True crime is everywhere now. You can’t scroll through Netflix without hitting a dozen documentaries about serial killers or mysterious disappearances. But back in 2010, before the "Prestige True Crime" boom really exploded, a little movie called All the Good Things tried to do something incredibly difficult. It attempted to dramatize the life of Robert Durst while he was still a free man.
It’s a weird movie.
Honestly, it’s even weirder when you realize that the real Robert Durst—a man later convicted of murder and suspected in several other deaths—actually liked it. He liked it so much that he reached out to the director, Andrew Jarecki, to sit down for an interview. That interview eventually became the HBO masterpiece The Jinx.
If you’ve seen the documentary, you know the ending. You know the "burp." You know the bathroom confession. But looking back at the movie All the Good Things provides a chillingly accurate, if slightly fictionalized, roadmap of how a New York real estate heir allegedly got away with murder for decades.
The Real Story Behind the Fiction
The film stars Ryan Gosling as David Marks and Kirsten Dunst as Katie McCarthy. These are stand-ins for Robert Durst and his first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst. It’s not a 1:1 recreation, but it’s close enough that the McCormack family actually supported the film’s release because they felt it finally gave Kathleen a voice.
Kathleen disappeared in 1982. She was a bright, ambitious medical student. David (Robert) was the black sheep of a massive Manhattan real estate empire.
The movie focuses heavily on the psychological erosion of their marriage. It’s not a jump-scare horror film. It’s a slow-burn tragedy. You watch Gosling play David with this detached, haunting emptiness. It’s one of his most underrated performances because he doesn't try to make the character likable. He makes him strange. He makes him someone you’d want to walk away from at a party.
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What the Movie Gets Right About the Durst Case
Director Andrew Jarecki didn't just guess. He spent years obsessively researching the case files. He looked at the 1982 disappearance of Kathie Durst, the 2000 execution-style killing of Susan Berman (played by Lily Rabe as "Deborah Lehrman"), and the 2001 dismemberment of Morris Black in Galveston, Texas.
Here is what was real:
- The "dog" incidents. In the film, David’s behavior toward their pets is a precursor to his violence against people. In real life, Robert Durst owned a series of Alaskan Malamutes, all named Igor, who all died under mysterious circumstances.
- The cross-dressing. To hide from authorities in Texas, Durst actually lived as a mute woman named Dorothy Ciner. Seeing Ryan Gosling in a wig and housecoat is jarring, but it happened.
- The "burping" and talking to himself. The film captures Durst's involuntary vocal tics, which were a major part of his real-life persona.
Why Kirsten Dunst is the Secret Weapon
People talk about Gosling, but Kirsten Dunst is the soul of All the Good Things. Most "victim" roles in true crime movies are two-dimensional. They are there to die. Dunst plays Katie as a full human being—vibrant, scared, confused, and trapped.
She captures the specific terror of being married to a billionaire who has the power to make you vanish. When she shows up at a party soaking wet and bruised, begging for help, it’s gut-wrenching. It highlights the systemic failure of the police at the time. Because Robert Durst was wealthy and connected, the investigation into Kathleen’s disappearance was, frankly, a joke for nearly twenty years.
The Controversy of the Ending
The film takes a definitive stance on what happened to Kathleen Durst. It shows David killing her and his father, played by Frank Langella, helping cover it up.
Is that what happened?
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Legally, Robert Durst was never charged with Kathleen's death before he died in 2022. However, he was convicted of killing Susan Berman to keep her from talking to the police about Kathleen. The movie connects these dots before the courts ever did. It’s a bold piece of filmmaking that risked massive lawsuits.
The film also depicts the Morris Black case in Texas. This is the part of the story that sounds like bad fiction but is 100% true. Robert Durst admitted to cutting up a man’s body and throwing the parts into Galveston Bay. He claimed self-defense. And he was acquitted.
That’s the "All the Good Things" reality: money buys a level of "reasonable doubt" that the average person can’t afford.
Why You Should Watch It After The Jinx
If you've already seen the documentary, you might think the movie is redundant. It’s not. The movie functions as a psychological deep dive into the "why."
The Jinx is about the "how" and the "gotcha." The movie All the Good Things is about the domestic nightmare. It explores the toxic relationship between Robert and his father, Seymour Durst. It suggests that the cold, corporate environment of the Durst Organization essentially groomed a monster.
There’s a scene where David is forced to collect rent from tenement buildings while his father watches. You see the resentment brewing. You see a man who hates his life but loves the power his money gives him.
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Directing the Truth
Andrew Jarecki is a fascinator. He previously directed Capturing the Friedmans, another documentary about a family falling apart under the weight of dark secrets.
He has a knack for finding the humanity in people who do monstrous things. He doesn't make David Marks a cartoon villain. He makes him a pathetic, broken man who happens to be dangerous. This nuance is why the real Robert Durst liked the movie. He felt Jarecki "got" him, even though the movie depicts him as a murderer.
That is the ultimate irony of the movie All the Good Things. By trying to tell the truth through fiction, Jarecki tricked a killer into telling the truth for real.
Actionable Insights for True Crime Fans
If you are planning to watch or re-watch this film, here is how to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch in chronological order: If you haven't seen The Jinx, watch the movie first. It provides the narrative structure that makes the documentary’s revelations hit ten times harder.
- Pay attention to the background: The film uses real locations and period-accurate details from 1970s and 80s New York. It’s a time capsule of a grittier Manhattan.
- Research the "Susan Berman" connection: After the movie, look up the real Susan Berman. She was the daughter of a mobster and a brilliant writer in her own right. Her role in Durst’s life was much deeper than the film has time to show.
- Notice the silence: Jarecki uses silence effectively. The lack of a swelling orchestral score during the most violent or tense moments makes the film feel more like a fly-on-the-wall observation than a Hollywood thriller.
- Look for the legal "What Ifs": Think about how the case would have changed if DNA evidence or cell phone tracking existed in 1982. The film highlights how easy it was to disappear before the digital age.
The legacy of All the Good Things isn't just that it's a good movie. It's that it is a rare example of art directly affecting the course of justice. Without this film, Robert Durst likely would have died a free man in a penthouse. Instead, he died in a prison hospital, finally held accountable for the trail of wreckage he left behind.