Amber's mom Verna was pulling strings to get her daughter one of the opening spots.

Getting in touch with Terry Wanda slyly attempts him to first get at Amber hit then when Terry told her that those who do this kind of job are very much against killing children, it's bad for business, she decides to have her mom murdered which Terry agrees to forward to his mobster friends. Terry even though he has a criminal record, for drug use and petty crimes, still has a conscience and is really a decent person goes to the police instead and has Wanda set up, by having a wire on him,that in the end has her arrested for the crime of soliciting for capital murder.

Wanda was obviously a mental case not realizing how far she was going to get her daughter Shanna a spot on the cheer-leader team. But she was shrewed enough not to leave any fingerprints and was setting Terry up to take the rap, if her plan fell apart, by doing all the work to have the hit done. The only bright spot in this whole sordid affair was that the two girls, Shanna and Amber, remained friends throughout not realizing how crazy Shanna's mom Wanda was.

Verna was more then helpful to Wanda's young daughter Shanna in getting her on the cheer-leader team, even at the expense of her daughter Amber, and didn't look at Amber being on the team as a life and death issue like Wanda did. Wanda ended up being convicted but the conviction was thrown out, due to one of the jurors not revealing a drug conviction. Wanda was later re-tried where she did received a fifteen year sentence which she served only ten months doing community service and the rest of the sentence 14 1/2 years, which she's still serving, on probation.

Murder is the most serious of all crimes but in cases like this,the attempted cheer leader murder, it shows that those who commit or attempt it aren't the best and the brightest of all criminals.
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Jealousy Gone Too Far!
BreanneB30 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is a true story about a mother who out of jealousy and spite goes too far and hires a hit-man to kill her daughter's best friend and the girl's mother. Unluckly for her the guy has a conscious and goes to the police. The police wire him and secretly tape conversations with her. The tapes of her evil plans and instructions to him are played in court and she is convicted of solicitation to commit capital murder. Although she is sentenced to 15 years in prison, she is released on bond because one juror was under indictment at the time.

Wanda Holloway is a nasty, selfish person who deserves to be in prison for the rest of her life. She hurt her daughter and others having to do with her. If I ever had the chance to meet her I would tell her to grow up.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Not Very Well Acted, But A Story Worth Watching
ecspringer20101 March 2021
I had heard about this story many years ago, because it took place during thee exact time I was in high school, I will not give anything away, but it is important that parents watch something like this with their children, especially those in cheerleading, those who are involved with prom king and queen and such nonsense like this, yes though it is fun for others, but as a teenager who was unpopular and one who was often made fun of by such kids as these that are involved in a story like this, I am glad I was not involved with things like this. It pretty muchy angered me the entire time I was watching this movie about a parent who go to such lengths to help her daughter get to the top of a cheerleading squad and would take any road she could to do so.

If you question about this being a true story, to answer that, it is, but there is a twist that is in the film that is based on the real events of this story that I won't reveal.

This film is horribly acted but it is worth taking the time to sit down with your children, because of the ridiculous nature of the story, it should have been considered a documentary vs being a movie, but at any rate, I gave it a 7 for the fact that the story is important but the acting, I have seen better in a high school play!
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Great acting by two underrated character actresses.
kgibson-112 December 2003
This was a tv movie for ABC and while it is far inferior to the rival adaptation HBO made with Holly Hunter and Swoozie Kurtz, it is a 'guilty pleasure' film with excellent lead performances.

Lesley Ann Warren and Tess Harper play suburban Texas mothers whose over- involvement in their daughters' cheerleading auditions leads to havoc. Lesley Ann Warren is fascinatingly eerie as a struggling mother living vicariously through her not-as-talented daughter. Watching her go from manic and nervous to seductive and enraged is a lot of fun and she's good. Tess Harper plays the Perfect Texan Cheerleading Mom to a 't' . Her naive perfectionism and indignant shock at what develops over cheerleading -tryouts- gone -wrong is also a lot of fun. The actresses miscast as the daughters are one-note and uninteresting but one suspects that this was done to highlight the lead actresses work.
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Good title, bad movie.
llihilloh21 August 2000
Warning: Spoilers
Okay, just by reading the title you would think that it would be a good movie. Well, at least I did. It started out good but became so boring after the first half hour. *spoiler*

It tells a story about a mother that is so desperate for her daughter to become a cheerleader that she will go to any lengths to get what she wants. The only problem is that her daughter's friend is the girl in the way. She always wins the competitions, therefore pushing the mother further towards "eliminating" her. After talking to a "hitman", the mother decides that the girl needs to be roughed up a bit. So actions are taken but she eventually gets caught.

The cast is awful and the movie drags on too long with nothing happening. Don't waste your time watching this.
1 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Lesley Ann Warren gives another stunning performance.
chad47823 February 2001
Based on an actual event, WILLING TO KILL: THE TEXAS CHEERLEADER STORY stars the talented and beautiful Lesley Ann Warren as an overly devoted mother who resorts to murder to get her beloved daughter a place on the high school cheerleading squad. Another version of the same story, THE POSITIVELY TRUE ADVENTURES OF THE ALLEGED TEXAS CHEERLEADER-MURDERING MOM, took a more comical approach to telling the story and received considerable acclaim, but Ms. Warren's powerhouse performance makes this sadly overlooked telefilm just as rewarding and entertaining. Fortunately, Lifetime Television shows the film sometimes.
3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed