Franchise Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The Pledge
Detective Jerry Black has made a promise he can't break, to catch a killer he can't find.
A police chief, about to retire, pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer.
- Original title
- The Pledge
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $35,000,000
- Revenue
- $29,419,291
John Chard
Apr 13, 2020 · via TMDB
There can't be such devils out there. The Pledge is directed by Sean Penn and adapted to screenplay by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's novel, "The Promise". It stars Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Aaron Eckhart, Sam Shepard, Patricia Clarkson, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke, Dale Dickey, Vanessa Redgrave and Harry Dean Stanton. Music is by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer, and cinematography by Chris Menges. Police chief Jerry Black (Nicholson) is literally on his last day before retitement. But during his leaving party news filters through that a young girl has been brutally murdered. Talking his chiefs into letting him tag along to the crime scene, Black ends up breaking the dredful news to the girl's parents. There he pledges to the mother that he will find her daughter's killer. Dürrenmatt's source material has been mined a few times for other filmic ventures, where the best of the other bunch is "Es geschah am hellichten Tag" ("It Happened in Broad Daylight"). It is here, though, in Sean Penn's hands, that we get the version that got two thumbs up from the author, mostly because of the ending staying true to his work. It should be noted from the off that this is not police procedural detective piece. This is a slow burn, moody and edgy picture, the kind that Penn excells at as an actor. Thankfully, in spite of it losing money at the box office, it shows Penn the perfect director for such material. It obviously isn't a film for everyone, more so if not prepared for it being a picture about one man's tumbling emotional descent. As Jerry Black searches for the perpretrator of heinious crimes, he also is faced with a moral judgement call and a major affair of the heart. The trick of the screnplay here is not in the red herrings and the little dangles of clues that appear to be on offer to Jerry, it's that we are never quite sure if Jerry is actually right in his belief of a child serial killer at work. Is it the product of a man so driven by the pledge he made, that he isn't thinking straight? Or worse losing his grip on sanity? The answer will only will out with the clinically daring finale. Lead actors Nicholson and Wright Penn turn in some of their finest work, both responding to Sean's probing of troubled souls in search of an exit. There's an array of quality support actors in small parts, which is a testament to the pull that working with Penn did appeal. The musical score is nervy and sits smartly with the ethereal tones that Menges brings via his photographic lenses. The Pledge is a haunting and disturbing character study that refuses to cop out. It achieves its aims and wasn't going to pander to any crowd pleasing bums on seats tactics. A dark thriller for grown ups who have the patience for such a telling, and perhaps more crucially are prepared to have their emotions tested with the finale. 9/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Jack Nicholson
Jerry Black
Helen Mirren
Doctor
Aaron Eckhart
Stan Krolak
Robin Wright
Lori
Sam Shepard
Eric Pollack
Benicio del Toro
Toby Jay Wadenah
Patricia Clarkson
Margaret Larsen
Mickey Rourke
Jim Olstad
Vanessa Redgrave
Annalise Hansen
Lois Smith
Helen Jackson
Eileen Ryan
Jean
Costas Mandylor
Monash Deputy
Harry Dean Stanton
Floyd Cage
Tom Noonan
Gary Jackson
Beau Daniels
Rudy
Dale Dickey
Strom
Wendy Donaldson
Resort Owner
Adrien Dorval
Sheriff
Michael O'Keefe
Duane Larsen
Nels Lennarson
Hank
Gardiner Millar
Deputy #3
Adam Nelson
Deputy #1
John R. Taylor
Grey Haired Man
Ted Thomas
Rest Home Resident
Brittany Tiplady
Becky Fiske
Françoise Yip
Bartender at Airport
Chris Menges
Director of Photography
Joe Doserro
Stunts
Rick Pearce
Stunts
Sean Penn
Director
Andrew Stevens
Executive Producer
Don Carmody
Executive Producer
Michael Fitzgerald
Finance
Elie Samaha
Producer
Michael Fitzgerald
Producer
Sean Penn
Producer
Hans Zimmer
Original Music Composer
Klaus Badelt
Original Music Composer
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Book
Jerzy Kromolowski
Screenplay
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Jan 9, 2001
Jan 19, 2001
