A Time to Kill
A TIME TO KILL (15)
D: Joel Schumacher
Warner Bros./Monarchy/Regency (Arnon Milchan, Michael
Nathanson, Hunt Lowry & John Grisham)
US 1996
149 mins
Drama
W: Akiva Goldsman [based on the novel by John
Grisham]
DP: Peter Menzies, Jr.
Ed: William Steinkamp
Mus: Elliot Goldenthal
PD: Larry Fulton
Matthew McConaughey (Jake Brigance), Sandra Bullock (Ellen
Roark), Samuel L. Jackson (Carl Lee Hailey), Kevin Spacey (Rufus Buckley), Oliver Platt (Harry Vonner), Charles S. Dutton (Ozzie Walls), Brenda Fricker (Ethel Twitty), Kiefer
Sutherland (Freddie Lee Cobb)
Amongst the better adaptations of John Grisham's courtroom
drama novels, set in a small Mississippi town where a young lawyer defends a black man who murdered the two Ku Klux Klan members who raped his young daughter.
This old fashioned style melodrama could be dubbed the To
Kill A Mockinbird of the 1990's, but the truth is that it isn't quite as good as Harper Lee's classic novel. At nearly two-and-a-half hours long, there's many strands of story which could
have been left on the cutting room floor for reasons of pacing. The ensemble cast all give their best, with Samuel L. Jackson the standout performer.
It's a narrative which would make a fantastic stage play,
but as a movie, it could have done with a little tweaking to make it a classic. I'd certainly recommend it to those who enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird.
7/10
