The Pledge (film)

The Pledge
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sean Penn
Produced by	Andrew Stevens
Written by	Jerzy Kromolowski Mary Olson-Kromolowski
Starring	Jack Nicholson Patricia Clarkson Benicio del Toro Aaron Eckhart Helen Mirren Tom Noonan Robin Wright Penn Vanessa Redgrave Mickey Rourke Sam Shepard
Music by	Klaus Badelt Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	Chris Menges
Editing by	Jay Lash Cassidy
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	January 19, 2001 (2001-01-19)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$29,419,291

The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman (The Pledge: Requiem for the Detective Novel), by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Dürrenmatt wrote The Pledge to refine the theme he originally developed in the screenplay for the 1958 film Es geschah am hellichten Tag (It Happened in Broad Daylight).

Plot

The film begins with a flashback to an inebriated Police Detective Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson), mumbling incoherently at an unspecified location. The scene then switches to events that precede the opening scene. Jerry is ice fishing, then driving to work. After work, he goes to a restaurant, where the Department has thrown him a retirement party. Police Captain Eric Pollack (Sam Shepard) gives Jerry a gift, a trip to go fishing in Mexico. The party is interrupted by the discovery of a murdered young girl named Ginny. Jerry decides to go with another Detective, Stan Krolak (Aaron Eckhart) to the scene of the crime.

Jerry delivers the bad news to the girl's parents. The mother (Patricia Clarkson) makes Jerry swear on a cross that Ginny had made that Jerry will find the killer. A suspect is found the next day. Stan goes in to interview the suspect, who is a mentally retarded Indian man (Benicio del Toro). The man eventually confesses, but steals one of the deputies' guns and commits suicide with it. To all of the other Detectives, the case is over. But Jerry doesn't think the killer died that night. He is still adamant about his pledge to find the killer, and doesn't go on the fishing trip the department gave to him. Jerry visits the victim's grandmother (Vanessa Redgrave) and is directed there by an older woman. The Grandmother tells Jerry that the girl told many stories, and a later visit to one of her friends reveals that Ginny had a friend she called "The Giant". Jerry sees a picture Ginny drew of the Giant that does not resemble the Indian, and Jerry takes the picture.

Jerry goes to Stan, and asks him to reopen the case. Stan refuses, but gets Jerry more information about similar cases in the area. Jerry's further investigation leads him to three unsolved and eerily similar cases that the Indian man could not have committed. Jerry presents these cases to Captain Pollack and Stan, who are doubtful. Jerry shows them the picture of Ginny and the Giant. Jerry once again tells them he is adamant about finding the real killer, and leaves. Jerry rents a cabin and spends some time fishing. He notices a gas station near the lake and likes the location so much he asks the owner (Harry Dean Stanton) if he is interested in selling the place. Jerry eventually buys the gas station and moves into the small house behind it. Jerry meets a local bartender named Lori (Robin Wright Penn). He slowly becomes a father figure to her young daughter Chrissy. After Lori has a fight with her ex-husband, she moves in with Jerry.

Soon, Chrissy becomes friends with a local reverend named Gary Jackson (Tom Noonan). Jerry is uncomfortable about this and begins to think Jackson is the killer. Chrissy is shown meeting a man driving a black car with a porcupine hanger on the rear mirror. Chrissy tells this to Jerry, explaining she met a wizard who gave her little porcupine candies and who told her not to tell her parents they met - she figured it was OK to tell Jerry, since he is not her father. Jerry realizes this is the killer and, using Chrissy as bait, Jerry stages an operation, with Stan's help, to catch him in the act.

A car is shown having a porcupine hanger, but it doesn't arrive at where Chrissy is. The woman who directed Jerry to Ginny's grandmother is shown searching for a certain "Oliver", and it is suggested this Oliver is the killer. After hours of waiting, Stan and the other Police leave. They tell Lori what happened, and, after racing to the place, Lori screams at Jerry about letting her daughter be in danger. The car that was shown approaching is seen destroyed in a car accident and while there is deliberate equivocation regarding the dead occupant it can be surmised it was the killer. Jerry is then seen as he is now, mumbling and talking to himself in front of the now defunct gas station, clearly distraught and now unbalanced by the turn of events, unaware of the implied fate of the killer.

Cast

• Jack Nicholson as Jerry Black
• Patricia Clarkson as Margaret Larsen
• Benicio del Toro as Toby Jay Wadenah
• Aaron Eckhart as Stan Krolak
• Helen Mirren as Doctor
• Tom Noonan as Gary Jackson
• Robin Wright Penn as Lori
• Vanessa Redgrave as Annalise Hansen
• Mickey Rourke as Jim Olstad
• Sam Shepard as Eric Pollack
• Harry Dean Stanton as Floyd Cage
• Dale Dickey as Strom
• Costas Mandylor as Monash Deputy
• Michael O'Keefe as Duane Larsen
• Lois Smith as Helen Jackson
• Brittany Tiplady as Becky Fiske
• Eileen Ryan as Jean

Production

The film was shot mainly on location in the British Columbia interior. While the opening scenes were filmed in Reno, Nevada, the rest of the film was shot in Keremeos, Princeton, Hedley, Merritt and Lytton, all in British Columbia.

Response

Critical response to The Pledge was generally favorable; it holds a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing: "The last third of the movie is where most police stories go on autopilot, with obligatory chases, stalkings and confrontations. That's when The Pledge grows most compelling. Penn and Nicholson take risks with the material and elevate the movie to another, unanticipated, haunting level." James Berardinelli gave The Pledge three stars, calling it "clever in the way that it gradually reveals things, but never gives us too much information at one time." The film did not fare particularly well at the box office. Its domestic receipts grossed approximately $19 million USD, with foreign receipts adding another $9 million.

Accolades

• Sean Penn - Palme d'Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival - NOMINATED
• 2002 for the Danish Bodil - NOMINATED
• Benicio Del Toro - 2002 ALMA Award - NOMINATED
• Brittany Tiplady - 2002 Young Artist Award - NOMINATED
• Hans Zimmer - 2001 World Soundtrack Award - NOMINATED

External links

• Official website
• The Pledge at the Internet Movie Database
• The Pledge at AllRovi
• The Pledge at Box Office Mojo
• The Pledge at Rotten Tomatoes