It's incredible to me that people pass off this by-the-numbers TV movie slog as believable or well acted. Perhaps the plot just not aging well. The characters - four black youths accused of murder, the social justice minister who gets involved, the news media covering and exploiting the whole mess ....it's all very formulatic. The crime is beyond defense, the guilt is not in question, so the audience is really asked to spend too much time worrying about everything else.
This film explains itself to you every step of the way, but leads nowhere. Bruce Davidson valiently tries to keep the message on point, but in showing us the "circus" this trial became, the director makes it a muddle.
Pass on it.
This film explains itself to you every step of the way, but leads nowhere. Bruce Davidson valiently tries to keep the message on point, but in showing us the "circus" this trial became, the director makes it a muddle.
Pass on it.