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.