A Time to Kill
DVD - 1997
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Quotes
Add a Quote"What is it in us that seeks the truth? Is it our minds or is it our hearts?"
"You're white, and I'm black. See, Jake, you think just like them. That's why I picked you. You're one of them, don't you see? Oh, you think you ain't 'cause you eat in Claude's and you out there trying to get me off on TV talking about black and white. But the fact is, you're just like all the rest of them. When you look at me, you don't see a man; you see a black man."
"Your job is to find justice, no matter how well she may hide from you."
"The jury has to identify with the defendant. They see you, they see a yardworker; they see me, they see an attorney. I live in town, you live in the hill."
"I am a liberal Row-Ark. What I am not is a card-carrying ACLU radical. I don't believe in forgiveness nor rehabilitation. I believe in safety. I believe in justice."
"I suggest you go watch a man be executed. You watch him die, watch him beg, watch him kick and spit the life out of him ... until he shits and is gone. Then come back and sing this crap about justice ... "
Notices
Add NoticesFrightening or Intense Scenes: It depends on your sensitivity. The scenes involving the KKK and the opening scene are the most frightening and intense. That opening scene doesn't explicitly show anything, but its implications are horrifying.
Sexual Content: Rape is discussed and implied, but never shown explicitly onscreen.
Violence: The KKK and other hate crimes are shown. There is some blood and a bit of violence, but anything particularly gruesome (e.g., the attack on a young girl at the beginning of the film) is obscured through creative choices in cinematography.
Coarse Language: The N-word is used consistently throughout the film, as well as a few instances of minor cusses. Religious individuals may be offended by the use of "hell", as well as other blasphemous expletives.
Other: One of the main characters that we're meant to empathize with is an alcoholic. Alcohol and tobacco products are consumed throughout the film.
Summary
Add a SummaryThe murder trial of a father who killed his daughter's racist rapists and the impact the trial has on all of the people involved in said trial, set against the background of a heated rural Mississippi community.
Comment
Add a CommentA good movie. Sandra is so young here. Will consider reading the book. The movie posed an important issue/question where is no a correct answer to. Who is here to judge? Who is here to decide right from wrong, good from evil? This movie makes you think really hard! :)
"When you look at me, you don't see a man. You see a black man. America is a war and you are on the other side. You are one of the bad guys. You don't mean to be, but you are. It's how you's raised. Nigger, negro, black, Afro-American. No matter how you see me, you see me as different. You are them".
Part of the great Grisham boom of the 1990s, rivaled only by the Crichton wave. Too bad they never collaborated with some kind of techno-legal thriller, you know? 1996's "A Time to Kill" is less thriller and more Deep South message courtroom drama. The message? Hey, it's okay to kill redneck racists if they rape and beat your daughter. It's a very manipulative movie that trades in broad stereotypes and heavy handed plotting. It's also 2 1/2 hours long. It's very much a piece of mid-90s cinema, both in its cheesy bombast and its absurdly huge cast, anchored by Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bollock, Samuel L. Jackon, and Kevin Spacey in one of his many slick, smarmy roles. And check out this supporting cast: Chris Cooper, Ashley Judd (who often seems sweaty), Sutherlands Kiefer and Donald, Oliver Platt, Nicky Katt, Patrick "The Prisoner" McGoohan. . .It doesn't stop! I'm still partial to "The Firm."
While he was making Grisham movies (He also did "The Client."), director Joel Schumacher was also busy ruining the "Batman" franchise. The title comes from the Bible. They never made the sequel, "Time to Die!"
I seen an interview with John Grisham on TMC. John was turned down many times for his book. Finally a small publisher who published Stephen King early works took a chance on Time to Kill. John had to cut 1/3 of book for movie. I have placed a hold to view this 1997 movie again. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Very good movie from an actor (McConaughey) who has some significant ups and downs in performance quality!
I often wonder at reviewers who leave a very good (or very bad) review Comment... and then don't bother giving it a "star rating" - when that is one of the first things that a potential reader / viewer would look at???
Maybe they don't know how?
A fantastic cast in a story that still resonates today. McConaughey, shows his early acting chops that made him a star even though he went on to do a lot of crap following that movie. Fortunately he bounced back with Dallas Buyers Club,
This two and a half hour version was a LOT longer than the one that I saw years ago in a NYC movie theater !!
And the parts that were missing seemed to be of the bombings, beatings, racial violence, and direct confrontational critiques of U.S. racism !
The theater version I'd seen was much more 'toned down' (?).
This is simply a great movie. If you love John Grisham, you will love the treatment of this story. The cast is superb, especially Samuel Jackson.
"This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on. First one, then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure with a vicious thrust in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they've killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to have children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. They start throwing full beer cans at her. They throw them so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones. Then they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope. They tie a noose. Imagine the noose going tight around her neck and, with a sudden blinding jerk, she's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking. They don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck, and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge. Pitch her over the edge. And she drops some thirty feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she's white." Simply put, this film is fantastic.
Another great Grisham novel turned into a movie. Highly recommended.