For surely this 1992 movie is just terrible. What a waste of capable
talent. This proves even good actors can't salvage bad material. I give
this a 2 count, for the presence of such as: Jason Robards, Piper
Laurie, James Spader and the great Woody Strode in an almost
unrecognizable part, and for seeing parts of New Orleans that may be
gone at this point of time.
The plot seems very silly. Adapted and directed by Mark Frost from a
novel called JURYMAN, it wandered aimlessly between the courtroom and
Bourban Street. Spader, our lead, seems to have no sense at all and
walks into one setup after another. Can't he see this can ruin his
career as a prospective Senator? Wandering all alone in the seedier
parts of town, getting out of a car to check out an abandoned truck
only to be attacked by our hidden villains, allowing a pick up to toss
him all over the place, and not one thought how this can ruin him.
Silly and stupid.
Piper Laurie, his "mom" either is high on drugs or she's blind. She
never looks anyone in the eye. She seems to stare into space most of
the time. Robards yelling and over acting in his thankless role, Parks
shooting it out in the courtroom and not stopped until he has wounded
just about everybody. Only two cops there to stop him? And Steve
Forrest, looking very distinguished in white hair, as the judge, pulls
out a revolver at the bench and gets Parks finally. Judges carry firing
arms at the bench? No reasoning in this film.
Spader is sort of walking around saying "duh" most of the time. Only
redeemable factor is to see Woody Strode in yet another thankless role,
but he seems the only one focused in this drama. Charlotte Lewis is the
femme fa tale who seduces our hero and then gets accused of her
father's murder. Her character made no sense at all. Was she a set up?
Was she a hooker? She was so obvious in her make for Spader. Not the
most attractive person to be such a temptation as to bring a future
Senator out on a rainy night into the dark and dingy world of
prostitution. My vote goes to Strode and to the French Quarters of New
Orleans which we hope will come back to it's beauty after the
devastating hurricanes that hit it recently. Here's to that spirit.
