director
Joel Schumacher
screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman
based on
the novel by
John Grisham
producers
John Grisham
Hunt Lowry
Arnon Milchan
Michael Nathanson
cinematographer
Peter Menzies Jr.
music
Elliot Goldenthal
editor
William Steinkamp
cast
Matthew McConaughey (Jake Brigance)
Sandra Bullock (Ellen Roark)
Samuel L. Jackson (Carl Lee Hailey)
Kevin Spacey (Rufus Buckley)
Oliver Platt (Harry Rex Vonner)
Charles Dutton (Sheriff Walls)
Brenda Fricker (Ethel Twitty)
Donald Sutherland (Lucien Wilbanks)
Kiefer Sutherland (Freddie Lee Cobb)
Patrick McGoohan (Judge Noose)
Ashley Judd (Carla Brigance)
Chris Cooper (Deputy Looney)
Nicky Katt (Billy Ray Cobb)
Doug Hutchison (Pete Willard)
Kurtwood Smith (Stump Sisson)
Joe Seneca (Reverend Street)
Anthony Heald (Dr. Rodeheaver)
M. Emmet Walsh (Dr. Bass)
mpaa rating: R
running
time: 149m
u.s.
release: July 24, 1996
video
availability: VHS -
DVD
other joel
schumacher films
reviewed on this website:
- batman
forever
- batman
and robin
- 8mm
- falling
down
- phone
booth
- veronica
guerin
|
One
of the many curiosities about American pop culture is that we
hate lawyers, yet we love stories about them. We'll stand in
line for Primal Fear, we'll buy John Grisham and Scott
Turow novels. There is a caveat, though: we'll only back fictional
lawyers if (A) they're in mortal danger; (B) they're sexy; or
(C) they're defending an underdog client. A Time to Kill,
based on Grisham's first novel (written before he achieved hardcover
nirvana), covers all the above bases -- it's A, B, C, and probably
the rest of the alphabet. No cliché is left unturned,
no emotional button left unpushed. But that's par for the course.
You don't go to these legal-eagle movies for blazing originality
or searing complexity. You go to see the underdog buck the odds.
The hero -- Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey), a young, ambitious
Mississippi lawyer with his own tiny practice -- is reportedly
based on Grisham, who was one of the film's producers. Therefore,
Jake comes across so saintly and brave that he makes James Stewart's
lawyer characters look like ambulance chasers. McConaughey, a
fine actor, doesn't need this much help to win us over. The movie
sells him too aggressively.
Jake soon finds himself at the wheel of the case of a lifetime.
Two vicious rednecks have raped a ten-year-old black girl; the
girl's father, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), waits for
the rapists outside the courtroom with an assault rifle and starts
blasting. The result: two dead rednecks, plus a wounded police
officer. There's no doubt that Carl is guilty of pulling the
trigger. The question -- a stickier one -- is whether he can
be found innocent of murder. Jake takes his case.
Director Joel Schumacher, who also adapted Grisham's The Client,
doesn't waste many frames on the issue of vigilante justice.
The rednecks were scum; they deserved to die. Case closed. Does
Carl deserve to get the death penalty if found guilty? No. But
what if he accidentally killed (instead of wounded) that officer?
Or what if the police had arrested the wrong guys, and Carl ended
up killing innocent men? You see what I mean about these movies.
Reality is a whole other thing.
When it comes to pace and narrative, Schumacher is hopeless (as
the inept Batman
Forever showed). But give him great actors to point a
camera at, and he can coast. Jackson paints a detailed portrait
of a man torn by rage. Kevin Spacey, as the smug DA, manages
to be perversely likable even when he's trashing Jake's witnesses.
Sandra Bullock, whose star power helped get the film made, takes
a small role as Jake's cocky researcher -- and damsel in distress.
She's pretty much wasted.
After many traumas, challenges, and KKK cross-burnings, Jake
goes into full Jimmy Stewart mode for his summation -- a masterpiece
of manipulation. A Time to Kill is solid. The performances
are strong, the issues provocative. I was glad I saw it, but
I was also glad when it was over; my chest was sore from Schumacher
aiming wallops at my heart. Sometimes he connected, but I wished
he'd aimed more often at my brain. |