In a courtroom thriller by the director of Return of the Jedi based on a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, a man is accused of killing his wealthy wife. If you've seen similar later movies with structures perfected by the likes of Eszterhas himself (Basic Instinct immediately comes to mind), you can guess the ending from a mile away - which renders the entire film somewhat lame. And while a twist during the final scene comes as a shock, quite a bit of story logic is sacrificed to make that twist work. With more ambition, this could have become an important landmark.
Trivia: Marquand died of a stroke just two years after this film, at the age of 49.
Mo says:
Not only audience is miles ahead of story twist but also female character as a central role was disappointing ...a vulnerable ,emotional insecure lawyer who has personal conflicts , ignores her kids , fell in love with her client accused with 2 murder in a second, makes mistakes in her job twice (!) and finally decides to convict & do justice herself !! The male character of "good father" who investigated and discovered truth long before our protagonist can recognize it , was much more appealing.
ReplyDeleteBTW , thanks for bringing it up here.I like both actor & actress indeed.
Totally agree. What I find strange is that this film has many elements that was done significantly better later on - which means the film could have become an important milestone. Don't understand why the material was handled in such a cheap manner.
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