Just Cause
February. 17,1995 RA Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
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Reviews
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Just Cause (1995)Plot In A Paragraph: A Harvard professor (Connery) is lured back into the courtroom after 25 years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.I don't get the hate aimed at this move, as I enjoy it. I remember being surprised how much I enjoyed it, as it was slated by critics upon releasel. It has a decent script, and has a few surprises. OK the ending isn't great, but that's it. Connery gives his usual solid performance, whilst Laurence Fishburn, Blair Underwood, Kate Capshaw (Mrs Steven Spielberg) Ned Beatty and Ed Harris are all solid, and we even get an early role from Scarlet Johansson, whilst I just love seeing Ruby Dee in anything. Just Cause grossed $36 million at the domestic box office to end 1995 as the 47th highest grossing movie of the year.
Sean Connery plays a Liberal Harvard college professor who is also a staunch anti-capital punishment advocate. Based on his reputation, he is called upon to help a young black man(played by Blair Underwood) who was said to be wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of a young girl. At first, the professor feels pretty self-satisfied of the innocence of Underwood, and gets him released, though the investigating police officers insist he was guilty. Things then take a dark turn as the good professor learns a hard lesson himself...Solid thriller has good acting by all, and efficient direction, but it is the surprising story turns that really make this stand out, and it is good to see a Hollywood film not take the obvious,(and easy) way out in regards to the controversial subject matter, which lead to an exciting and satisfying end.
How does a director cast Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Dee and Ed Harris in the same film, set it in the deep south with the potential of atmosphere and suspense galore, start off with a pretty nifty premise concerning a man unjustly sentence to the chair--and come up with a turkey? Just Cause churns along at a fairly nifty pace until about midway, and pretty soon we have car chases, mad scenes, rotting corpses, smelly swamps and the whole panoply of predictable plot lines any seasoned moviegoer can spot while making a good lasagna casserole. My suggestion is to invite the neighbors over for the casserole and forget this movie--unless you might enjoy Ed Harris doing his own hysterical version of Hannibal Lecter, chains and all, It's as if nobody around was given a script until the last minute, and being professionals, they all did their best--but the last half was never delivered and so there were some noble attempts at improvisation that didn't quite work.
I will admit I didn't pay full attention to this when it was on, but I did get the gist I needed to, and I suppose it isn't bad. Basically law professor Paul Armstrong (Sir Sean Connery) is given a letter by Evangeline (Ruby Dee), grandmother of Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood), and he wants him to prove his innocence. Bobby claims to be wrongly convicted for the kidnap, rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, committed eight years ago, and he faces the electric chair. So the rest of the film is mainly Paul, with some help from Sheriff Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne), questioning the suspects from all those years ago, including imprisoned criminal Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris). It has some red-herrings along the way, and it turns out in the end that Bobby did have something to do with it after all, and he kidnaps Paul's wife Laurie Prentiss Armstrong (Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Doom's Kate Capshaw) and daughter Katie (little and recognisable Scarlett Johansson) near the end for the final showdown. Also starring Christopher Murray as Detective T.J. Wilcox, Daniel J. Travanti as Warden and Ned Beatty as McNair. Connery is always likable with that Scottish accent, even in a small role Harris adds some needed kick, and the story isn't too bad, from what I paid attention to anyway, not bad. Worth watching!