Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones is a 1980 Made-for-TV Movie centered on Jim Jones from his childhood up to his death following his leadership of Peoples Temple. Unlike the later documentaries Jonestown and Jonestown: Paradise Lost, it's more of a fictionalized take on events (although it does contain many of the most important parts of the story) with some characters who are equivalents to (or composites of) actual people involved with the Temple. The film stars Powers Boothe as Jim Jones, with Ned Beatty as Congressman Leo Ryan.
Originally distributed by Telepictures for CBS where it was aired on April 15 and 16, 1980 in two parts, the movie has since largely faded into obscurity with few re-airings and video releases after the fact.
Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones contains examples of:
- Artistic License – History: While this film was generally a good Shown Their Work example, it stretched the truth for dramatic purposes in some parts.
- A big issue is that Stephan Gandhi Jones,note the biological son of Jim and his wife Marceline, is written out of the story, which has the secondary effect of altering the couple's relationship and making Marceline less sympathetic and seemingly more complicit in her husband's actions. In Real Life, Marceline was by all accounts a Mama Bear who wanted protect her children (Stephan plus her adopted children), and was willing to accept Jim's infidelity and rash behavior if she thought it would keep the kids out of harm's way. Also, the implication that they didn't have any birth children seems to suggest that Jim fathered a child out of wedlock in desperation or frustration.
- Joshua James Richie, the son of Jean Richie, is unquestionably said to have been fathered by Jones. His real counterpart John Victor Stoen had unclear paternity. Both Jones and former Jones lieutenant Tim Stoen (the husband of Jean's real counterpart Grace Stoen) claimed to be the father, and Grace was having relations with both men around the time John Victor was conceived. Tim Stoen had signed an affidavit saying Jones was the father, but he later claimed that he'd been forced to sign it under pressure.
- It depicts the mass suicide taking place in broad daylight, when it actually happened after sunset.
- Casting Gag: Father Divine, a black spiritual leader whose teachings influenced Jones', is played by an actor also named Jim Jones.
- Composite Character: Many of the Peoples Temple members are this. In particular, Richard Jefferson and his mother are meant to represent a typical Temple member profile: a Black family who joined believing in Jones' justice rhetoric, but who become leery of him as his behavior gets more erratic. Mrs. Jefferson specifically gets the dialogue that Christine Miller, the Only Sane Woman who challenged Jones at the final meeting, had in Real Life (Miller was about the same age as Mrs. Jefferson, but was actually single and childless).
- Death of a Child: Children can very clearly be seen amongst those taking the poison.
- Drunk with Power: Shown to be Jones' downfall, as he abandons his sincere fight for justice and equality in favor of basking in the devotion of his followers and wielding control over them.
- Egopolis: Jonestown, of course.
- Foregone Conclusion: Expository text at the beginning of both parts mentions Jim Jones' date of death.
- How We Got Here: Much of the movie (prior to Leo Ryan's arrival) is told in flashback.
- A Minor Kidroduction: After prologue scenes set in 1978, it starts out with Jones' childhood in rural Indiana, where he's shown to have a rather disturbing attraction to fire-and-brimstone religion while dealing with a horrible family life.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: While a lot of Jones' followers get the Composite Character treatment, a few are specific fictionalizations of real people, like Clayton and Jean Richie for Tim and Grace Stoen (two disaffected Jones insiders who became Jones' main antagonists, though Jean was also partly based on Jones' mistress Carolyn Layton), David Langtree for Larry Schacht (the resident Jonestown doctor who masterminded the poisoning method) and Larry King for Larry Layton (one of the leaders of the Temple group that opened fire at the airstrip).
- Nothing Left to Do but Die: After Leo Ryan's inspection of the compound and resulting assassination, Jim Jones orders that everyone in his congregation must take their lives to evade what he feels will lead to further torment.
- Only Sane Man: Richard Jefferson is one of the few Temple members who is shown to be well aware of Jones' corrupt behaviour and the poor quality of life in Jonestown.
- Pet the Dog: At some point in Jim's early adulthood, he has his wife give a black child a haircut when a racist barber refuses to do so.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: Jim Jones goes from being an idealistic young man wanting a fairer and more just society to a cruel and corrupt cult leader who finally orders his followers to commit mass suicide.
- Ripped from the Headlines: It debuted about 17 months after the tragedy, and tried to present the whole story, as it was understood at that point, in a non-sensationalistic way, especially compared to the first dramatization of the story, the sleazy Exploitation Film Guyana: Crime of the Century.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: During a meeting one night, Richard Jefferson openly speaks out against Jones who has laid claim to the former's girlfriend whilst also declaring relationships forbidden.
