A Time to Kill - Joel Schumacher
Directed by:
Story by:
Screenplay by:
Release year:
Country:
Runtime:
149min
Genre:
Music by:
Soundtrack:
A Time to Kill
Subjects:
Capital punishment
Tagline:
Experience a time you'll never forget.
Plot:
In Canton, Mississippi, 10-year-old Tonya Hailey is viciously brutalized by two white racist rednecks -- James Louis "Pete" Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Almost immediately after Tonya is found and rushed to a hospital, Pete and Billy Ray are found at a roadside bar, where they had been bragging about what they did to Tonya. Tonya's understandably distraught and enraged father, Carl Lee Hailey, remembers a case from a year ago, when four white men raped an African-American girl in a nearby town, and got acquitted. Carl is determined to not let that happen in this case. While deputy Dwayne Powell Looney is escorting Pete and Billy Ray up a flight of stairs to a court room, Carl emerges from the building's basement with an assault rifle, and he kills Pete and Billy Ray for what they did to Tonya. Carl is later arrested at his house by African-American sheriff Ozzie Walls, and Carl is scheduled to be placed on trial. Despite the efforts of the NAACP and local African-American leaders to persuade Carl to choose some of their high-powered attorneys, Carl wants to be represented by his friend Jake Tyler Brigance, who has a wife named Carla and a daughter named Hannah. Presiding over the trial is white judge Omar Noose, and the prosecution attorney is Rufus Buckley, who would like nothing more than to win the case and swim in the publicity that a win would generate, because Rufus realizes that a murder conviction could help him gain higher office. Helping Jake on the case are his former law professor Lucien Wilbanks, fellow attorney Harry Rex Vonner, and law student Ellen Roark. Ellen has had experience with death penalty cases, and that's exactly what Rufus may be seeking. To start things off, Noose denies bail and denies Jake's petition for a change of venue. Carl has also been fired from his job. Billy Ray Cobb's brother Freddie Lee Cobb wants revenge on Carl, so Freddy gets the help of the Mississippi branch of the KKK, led by Mississippi grand dragon Stump Sisson. Carl's wife Gwen tells Carl that a doctor has said that because of Pete and Billy Ray, Tonya's reproductive organs are damaged enough to where she won't be able to have kids when she grows up. That night, a KKK member is found trying to plant a bomb under Jake's porch. Jake's secretary Ethel Twitty and her husband Bud are also attacked by the KKK. Still, Jake, Harry, Lucien, and Ellen continue to help Carl. On the day the trial begins, there is a riot outside the court building between the KKK and the area's African-American residents, and Stump Sisson is killed by a molotov cocktail that was dropped from a roof by one of Carl's sons, who was not seen dropping it. Freddy and the KKK start burning crosses throughout Canton, and one of the crosses burns Jake's house down while Jake and his family are not home. As a result, the National Guard is called to Canton to keep the peace during the trial. But Freddy is not about to let that stop him. While Freddy continues his efforts to get revenge on Carl for Billy Ray's death, Carl's attorneys put everything they've got into Carl's defense.
Cast:
as
Jake Tyler Brigance
as
Ellen Roark
as
Carl Lee Hailey
as
D.A. Rufus Buckley
as
Carla Brigance
as
Ethel Twitty
as
James Louis 'Pete' Willard
as
Billy Ray Cobb
as
Harry Rex Vonner
as
Freddie Lee Cobb
as
Cora Mae Cobb
as
Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
as
Stump Sisson
as
Sheriff Ozzie Walls
as
Gwen Hailey
as
Reverend Isaiah Street
as
Lucien Wilbanks
as
Tim Nunley
as
Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver
as
Hannah Brigance
as
Judge Omar Noose
as
Tonya Hailey
as
Skip Hailey
as
Slim Hailey
as
Dr. Willard Tyrell 'W.T.' Bass (the Defense Psychologist)
as
Willie Hailey
as
Winston
as
Deputy Willie Hastings
as
Reverend Ollie Agee
as
Jury Foreman
as
Reluctant Male Juror
as
Joe Frank Perryman
as
Blonde Woman Juror
as
Male Juror
as
Norman Reinfield
as
Klan Bomber
as
Brent Musgrove
as
Militant Teenager
as
Taylor
as
Bud Twitty
as
Deputy Tatum
as
Woman Angry at Klan
as
Looney's Son
as
Looney's Wife
as
Claude
as
Waitress at Claude's
as
Customer at Claude's
as
Roark's Nurse
as
Dell
as
Guardsman Mackenvale
as
Tom Hardy
as
Sarah Hardy
as
Administrator at Whitfield
as
Reverend Fink
as
Man in Lumberyard
as
Noose's Butler
as
Noose's Housekeeper
as
Minister
as
Bailiff
as
T.V. Anchor
as
Old Man Bates
as
Young Fisherman
as
Fisherman
as
Old Fisherman
as
Deputy
as
Evelyn (Buckley's Secretary)
as
Sugar
as
Court Deputy
as
N.A.A.C.P. Woman
as
N.A.A.C.P. Man #1
as
N.A.A.C.P. Man #2
as
John (the Electrical Company Worker)
as
Reporter #1 with Hastings
as
Reporter #1 with Jake
as
Stephanie (Reporter #1 with Buckley)
as
Kim (Reporter #2 with Buckley)
as
Reporter #3 with Buckley
as
Reporter #2 with Jake
as
Klansman
as
Fire Chief
as
Woman at Rally
as
Courtroom Observer
as
Townsperson
as
Bar Patron
Reviews
There are no reviews yet, Be the first to rate this movie.