When a man with a bomb took a Cokeville elementary school hostage eight years ago, Principal Max Excell remembers thinking it seemed more like TV than reality.
"I didn't think anything like that could ever happen in Cokeville, Wyoming," Excell said. "It was like something you see on the news or in a movie on TV."The incident - which ended when the bomb detonated accidentally and the man, David Young, shot and wounded a teacher, killed his wife and then himself - was, of course, widely played on the news.
And now it has been turned into a made-for-TV movie, "To Save the Children," which airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CBS - Channel 5 locally.
The day after the drama played itself out in real life, one of the victims - Kamron Wixom, who was then 12 years old - told the Deseret News that Young's wife, Dorris, "said to all the little kids, `Just think of this as an adventure movie.' "
Unfortunately, "To Save the Children" doesn't live up to that billing. It's yet another true-life crime TV movie that's shallow, exploitative and just plain bad.
Instead of concentrating on the plight of the victims - 167 students and teachers - the movie spends most of its time with David Young, played as a wacko by Richard Thomas. The only Cokeville resident to get much air time is a fictionalized teacher, som-nambulantly played by Robert Urich.
Quite understandably, Excell was somewhat concerned last week about how the movie turned out.
"I'm kind of anxious to see how well they tell the story," he said. "The thing that concerns me is, do they tell the story in a true way?"
Well, sort of. A good deal of it does follow the facts, but it veers off in a number of places.
Excell's own role is diminished, with Urich's character taking on some of his duties as Young's liaison with the authorities.
Excell is played by an unknown Canadian actor - the movie was shot near Toronto. "I don't get the Robert Urich or the Richard Thomas," Excell said with a laugh.
And in the movie, the principal is one of the first people approached by the the heavily armed Young. In reality, Excell was at the post office when Young arrived.
"When I got back, I went down to that classroom searching for people," Excell said. "When I walked in, I said, `What's happening here?'
"(Young) said: `This is the revolution. You're being held hostage.'
"And I said: `Sure we are. Right here in Cokeville, Wyoming.' I just laughed it off.
"And then I looked around at a couple of other teachers and they were pale. One of them said: `It's for real. Take it seriously.' "
That real scene plays out better than how it was fictionalized for the TV movie. And while there was plenty of suspense and terror in real life, the script writers chose to concoct a subplot about several of the boys hatching a plan to disarm and overpower Young.
"To Save the Children" also excludes any reference to the LDS Church and to Cokeville's predominantly LDS population, which Young told Excell was one of the reasons he chose Cokeville to carry out his plot.
"He made a reference to the LDS Church, and said: `This is an LDS community and I know that the LDS people love their children and the LDS Church also has a lot of clout. And the church will put pressure on the government to listen to me,' " Excell said.
Young's demands included $2 million ransom per child and a promise that the government would listen to his ideas about the way things should be run.
Other factual errors include how and where the music teacher was shot, and placing the principal in the classroom when the bomb went off. Actually, Excell was on the phone in the school office.
"I just dropped the phone and ran down the hallway," he said. "Really, I had no idea what I would find when I got down there.
"What I saw was kids running past me, some of them had their clothes on fire, some of them their hair was on fire - it was as scary as heck. When I got there, it was all just black smoke. So black you couldn't see anything except fire inside the classroom."
As he ran to get a fire extinguisher, he heard gunshots. He quickly summoned the waiting police officers.
"I hollered and said, `Get in here, quick. I'm afraid he's shooting the kids.' "
Fortunately, most of that noise was from shells that were being set off by the fire. Although a few of the children suffered serious burns, all recovered -as did the wounded teacher.
In the eight years since the incident, life has long since returned to normal for Excell and other Cokeville residents. Earlier this year, Excell moved to Shoshone, Idaho, where he's the superintendent of the small school district.
"I don't think about it a lot," he said "Whenever there's an incident in the school, it brings back the memories. But it's not something I dwell upon."
Of greater concern these days is how he's been portrayed in the TV movie.
"It worries me that the movies might get hold of something and decide to glamorize by having the principal and the secretary have an affair or something," he said with a laugh. "You never know what the movies might do."