Years ago, there was an incident here. There was a noise complaint. A band was playing in a co-op near the university. The police tried to force their way in but the residents inside held the doors shut.
"We wanted to make sure they didn't come in without a warrant," the guy later told reporters.
Now, they also reported that an earlier case against the same people had been thrown out of court because the cops forced their way in without a warrant. All the evidence was thrown out. Why were these people so intent on making sure the cops didn't make the same mistake twice?
In this movie, the judge makes a ruling that violates established case law. It was reversible error. Instead of letting it go, instead of saving it in case he needs it to overturn his client's conviction on appeal, attorney Matthew McConaughey points out the judge's error to him. The judge gives the same decision against a change of venue, but this time he carefully considers it first as the law requires and doesn't dismiss it out of hand.
The movie is hard to take. It starts with a couple of subhuman Mississippi crackers raping and attempting to murder a Black child. Her father kills them as they're being brought to the courthouse to be arraigned, so he's charged with murder.
The Klan terrorizes the community. There's also a bizarre anti-NAACP subplot. I don't know what Grisham had against them.
Had this dramatic music that seemed old fashioned at times. It made me think of Bernard Hermann's score for Taxi Driver. I liked it, but it seemed out of place. I would have liked more of it.
With Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Donald Sutherland and his boy, Kiefer. Kevin Spacey as the snotty prosecutor.
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