MURDER IN THE FIRST
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
I was asked by the publicist for MURDER IN THE FIRST to write a book review based on a copy of the novel by Dan Gordon she gave me a few weeks ago. This makes it difficult to now see the film and write a review of the movie with the book fresh in my mind. (The book review is in the following message.)
For one thing, the book is more exciting than the film. For a second thing, why was it necessary to change the fictional names the author, Gordon, had given the characters? Does everything have to be twisted around when making a movie from a book? Willie Moore (in the book) sounds better than Henry Young (Kevin Bacon). Henry Willard Davidson (Christian Slater), the young lawyer in the book, becomes Stamphill. Oh, well.
There have been many books on prisons and prison life but none so clearly describes the utter authoritarian brutality visited on anyone when a jailer, Mr. Glenn (Gary Oldman), wishes to punish. This film is based on a true story, an attempted escape of Alcatraz and the subsequent events that made present day Alcatraz a tourist attraction in San Francisco bay.
When Warden Humson asked Mr. Glenn why number 532 (the number was also changed!) was in solitary confinement for three years, the reply he got was that the records will show that no one has attempted an escape since Young received his punishment. "You let those animals think escape is possible you might as well stick in a revolving door. Is that what you want, Sir?"
Nevertheless, the warden decides Young has learned his lesson and he is released from solitary, half crazed. Gordon has described the darkness, in the cave-like one-room, the little peephole in the "door," the smell. Three years. In the film, it is too dark to see much of the "dungeon" as solitary was called.
In all the time Young was holed up, his mind was on learning who was the snitch who gave away the escape plan. It was the one thing that kept him alive. When, his first day out of the dungeon (as it was called) and on line in the mess hall, another convict whispers the name of the snitch. A few moments later, Young gets his revenge and once more is thrown under Mr. Glenn's authority.
Gordon details the new punishment Young must now endure. The story then switches to the young Public Defender and his efforts to get a fair trial for Young ... with Young not responding.
While Gary Oldman and Christian Slater are let loose to give forth with their histrionics, most of Kevin Bacon's work is in the dark ... as is most of the film.
Directed by Marc Rocco.
2.5 bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews