Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Regency Enterprises
Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Experience a time you'll never forget.
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
CinemaSerf
Aug 27, 2023 · via TMDB
The opening scenes of this movie are the sort that stay with you for ever: the brutal assault and murder of a young girl by two rednecks in Mississippi. Before their trial, they are gunned down in the courthouse by the girl's bereft father "Carl Lee Hailey" (Samuel L. Jackson) and it falls to "Brigance" (Matthew McConaughey) to defend the man in a state riddled with institutional and communal bigotry. Kevin Spacey is effective as the DA ("Buckley") who assumes the all white jury will never countenance the murder of these two odious creatures by a black man, but he doesn't count on the resolution - despite threats to himself and to his family - of "Brigance" and of his feisty assistant "Ellen" (Sandra Bullock). Joel Schumacher really does capture the almost viscerally racist elements of John Grisham's book cleverly here with frequently potent, but not unnecessarily graphic, scenarios depicting just how "justice" was expected to flow, even though there is never any doubt about the guilt of either the initial rapists/killers or of her avenging father. McConaughey is super. Sure, he has the boy next door looks but here, also, he portrays his determined character in a convincing manner. So does Bullock - demonstrating, through one especially harrowing scene, that she has more to her than we see with her more regular smart-mouthed comical roles. As ever, Patrick McGoohan excels - this time as the aptly named judge "Noose" and both Donald and Kiefer Sutherland and a few short scenes from Oscar winning Brenda Fricker all serve to demonstrate that there is still some semblance of hope (and futility) against the inherently malevolent prevailing attitudes of the time. The closing speech at the end from "Brigance" is especially potent. SLJ was nominated for a Golden Globe, his appearances are fine but sparing, but there was a curious dearth of plaudits for McConaughey which I found astonishing - he holds the threads of this menacing, at times quite sickening drama together well till the end. Not an easy watch, but well worth it.
Filipe Manuel Neto
Jun 16, 2023 · via TMDB
**It's a good movie, but I've seen better courtroom dramas.** I saw this film not long ago and was very impressed with its quality. I didn't know, however, that it was based on a novel by John Grisham (I've never read it, and I have doubts if it was translated into Portuguese), and based very lightly on the emotional testimony of a young girl victim of rape. It should be noted, moreover, and by mere curiosity, that, in the real case behind the novel, the victim was a white girl and the man accused of having raped her was black. In summary, it's very good, but it's not a perfect film, and it pales in comparison to other much more consistent and effective courtroom dramas. Joel Schumacher is the director of this movie, and that's really surprising me because his work rarely pleases me. I was able to appreciate the qualities of “Number 23”, the beauty and musicality of “Phantom of the Opera” were able to captivate me, but on the other hand, I hate the two “Batman” films he made, and I felt that “8 mm” is one of those films full of potential that ends up not living up to expectations. And then, this movie. And I'm still wondering whether I should consider the director responsible for the film's biggest weaknesses, or as a redeeming work that shows that, despite the crap, Schumacher had some talent. The cast is strong. Despite the downward trajectory that his career has taken after his consecration, Matthew McConaughey is in good shape here and gives the public an enjoyable job. It's not the actor's best, it's nothing original, especially if we think about courtroom dramas, but it's effective and it looks credible. Samuel L. Jackson also does a good job, but the character is the most ambiguous in the film, and he can be a villain or a hero depending on our opinion (and the film makes an effort to sell him a hero). Kevin Spacey is good in a highly stereotyped character, and Donald Sutherland gives an air of his grace when the material allows. Less interesting were the appearances of Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock. Technically, it's a low-key film, without major visual strokes or effects, which is good as it gives all the necessary space to the story and the actors' performance. It does, however, have good cinematography, a clever use of filming locations and sets, and also good costumes. It's a little long for the story it brings, but that fact doesn't constitute a very serious problem here. The story has problems that we have to consider. It begins beautifully, presenting the opening incident with shocking colors and tones. The scene where the father kills his daughter's rapists is also incredibly well done, but the rest, and especially the scenes outside the courtroom, are bland. Bullock's character is so expendable that it was preferable that it had never been added: she appears to throw some adulterous romance into the script, but that never goes beyond a succession of flirtations because the main character does not have the nerve to really cheat on his wife. For the rest, she gives him some good ideas, aiding an incompetent lawyer to do a job well done, but that would have been better if it had come from Donald Sutherland, giving him a greater utility and better material. I had serious problems with the trial of this film, starting with the judge's attempts to focus the facts on the death of the rapists. This would never be acceptable by a real court or a real defense, considering that, after the obvious failure of the transient insanity claims, the defense would have to rely on a clean criminal record, good citizenship and a truckload of extenuating circumstances in order to lighten the penalty to which that man was fatally to be condemned. And the most credible and convincing mitigating factor for a judge or jury would be, exactly, the enormous commotion that the rape would have caused, leading that father to act in a way that would have been impossible under other circumstances. And the insertion of the KKK in the film, not being a problem in itself, only serves to exaggerate a racial problem that is already there and that doesn't need to be exaggerated anymore.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Philo
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Matthew McConaughey
Jake Brigance
Sandra Bullock
Ellen Roark
Samuel L. Jackson
Carl Lee Hailey
Kevin Spacey
Rufus Buckley
Ashley Judd
Carla Brigance
Donald Sutherland
Lucien Wilbanks
Oliver Platt
Harry Rex Vonner
Charles S. Dutton
Ozzie Walls
Brenda Fricker
Ethel Twitty
Kiefer Sutherland
Freddie Lee Cobb
Patrick McGoohan
Judge Omar Noose
Tonea Stewart
Gwen Hailey
John Diehl
Tim Nunley
Chris Cooper
Dwayne Looney
Nicky Katt
Billy Ray Cobb
Doug Hutchison
Pete Willard
Kurtwood Smith
Stump Sisson
Tim Parati
Winston
Beth Grant
Cora Mae Cobb
Anthony Heald
Wilbert Rodeheaver
M. Emmet Walsh
Willard Tyrell Bass (uncredited)
Octavia Spencer
Roark's Nurse
Joe Seneca
Reverend Isaiah Street
Alexandra Kyle
Hannah Brigance
Terry Loughlin
Jury Foreman
Andy Stahl
Reluctant Male Juror
Graham Timbes
Male Juror
Jonathan Hadary
Norman Reinfield
Benjamin Mouton
Klan Bomber
Byron Jennings
Brent Musgrove
Greg Lauren
Taylor
Danny Nelson
Bud Twitty
Mike Pniewski
Deputy Tatum
Elizabeth Omilami
Woman Angry at Klan
Wayne Dehart
Claude
Rebecca Koon
Dell
Tim Monich
Reverend Fink
Leonard L. Thomas
Man in Lumberyard
Ryk St. Vincent
Deputy
Steve Coulter
Klansman
Richard Toyon
Art Direction
Brad Einhorn
Property Master
Peter Menzies Jr.
Director of Photography
William McConnell
First Assistant Camera
Tim Monich
Dialect Coach
Christian J. Fletcher
Stunt Double
Lance Gilbert
Stunts
Troy Gilbert
Stunts
Joel Schumacher
Director
Emily Schweber
Casting Associate
Bill Daly
Post Production Accountant
Arnon Milchan
Producer
John Grisham
Producer
Michael G. Nathanson
Producer
Tate Taylor
Production Assistant
Bill Johnson
Unit Production Manager
Elliot Goldenthal
Original Music Composer
Petur Hliddal
Sound Mixer
Andrew Adamson
Visual Effects Supervisor
John Grisham
Novel
Akiva Goldsman
Screenplay
Monos con navaja
Forced Testimony
Common Clay
Tanz am Sonnabend-Mord?
The Giant's Fist
Znásilnění
Nothing But the Truth
O Silêncio Que Você Faz
Birth of a MURDERER
Hidden Above 2: The Mystery Unfolds
Keeper
Glimpses of the Outskirts
Palette
The Witness
Snipers
Crime Takes a Holiday
Melanie Darrow
Sirens Call
Macbeth
The Green Mile
Twin Peaks
Les Avocats du Diable
High and Low
Once Upon a Time in America
The Silence of the Lambs
American History X
The Lion King
A Brighter Summer Day
Memento
Good Will Hunting
La Haine
Amadeus
Resurrection
Children of Paradise
On n'est pas des racailles
Gran Torino
Freedom Writers
Fargo
Joint Security Area
Number One
Dancer in the Dark
Anatomy of a Murder
Freaks
Rio Bravo
Treasure Lies
The King of Comedy
Misery
The Straight Story
Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future
Notorious
The Celebration
Bad is Bad
Mississippi Burning
Primal Fear
Get Out
The Banker
Twelve Monkeys
Arsenic and Old Lace
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
A Short Film About Killing
Scarlet Street
Talk to Her
Let the Right One In
True Romance
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Shooting Dogs
After Hours
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Off-Road Girl
The Wiser Sex
The Devil's Advocate
Volver
The Thin Red Line
Erin Brockovich
American Me
Sicario
Boys Don't Cry
The Long Goodbye
Mad Max 2
Selma
Bad Education
Minority Report
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Gone Baby Gone
The Fisher King
The 39 Steps
Cape Fear
This Man Must Die
An American Crime
The Greatest Game Ever Played
Champion
Ghost
Jo
K-PAX
Clue
Crash
Masculin Féminin
The Unknown Woman
The Professional
Steel Magnolias
A History of Violence
Pale Rider
Riceboy Sleeps
The Long Game
Savior
The Butcher
Felon
Nanking
...And Justice for All
The Accused
Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman
Death Note
Strange Days
Wild at Heart
No End
Mifune
Elephant
What's Love Got to Do with It
Egypt by Three
Midsummer's Equation
Jemima + Johnny
Heads or Tails
Nightmare
Shin Kamen Rider
December
Inland Empire
Insomnia
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams
Friday Night Lights
The Most Beautiful Wife
Nerkonda Paarvai
We Die Alone
Maigret at the Pigalle
Phone Booth
The Bank Job
Cube
Fatal Attraction
Counsel for Crime
It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks
Narc
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Hoard
Romeo + Juliet
Klute
The Marksman
Jason's Lyric
The Devil's Rejects
Un eroe borghese
Nowhere
Sabotage
The Tracker
The Girl Next Door
Accused
Man on the Train
Across 110th Street
Don't Bother to Knock
Bedlam
The Small Back Room
Jurassic World
Detainment
Jarhead
We Own the Night
Rosario Tijeras
Absolute Power
Enough
Eye of the Needle
Conspiracy Theory
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
2:37
Intacto
The Ref
Suspect
The Bricklayers
The Aryans
Dragged Across Concrete
The Werewolf Game: Crazy Fox
Empire of Light
David
Young and Innocent
A Perfect Murder
Love Lies Bleeding
Swimming Pool
Lemming
Funny Games
The Knock Out Cop
The Last Supper
The Hunters
The Grifters
A Strange Adventure
Time to Die
Burn Motherfucker, Burn!
Run Hide Fight
Luckiest Girl Alive
The Gift
Devil in a Blue Dress
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A
The General's Daughter
A Mighty Heart
Get on the Bus
The King of Kings
Wallander: The Secret
The Werewolf Game: Prison Break
La Llorona
Murder in Monaco
Varalaru
The Assignment
Madea's Family Reunion
The Fencing Master
The Zone
Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms
The Interpreter
Summer in Berlin
The Apostle
Pacific Heights
Freeze Frame
Skin
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
F/X2
Eye for an Eye
Trespass
The Power
Taken 3
Sniper: Ghost Shooter
Moonlight Shadow
Turks & Caicos
Zero Effect
Death Warrant
Unlawful Entry
Entrapment
Deep Impact
The Hole
American Gigolo
The Square
When a Stranger Calls
Devil's Knot
The Rules of Attraction
A Murder of Crows
I Live on Danger
Blacklight
Izo
De-Lovely
Ghost in the Shell
Angel
Marlowe
Secret Agent
Them
Cecilie
Patrick
Lady in White
Where Love Has Gone
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
The Sniper
The Life Before Her Eyes
Shaft
The Border
Illusive Tracks
The Last House on the Left
Franklyn
Switchback
Mulholland Falls
The Brasher Doubloon
Topaz
The 6th Day
The Star Chamber
Car Wash
Five Miles to Midnight
The Crooked Web
Kicks
Whistling in the Dark
The Sinners
I will not mention your name
Stonewall
Thunder in the Night
The Perfect Gentleman
The Diplomatic Corpse
Evil Nanny
Cain's Shadow
Collisions
Deception
The Impossible Spy
The Penthouse
Túnel de los huesos
The Grudge
Righteous Kill
Jar City
The Happy Housewife
Miss Meadows
Amok
1922
My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To
The Big Sleep
Urge to Kill
B. Monkey
Love and a .45
Pretty Maids All in a Row
Vellaripravinte Changathi
Fast-Walking
All the King's Men
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Albino Alligator
The Dark
Savage Grace
Psycho III
The Bank
Obsessed
Dheena
Horror Castle
Scarlet Web
Liar, Liar
Endangered Species
Nightalk
Last Dance
Perfect
Unforgettable
The Clairvoyant
The Grudge 2
The Gingerbread Man
Beautiful Creatures
Tricked
The Silent Mountain
Shocker
A Crime
Dr. Renault's Secret
No Code of Conduct
Poodle Springs
Ask the Dust
Boyfriend Killer
While She Was Out
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
Maestro
A Serbian Film
Liberty Stands Still
Cherry Falls
Feeling Minnesota
Criminal Court
The Man with Wax Faces
The Lost
Promised a Miracle
Bangkok Dangerous
Paparazzi
Shuttle
The Walker
Mizhikal Sakshi
Resurrection
On the Mountains
Tiger by the Tail
The Other Woman
Don't Look Back
A Father's Choice
Escape from Uganda
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Lola
The Noah's Ark Principle
In the Cut
The Girl from Monaco
Against the Ropes
They
Quarries
Special Killers
The Hamiltons
Fast Workers
The Werewolf Game: Lovers
The Hand of Now
American Johns
New Year's Evil
Hunting List
June 9
Autopsy
Runnin' After Love
The Truth About Charlie
Abandon
The Temp
Moon of the Wolf
Child of God
Someone She Knows
Bedlam
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face
Dark Glasses
Melissa P.
Stiletto
Candyman: Day of the Dead
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I Kill, You Kill
The Enigma of the Folies-Bergère
Michael Angel
The Killing Jar
Phobia
America's Deadliest Home Video
María Navajas
Pest - Die Rückkehr
Her Private Affair
Coda
Tiny Little Lies
Dard Divorce
Happiness Costs Nothing
Framed for Murder
International Prostitution : Brigade criminelle
Aalwar
Man on the Prowl
Amped
No Alibi
Forgive Me For Raping You
The Sisters Four
Rescue
My Beautiful Jinjiimaa
Perversion
The Law
Girivalam
Target
Paranormal Adoption
73'
Warriors of Horseshoe 3: Redemption
Match
Baby Nymph
The Vanishing Trial
The Mystery of Murder: A Horizon Guide
The Sky of Birds
Toxic: A Black Woman's Story
Ghost
Stealing the Beauty's Corpse at Night
Remember Us
Gouge Away
Puffer Rhapsody
Elders Club
DÉTECTIVE MANO 2 - LE RETOUR DE LA VENGEANCE
Atardeceres
Hooknasty
Kalkutún, Trial of the Witches
Oveja de mi rebaño
Bacio
Bertrand Cantat : Noir Destin
Someone's Daughter
My Mother
Remission
Under Oath
Violent World News
Fanny
Anatomy of a Murder
Mississippi Burning
In the Heat of the Night
Primal Fear
Sleepers
Fury
Cape Fear
Cape Fear
The Enforcer
Shot Caller
Fallen
At Close Range
Avengement
Double Jeopardy
Storm Warning
Desperation Road
The Whole Truth
Sudden Impact
Shaft
Eye for an Eye
Violent Ends
Dead Man Down
God Is a Bullet
A Murder of Crows
Inside Man
Shaft
Dark Places
Straw Dogs
Blood
The Chamber
Due Justice
No Mercy
Jul 24, 1996
Feb 10, 2009
© 2025-2026 MovieNight. All rights reserved.
Versus
Sign in to play →
Stripper Wives
1999
Sally's Beauty Spot
1990
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
Versus
Sign in to play →
Stripper Wives
1999
Sally's Beauty Spot
1990
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
We use essential cookies to run MovieNight, plus analytics (Google Analytics) and advertising (Google AdSense) cookies. By continuing to browse, you agree to this — or click No and we won't. See our Terms & Privacy Policy to learn more.