A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.
- Awards
- 7 wins & 12 nominations total
- Tonya Hailey
- (as RaéVen Larrymore Kelly)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMatthew McConaughey auditioned for the role of Freddie Lee Cobb. After reading the script, he preferred the role of Jake Brigance but didn't think they would cast him due to his experience level. He went to director Joel Schumacher, who granted him a private screentest.
- GoofsWhen Jake calls Max after the fire, Max tries to run past him, apparently toward the off-screen dog wrangler.
- Quotes
Jake Tyler Brigance: [in his summation, talking about Tonya Hailey] I want to tell you a story. I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead. Close your eyes, please. 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.
- Alternate versionsThe first name of the Jake Brigance character becomes ''Jack'' Brigance in the Italian version.
- SoundtracksTake My Hand Precious Lord
Written by Thomas A. Dorsey
Produced by Matthew Johnson and Bruce Watson
Performed by The Jones Sisters
Courtesy of Fat Possum Records
At the beginning I thought I was right. From the beginning I was thinking "they left out a whole mess of details." I was irritated that they did not develop the characters better like in the book.
But by the 3rd quarter of the movie this was the last thought in my mind. And by the end I understood that the screenwriter had very skillfully budgeted his (limited) screen time for the most important parts of the movie, where it is well spent.
I think the acting of the principals was very good, and I found especially for Sandra Bullock as Ellen Roark - who was the most believable character. Although the rest of the acting was very good, I felt she was the most believable.
Which raises the main weakness of the movie, as good as it was, having read the book, I could not help being reminded that most of the characters were in fact, actors in a movie. Except for Ms. Bullock, there was a bit of woodeness to the "folk" in this small southern town. Also the plot is a bit contrived (but true to the novel). Most important is that (for me) it worked. I was moved. Its a very good movie.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $108,766,007
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $14,823,159
- Jul 28, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $152,266,007
- Runtime2 hours 29 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1