This is a pretty good drama about a court case involving a murder. Everybody thinks the guy on trial is guilty except for one person played by Henry Fonda. Before giving the verdict of guilty, which would mean death for the murder suspect, Fonda wants to talk it out first. Over the next hour and a half we get some of the best directing and writing I have ever seen in a movie.
It’s all substance and no flash with this movie, the kind of thing that I just don’t think is made that much anymore and even if it is it’s some attempt to get an award so it comes across as preachy and political these days. This movie on the other hand just gives us a simple story told very well and it never seemed to attempt to be anything more than that, which I can greatly appreciate. It’s not just the writing either, although that is pretty strong.
This story had been done many times on the stage before it was made into a movie and it needed both a good cast and good director to make it good. We have quite the cast and they are all on point owing a large deal to the Hawksian vibe the director gets across with all of the chatter but none of the clatter coming from the cast. Despite words flying every which way, every single important part of this movie is zeroed in on so you don’t miss a thing. I love the atmosphere of this movie and there are many reasons that this ends up being one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite drama/dialogue driven movies ever.
Site Title 