Using that practicality to set up the most complex of crimes and thus set up a complex defense, the great Hal Holbrook dominates this film with everything he does, especially when he's not even speaking. In court, he sits there and makes several nervous moves that takes attention away from what's going on the stand, and it appears to make the courtroom have sympathy for him. He's in jail for having caught wife Brenda Vaccaro with another man, killing him, and after she's been harassed by the wretched paparazzi, she sees Holbrook, and much to the shock of the press and the D. A. Vic Morrow.
The thinking man's courtroom dramas, this may be extremely slow and too chatty for some, but I found it intriguing and cleverly brilliant. The film features many familiar faces including judge Edward Andrews, soap actors Chris Robinson, Brooke Bundy and Jerry Douglas, and veteran actress Josephine Hutchinson, a leading lady in the 1930's. The viewer gets the opportunity to see the legal system at work at its most complex, and it's fascinating. After a while, I was tempted to want to see Holbrook exonerated as well. Vaccaro is excellent as his wife whose motives are as complex as the case.
The thinking man's courtroom dramas, this may be extremely slow and too chatty for some, but I found it intriguing and cleverly brilliant. The film features many familiar faces including judge Edward Andrews, soap actors Chris Robinson, Brooke Bundy and Jerry Douglas, and veteran actress Josephine Hutchinson, a leading lady in the 1930's. The viewer gets the opportunity to see the legal system at work at its most complex, and it's fascinating. After a while, I was tempted to want to see Holbrook exonerated as well. Vaccaro is excellent as his wife whose motives are as complex as the case.