The Death of Richie

Instead of coming-of-age, a teen comes-to-death RELEASED TO TV IN early 1977 and directed by Paul Wendkos, "The Death of Richie" is a drama about a teen, Richie Werner (Robby Benson), who turns to drugs and increasingly troubles his family to the point that his father (Ben Gazzara) is compelled to take extreme measures in solving the problem. Eileen Brennan plays the mother. The movie is based on the real-life account detailed in the book “Richie” by Thomas Thompson about the 1972 death of George Richard "Richie" Diener Jr. from Long Island at the hands of his father, George Diener, who was not charged with a crime. The drug culture was still relatively new in the 70s and so parents were generally ignorant of the pitfalls thereof, which explains why the parents wait too long to tackle Richie’s drug problem by sending him to rehab or whatever. The movie illustrates how teens are drawn into the druggie lifestyle via hanging around the wrong crowd and the corresponding peer pressure. As they say: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Mr. Werner should have banned Richie’s drug-inclined buddies from his property WAY before he does, not to mention get him hooked-in with a serious counseling program. Of course not everyone who turns to drugs for recreation turns out like Richie and the movie never suggests this, but it does convey that the misuse of chemicals is a generally negat…

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