CineMatinee- April 2008
Unless otherwise noted, screening time is 1.30 PM, and admission is $4 for everyone except film society members who are admitted for $1. The theatre is located one half block of the Mesilla Plaza. For more information, please call 524-8287 or 522-0286.
April 5- The Silence of Cricket Coogler (2000, 90 minutes, not rated) Back by popular demand, with special guest, Paula Moore, whose new book, Cricket in the Web has just been released.
The brutal rape and murder in 1949 of Ovida “Cricket” Coogler, a young waitress in Las Cruces who was last seen alive in an official state car, evolved into one of the wildest, strangest and precedent-setting cases in American history.
Referenced in the public media over the past half century as one of the most compelling, mysterious and perplexing murder cases in the nation’s history, including non-fiction references by noted mystery author Tony Hillerman this documentary is a gripping revelation of all that occurred.
Events following Coogler’s murder included the arrest of Jerry Nuzum, a falsely accused star running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers; a Grand Jury that would not have been authorized in the case if it weren’t for the tenacity and courage of common citizens created through a remote statute by petitions from NMSU students; a cover-up by public officials; the torturing of a black WWII veteran to gain a confession to the murder; a blatant bungling and cover-up of forensic evidence; a link between the state capital and illegal gambling; the revelation that the Mafia was in the process of buying New Mexico; the mysterious deaths of three police officers who knew too much about the case; a governor who was elected on a platform that he would solve the murder case; and finally, pardons by former President Harry Truman, for two police officers convicted of civil rights violations in the case.
Ms. Moore will share her new findings on the case, and be available for questions and a book signing. This event is supported in part by Coas My Book Store and the University of New Mexico Press.
