Just Melvin, Just Evil (2000)
Just, Melvin: Just Evil is a gut-wrenching American documentary film directed by James Ronald Whitney. The film dives into the horrific legacy of sexual abuse inflicted by Whitney’s maternal stepgrandfather, Melvin E. Just, upon their family. Released in 2000, the documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later aired on HBO.
James Ronald Whitney, a former Wall Street executive, returns to his rural hometown of Carlotta, California, seeking answers about the dark secrets that plagued his family. He interviews relatives who share their haunting experiences with Melvin Just, a man whose malevolence reverberated across generations. Here are the chilling details:
- Melvin’s Crimes:
- Melvin sexually abused ten of Whitney’s relatives, including his mother, uncle, aunts, and step-aunts. Shockingly, some of the victims were as young as two years old.
- The devastating consequences of this abuse rippled through the family, leading to dysfunction, addiction, and homelessness spanning three generations.
- Several aunts recount their struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and bouts of prostitution.
- Melvin’s Victims:
- The film reveals that Melvin molested and/or raped both his step-children and biological children from successive marriages.
- His victims include:
- Jeanette and Jan (twins)
- Ann (Whitney’s mother)
- Jim (from a prior marriage to a man named Elmer)
- June and Jerri (children born during Melvin’s marriage to their mother)
- Pambi and her half-sisters through Venise: Denise and Bobbie
- Jenise, the sole child of Melvin’s marriage to Venise
- Family Dynamics:
- Melvin’s first wife, Fay (Whitney’s grandmother), appears in interviews. Her naivete oscillates between knowing, believing, and denying Melvin’s actions.
- Whitney’s Uncle Jim cares for the feeble, aged Fay. Jim’s proposition to his half-sisters to live with him “as his wife” adds further complexity.
- Whitney himself reveals that he was molested by an uncle at the tender age of six.
- Venice’s Role:
- Melvin’s second wife, Venice, is the mother of four of his children/step-children.
In this heart-wrenching exploration, Just, Melvin: Just Evil unflinchingly exposes the darkness within a family haunted by unspeakable acts. Critic Roger Ebert aptly described it as “one of the most powerful documentaries” he had ever seen.
