dhainline1 "Guyana Tragedy" is one of the best miniseries about religious cults I have ever seen! Powers Boothe gave Jim Jones a charisma that made you understand why so many people basically followed this man to hell. The young actor who played Jim Jones as a boy was very good as well! I liked the back stories of the characters who followed Jones to their doom. I felt sympathy for Brad Dourif's naive doctor character who was brain washed by Jones. I also felt bad for LaVar Burton as Richard who saw what kind of monster Jones truly was and couldn't help anyone. The only criticism I had was the hiring of brown-haired Ned Beatty to play the white-haired senator, Leo Ryan. The real Ryan's assistant was a woman senator. Another semi-criticism I have is the fact that Stephan Jones, Jim and Marceline's biological son was left out of the movie, and so were Stephan's adopted siblings. On a personal note: I will miss Powers Boothe's compelling performances in every TV and movie project he has done since "Guyana Tragedy.". All of his fellow performers and I think all of us who have posted a review for his performance in this compelling movie will miss this great actor!

Syl I will never forget this film or the events that lead up to Jonestown in Guyana. It just seems so tragic but needs to be told. Powers Boothe give a commanding performance as the leader Rev. Jim Jones from obscurity until total madness. It would have won him an Academy Award easily if it was released in the movie theaters. It is the kind of mini-series you won't forget. You won't forget the images of the cult's brutality, control, and obsessiveness of it's leader. His rise and fall and the threat from the outside world to destroy what he considered to be paradise. The mass suicide is horrifying, almost unreal to anybody's imagination as to why so many people (900+) went willingly or resisted JOnes' orders. They don't make mini series like these anymore where we're left with out mouths open and hungry to know what happened to the others.

virek213 Just given the fact that it is based on the most infamous mass suicide incident of modern times would have been enough to give this 2-part 1980 made-for-TV film attention. But the fact is that it is a superb recreation of the life of the Rev. Jim Jones, who built a church into a virtual empire, and then encouraged it to disintegrate into a sleazy cult in which a Congressman and his entourage were assassinated, and 917 cult followers committed suicide by drinking Kool-Aid doused with cyanide.Done very tastefully but horrifying enough, unlike the excruciatingly sadistic CULT OF THE DAMNED, GUYANA TRAGEDY features an all-star cast, including Ned Beatty (as Rep. Leo Ryan), Meg Foster, Randy Quaid, Brad Dourif, Brenda Vaccaro, LeVar Burton, and Madge Sinclair. But it is Powers Boothe (in his first big role) that really stands out as Jim Jones. He actually BECOMES the man, and his performance is riveting and chilling. Thus, it is no wonder that this film still manages to attract attention after more than twenty years.

goya-4 Powers Booth is hypnotic as cult leader jim jones who led his Peoples Temple followers from 1953 until 1978 when he led them in a mass suicide in 1978 where over 900 died. A very well done movie which may seem a little dated due to the 70s time period but well worth the time 8 of 10