Just Cause (film)
| Just Cause | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Arne Glimcher |
| Written by | Jeb Stuart Peter Stone |
| Produced by | Arne Glimcher Steve Perry Lee Rich |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Lajos Koltai |
| Edited by | William M. Anderson Armen Minasian |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27 million |
| Box office | $36,853,222 |
Just Cause is a 1995 suspense crime thriller film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.
Plot
Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), a liberal Harvard professor opposed to capital punishment, is persuaded to go to Florida to investigate the conviction of Bobby Earl Ferguson (Blair Underwood) for murder. Ferguson, a former Cornell University student, is a highly intelligent, charming, and articulate black man who was convicted of raping and murdering a young white girl. Armstrong must save him from being executed in the electric chair. Ferguson tells Armstrong that he was tortured by two police detectives to get a confession. As Armstrong digs deeper into the case, he discovers that Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne), the chief detective on the case, did indeed coerce Ferguson's confession.
The plot thickens when Ferguson tells the professor that the murder was actually committed by Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris), a serial killer awaiting execution, who later reveals the location of the weapon used to kill the girl. When Armstrong discovers the weapon, Brown tries to threaten him into abandoning the investigation. (It is revealed that the murdered girl was Brown's daughter's best friend.) Ferguson gets a re-trial and is freed from prison. Subsequently, the governor signs Sullivan's death warrant.
Armstrong receives a call from Sullivan, who says he has a final clue to share, but first wants Armstrong to visit his (Sullivan's) parents and tell them he said goodbye. Armstrong is shocked to find their butchered bodies. Back at the prison, Sullivan gloats that he and Ferguson struck a deal: Ferguson would kill Sullivan's parents in exchange for freedom, while Sullivan would claim responsibility for the girl's murder, which Ferguson did in fact commit. Armstrong asks why he was needed for their scheme, and Sullivan replies that was "Bobby Earl's call." Armstrong has the last laugh by lying to Sullivan that his parents were alive and that they "forgive him." Sullivan becomes enraged. He resists the guards taking him to the electric chair, where he is executed.
Armstrong and Brown go after Ferguson, whose motive for everything turns out to be a desire for revenge on Armstrong's wife (Kate Capshaw); she was the prosecutor against him in a previous rape trial which, while thrown out of court on a technicality, resulted in him being brutalized and castrated in jail, as well as being kicked out of Cornell, robbing him of any chance of a future. Ferguson plans to murder Armstrong's wife and daughter (Scarlett Johansson) and then disappear. Armstrong and Brown join forces to kill Ferguson and save Armstrong's family.
Cast
- Sean Connery – Paul Armstrong
- Laurence Fishburne – Detective Tanny Brown
- Kate Capshaw – Laurie Prentiss Armstrong
- Blair Underwood – Bobby Earl Ferguson
- Ed Harris – Blair Sullivan
- Christopher Murray – Detective T. J. Wilcox
- Ruby Dee – Evangeline
- Scarlett Johansson – Katie Armstrong
- Daniel J. Travanti – Warden
- Ned Beatty – McNair
- Kevin McCarthy – Phil Prentiss
Reception
Critical
Unlike Glimcher's previous film, The Mambo Kings, Just Cause received mostly negative reviews,[1][2][3] with a "Rotten" 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews [4] and an average score of 6.4 on The Internet Movie Database.
Box office
The movie debuted with moderate success.[5]
References
- ^ "FILM REVIEW; Helping an Innocent on Death Row". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ^ "Just Cause". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ^ "Just Cause". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ^ "Just Cause". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ "The 'Brady' Hunch Pays at Box Office : Movies: The film, based on the squeaky-clean '70s TV family, is thriving in the '90s with a solid opening weekend". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
