I just caught this made for TV film on Lifetime Movie Network. Mary Tyler Moore gives one of the most over the top performances of.....an over the top woman. For this script and portrayal, she was perfect.<br /><br />The story is about an old, aging woman who thought she was a 'diva', but a bad grifter who wanted money and her way and would do anything to get it, and used anyone to get it - even murder.<br /><br />This part of the story of Sante Kimes focuses on the disappearance of a wealthy New York socialite woman Irene Silverman, also played well by Jean Stapleton. According to this teleplay and the facts, Kenny - the son and Sante set up an elaborate scheme to take the 7 million dollar property from Ms. Silverman. Sante was preparing to assume the identity of Ms. Silverman and sell the property and keep the money. They were caught, but Ms. Silverman's body is still not found.<br /><br />This teleplay focused primarily on the sociopath and psychotic nature of Sante and her interaction with her sons - Kenny and Kent. Kent left her grips early enough to have a somewhat normal existence, but Kenny was pulled in hook line and sinker to his mother's criminalistic demands. What you see in this portrayal of the story is Sante's manipulation to get whatever she wanted - and she got a rush from all of it. Even down to sexually seducing her own son for her personal gain, grifting and murder. You also see early on that Sante needed a man, some kind of man in her life to use as her foundation for whatever she did. While the performance may seem over the top, the real facts are about as unbelievable as the performances which is why this works for me.<br /><br />Sante Kimes is an over the top and unstable human being. She thought she was "Miss It" ... as old as she was and tended to portray herself as much younger than she was (could have been due to her trying to keep up the sexual seduction with her son!) - and Mary Tyler Moore played her right on spot. Later, you'll find that Sante and Kenny Kimes have done more gifting and murder across the United States than of this Irene Silverman episode and that is what makes the thought of them more chilling than portrayed.<br /><br />This is an over the top TV performance of an over the top criminal and her son. Not bad for a TV teleplay that went over the top to present an unbelievably true tale.