This film is a very good one as it shows the various nuances in our justice system that allows a bully, played wonderfully by Brian Dennehy, to circumvent the system and literally get away with harassment for years in Darby, Missouri. No, you're not watching "High Noon," or "Gunfight at the OK Corral," You're actually seeing a town of the 1980s victimized by a man and his family. The word vigilante shall become quite important by film's end.There is a wonderful supporting cast led by Marcia Gay-Harden, one of Dennehy's several wives. The guy actually lives in concubine-like style. Cloris Leachman plays the wife of a shooting victim, shot by Dennehy to teach the old man a lesson. He literally goes berserk when a misunderstanding develops about his young son being accused of taking candy from Leachman and her husband's store.Dennehy thumbs his nose at the legal system while vowing never to be imprisoned. This is really a fascinating look at how our criminal justice system fails us and how becoming a vigilante starts when we have no alternative. We see the economic, social and mental affects his harassment has on a beaten down town.

The names were changed but it's based on a true story of the events in Skidmore, Missouri and the real villain was Ken McElroy who was very much like John Gotti without the class, style, and grace of his demeanor. He had fathered children with two women who lived together. No, not because he's a polygamist. In this movie, the McElroy character is played chillingly by Brian Dennehy who is one of America's finest actors on stage, film or television. Oscar Winner Marcia Gay Harden plays one of his wives with a depth that is easily overlooked. Oscar Winner Cloris Leachman plays one of the man's many victims. No matter what this character did, the law and justice system failed to protect this small Missouri town so they took justice into their own hands. As Leachman's character states at the end "If you live by the sword, you die the sword." The book entitled In Broad Daylight is equally riveting but adds another level of understanding of how a man like this can exist in the first place.

This is a truly great movie. I picked it off a shelf as a videotape at a clearance sale here in Switzerland, primarily because I knew Cloris Leachman and Marcia Gay Harden to be top American actresses. I was positively surprised and kept the tape.The story, apparently based on true events, is very archaic in character. It has the feel of the Middle Ages, in fact. A farmer with a large, chaotic family terrorises everybody around him, steals pigs from other farmers etc. The intimidated citizens know no other way out than to kill him in a surreptitious and cowardly way and then to drive away his clan, gutting his castle, er, farm, making a vow of silence as to the identity of the murderer. Only, this is supposed to happen in the second half of the twentieth century, in a country that is known for its respect for freedom. But law and order, on which that freedom is based, is not given the slightest chance here.In Broad Daylight appears to be a biased account of what happened somewhere in the Midwest of the USA. The script does not take an easy way out by taking sides but tries to do justice to everyone concerned with surprising subtlety. This could easily be Brian Dennehy's best ever performance. He plays the farmer turned robber baron with a lot of feeling. The man is a terrible bully, a menace and despicable, yes, but he also shows a sense of responsibility, however twisted and perverted, toward his family and love for his numerous offspring. Cloris Leachman proves herself to be a very versatile actress here. She plays a store owner who is the principal aim of the robber baron's wrath and shows much common sense and, when that does not help, bravery, although she is as scared as the others. She tries to bring the man to justice, but the system keeps preventing that by way of a shrewd defense lawyer. So the story builds up to a climax with a bang.Two scenes stand out and are really excellent. The first is the incident which triggers the «war» between the robber baron and the townsfolk. Some members of the farmer's family misbehave in the Candy Store and are mildly reprimanded. At once the situation escalates for no good reason beyond any proportion and it immediately becomes clear, there's no way back. The second scene is of course the murder of the farmer at the steering wheel of his car on a Main Street parking lot – in broad daylight. As the body of the shot man slumps forward, the car's engine revs up and starts shaking and emitting smoke. This goes on for about 20 seconds while all around the people stand silently by. It's ghostly and realistic at the same time.

This is one of my all time favorite movies! And my copy of the book is dog-eared! I just wish at least ONE of the networks (cable or otherwise) would re-run it so that my husband could watch it and see what I am raving about! Anyone who says the plot is "dismal", has obviously never read the book. And I agree with another comment made: how can something that is TRUE be DISMAL??!! Just because it is set in small town America instead of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood or Las Vegas doesn't take away from the story....in fact, in my opinion, it makes it more believable, because it is about NORMAL, every day people. It is so popular with the public, in fact, that every time I find it on Ebay, the bids get so expensive (once $224.00!!), that I can't afford it!! Too bad the studio doesn't take notice of it's cult following and re-release it......;)