A Time to Kill (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  Joel Schumacher

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Cooper, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Brenda Fricker, Patrick McGoohan, Oliver Platt

A Time to Kill is one of John Grisham's first novels and studies the complexities of a Mississippi black man (Jackson), who kills his daughter's rapists and is now on trial for murder.  What would you have done in a similar situation?  The movie understands that such an act is justified, but there are still laws against murder.  Carl Lee Hailey (Jackson) hires local lawyer Jake Brigance (McConaughey) to represent him, partially because he is a family friend and also because Jake sympathizes with Carl.  Jake proposes a temporary insanity defense, which isn't preposterous and could be the difference between life and death.  

Jake's opponent is the experienced DA Rufus Buckley (Spacey), who thinks he has an open-and-shut case.  Jake is aided by liberal law student Ellen Roark (Bullock), who may be able to find a psychologist that will testify as to Carl's temporary insanity.  However, the case brings about unwanted scrutiny from protestors, the NAACP (who wants Carl to have a black lawyer), and the KKK, one of whom is the brother of one of the rapists Carl Lee killed.  There are attempts on Jake's life and more issues which are snugly fit into a 2 1/2 hour movie.  

A Time to Kill is propped up by impressive performances from the all-star cast.  The courtroom scenes provide the needed suspense and drama, with plenty of attention paid to racially-charged subplots.  McConaughey is confident and at-home in his breakthrough role.  He would go on to play attorneys so often that he could probably pass a bar exam.  However, I still scratch my head at his closing argument speech in which he appealed to the jury's inherent racism by saying "now imagine she's white".  Carl is then found "not guilty", but how so?  I'm no attorney, like Grisham, so he could enlighten us.  Until that point, though, A Time to Kill worked as a proficient courtroom drama which provokes the question, "What would you do?" if you were Carl Lee Hailey.