We spend far more of the movie watching Jake with wife Carla ( Ashley Judd), unpaid clerk Ellen Roark ( Sandra Bullock), and slimy partner Harry Rex Vonner (an always delightful Oliver Platt) than we do with any of the Haileys. What follows is a strange, winding tale that unsuccessfully attempts to address the holes in the justice system marginalized people so often fall through.įor a film that tries so hard to make grand philosophical statements about race, it spends much of its time focused primarily on the white characters. It’s partly out of guilt for having some advance warning of the shooting, and it’s partly as an opportunity to step out of the shadow of his alcoholic mentor ( Donald Sutherland). Carl Lee’s defense is quickly scooped up by Brigance. Both men are killed and a deputy ( Chris Cooper) is seriously injured in the process. It isn’t long before perpetrators Billy Ray Cobb ( Nicky Katt) and Pete Willard ( Doug Hutchison) are apprehended by police and subsequently gunned down by Tonya’s father, Carl Lee. The opening POV shots of the attack are effectively stomach-churning, cudgeling the audience with the suggestion that these are two men are irredeemable scoundrels. Schumacher doesn’t waste a second introducing the town of Canton, Mississippi (a town that seems to have outlawed air conditioners) before launching into the violent rape of a 10-year-old Tony Hailey ( Rae’Ven Larrymore Kelly) by two hellraising good ol’ boys. Jackson as vengeful father Carl Lee Hailey and Matthew McConaughey-early in his career and full of Paul Newman-esque swagger-as beleaguered attorney Jake Brigance. The performances are excellent, particularly those of Samuel L. With a stacked cast and a well executed script, it moves at an almost blinding pace for a courtroom drama. Watching Joel Schumacher’s A Time To Kill might be the closest thing to tearing through that un-put-down-able paperback beach read you picked up at the airport newsstand.
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