Most people in the world have built their perception of the US legal system on TV shows, in which most complex problems get solved in 45 minutes, or on adaptations of John Grisham’s books, in which a single lawyer triumphs over government and powerful corporations. The reality is, of course, quite different, and in the old days some of that reality even found its way into the content of Hollywood films. One such example can be found in …And Justice for All, a 1979 film directed by Norman Jewison.
The protagonist of the film, played by Al Pacino, is Arthur Kirkland, a Baltimore criminal defence attorney who, unlike most of his colleagues, cares less about money or fame and more about the interests and well-being of his clients. His passion in the courtroom often led to clashes with the authoritarian Judge Henry T. Fleming (played by John Forsythe), with whom he developed a deep personal enmity and who deliberately keeps Kirkland’s clients behind bars on procedural grounds despite clear evidence of their innocence. The tables seem to turn when Fleming is charged with a brutal rape. Kirkland is, however, less thrilled about the news when he, under threat of disbarment over alleged ethics violations, unwillingly takes on his defence in court. Kirkland’s moral dilemmas become even more difficult when he finds that Fleming actually did commit the despicable crime.
…And Justice for All was originally advertised as a comedy, and was probably devised as such by the scriptwriting wife-and-husband team of Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson. However, what the audience sees on the screen has relatively little to do with comedy, and the content includes suicides, rape and the sadistic murder of children. The tone of the film is actually quite bleak, and its portrayal of a legal system in which the innocent suffer, the guilty walk free, evildoers prosper and good people are destroyed for their work is wrapped in the bleak, depressive ending so characteristic of 1970s cinema. The script tries to fight this bleakness with misguided attempts at black humour, including the subplot involving the suicidally insane Judge Rayford, played with gusto by veteran character actor Jack Warden in a performance which, although occasionally entertaining, appears to belong to a different film. The same can be said for the subplot involving Kirkland’s senile grandfather, which was probably introduced to give a role to Lee Strasberg, Pacino’s mentor and the legendary director of the Actors Studio, for whom …And Justice for All represented one of his final screen appearances.
This film is known as the first major Hollywood production to be shot in Baltimore, Barry Levinson’s native city, which would later become a popular location for films and TV shows, including Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire, which deal with some of the same social and legal issues with much more success. Director Norman Jewison, whose work often dealt with the darker sides of America, doesn’t add much local flavour and mostly lets the actors do the work. This is generally a good thing, because their performances often transcend the deep flaws of the script or their thankless roles. That includes Jeffrey Tambor in the semi-comical role of Kirkland’s frustrated partner, or John Forsythe, future star of Dynasty, as the cold, menacing embodiment of the old white heterosexual man in a position of power – Hollywood’s favourite stereotype and explanation for everything that is wrong with America and the world. Their efforts, on the other hand, are dwarfed by Pacino, who probably enjoyed playing an idealistic character very much like his role in Serpico but tried something different. The result is a powerful emotional outburst at the end which makes this film truly memorable, but also foreshadows Pacino’s descent into the hysterical overacting that would plague many films in the latter stages of his career.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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