Directed by: David Mamet
Starring: Al Pacino, Helen Mirren, Jeffrey Tambor
Phil Spector was the force behind countless hit songs and albums. He wrote and produced some of the most famous songs in history and worked with The Beatles among others. By 2003, Spector was living in a castle in Los Angeles surrounded by fencing and barbed wire. His glory days were long behind him, but he was still famous enough to attract the attention of beautiful women. One night in February 2003, he brought home a blonde wannabe starlet named Lana Clarkson. Hours later, she is dead of a gunshot wound after a gun is inserted in her mouth. Spector, despite his claims that Clarkson committed suicide, was arrested and charged with murder. The case became high-profile due to Spector's fame. Did he coldly kill Lana Clarkson or did she kill herself like he said? Enter attorney Linda Kenney Baden (Mirren) to determine how Spector can be adequately defended despite the appearance of guilt and the fact that Spector loved to play with guns. He also is claimed to have said, "I think I killed somebody," to his chauffeur, but since his driver spoke English poorly, he may have misinterpreted what Spector claims to have said, "I think we should call somebody." Farfetched maybe, but possible.
Baden is played by Helen Mirren as a tired woman sick with pneumonia who put off a costly vacation to assist Spector's lead attorney Bruce Cutler (Tambor). At first, she believes Spector is guilty and would not be able to win an acquittal. She also believes that even if Spector isn't guilty, he would be convicted by the jury as payback for OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, and Robert Blake acquittals by LA juries. "Phil Spector will be convicted for the murder of OJ Simpson's wife," Baden cynically tells Cutler. Despite her misgivings, Baden meets with Spector and doggedly pursues an acquittal for her client. She gradually believes in her client's innocence, or at least she has reasonable doubt that he committed the murder, which is suitable enough.
Spector himself lives in a dark and creepy mansion. It's entirely too big for one man to live in. but Spector believes in excess. He has different wigs, including the infamous one which looks like a gray afro. He said it was his tribute to Jimi Hendrix, but since he wore it on the day he was expected to testify, was he being crazy like a fox in order to avoid testifying? Baden's goal was to get Spector on the stand in order to "start him at crazy but have the jury think he's a lovable eccentric by the end of the day." Spector was a lot of things, lovable wasn't one of them. Pacino is effective as Spector because he makes it difficult to draw easy conclusions about him. He's a wounded man living off his past successes. He tells Baden about "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", which radio stations wouldn't play because of its length. Spector simply repackaged the single with a false running time. The stations played it and the rest is history. He's intelligent, but stands firm with his story that Clarkson killed herself. Certainly computerized and live recreations of the incident seem to support Spector here. The minute amount of blood on Spector's suit is inconsistent with a suit worn by a guy who put the gun in someone's mouth and pulled the trigger.
It seems that Pacino is given at least one lengthy speech in his films in which he drones on endlessly. While I think highly of Pacino, sometimes less can be more. He has a couple of those moments in Phil Spector, leading me to believe that writer-director David Mamet was so in love with his own dialogue that he didn't think to dial down. The elements are in place for an intriguing look into this case, but it's not compelling enough as a whole. It is gripping in spots, such as the examination of the forensic evidence, but other scenes lose their way. Phil Spector avoids the courtroom scenes and focuses on the behind-the-scenes trial preparations. His guilt is up in the air, even to his own legal team. After a first trial ended with a hung jury, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder during the second trial. Was Spector convicted based on the sins of past juries that acquitted seemingly guilty defendants?
Phil Spector is a true near-miss. There is plenty to like about it, while understanding that it's rather uneven for a film with a high-powered cast and a legendary writer.
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