Trial by Jury

In New York, Valerie Alston (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) is a single woman, who has a small son and is the owner of a store of clothes. She is convoked to participate of the jury of the trial of the mobster Rusty Pirone (Armand Assante), who will be judged for several murders. In the eve, the key witness of the prosecutor Daniel Graham (Gabriel Byrne) was executed with the four police officers that were protecting him by Pirone's men. Meanwhile, the ex-cop Tommy Vesey (William Hurt), who also works for Pirone, threatens Valerie, menacing to kill her son if she does not claim that Pirone is not guilty. "Trial by Jury" is not a bad movie, but it could have been a great film-noir. The first three-quarters of the story are indeed excellent. But there are two weaknesses in this film: the first one is the performance of Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. The character of Valerie lives a terrible dramatic dilemma and a very conflictive situation between her consciousness and the request of the mobster, and demanded a more expressive actress. Unfortunately, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer keeps the same expression in the most different situations along the story. The second weak point is the conclusion of the story, which is too much "Hollywoodian" to be credible. Anyway, this film is a good entertainment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Tribunal Sob Suspeita" ("Tribunal Under Suspicion")

"Trial By Jury" is one of the better psychological thrillers I have seen because it sucks the viewer in with each scene. As I began to watch this film I noticed that it had elements of "12 Angry Men" and "The Juror," both of which were great movies, therefore I knew this would be of the same caliber.

The film stars Gabriel Byrne, Armand Assante, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and William Hurt. They all bring a style to the film that can only be matched by the brilliant ways of making it believable. I found all the actors were playing a different from what they were accustomed to, which was a real treat because if actors play the same thing over and over it gets boring.

This a legal thriller that plays around with the mind and when movies do this you can only hang on for the ride. Kilmer delivers an awesome performance as the terrified juror. It made me sit up and take a look at how talented she is. For example, in the climax of the movie she is at her best, but you will have to see the movie.

Speaking of performances, the one turned in by Gabriel Byrne made me a fan of his work because he showed that he has a passion making movies and making them good. In "Trial By Jury" he never let up in his pursuit of justice.

"Trial By Jury" was a very slow movie but it is well worth the wait. I hope everyone likes it as much as I did.

High profile New York mobster Rusty Pirone (Armand Assante) is put on trial for the murder of 11 individuals with the case spearheaded by ambitious District Attorney Daniel Graham (Gabriel Byrne). Seeking to secure his freedom by any means necessary, Rusty having already dispatched the prosecution's star witness sets his sights on creating deadlocked jury by extorting one of the jurors, in this case single mother Valerie Alston (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer). Rusty sends former cop turned freelance enforcer Tommy Vesey (William Hurt) to put pressure on Valerie to vote "not guilty" with the threats of murder towards her son Robbie (Bryan Shilowich).

Trial by Jury is a 1994 legal thriller directed by Heywood Gould and co-written by Gould and Jordan Katz (who wrote the original screenplay under the titles The Hanging Jury and Deadlock). The film takes inspiration from the 1987 incident wherein George Pape, a jury foreman in a 1987 trial of John Gotti, sought out Gotti's underlings, who agreed to pay him $75,000 in exchange for a not guilty vote. The influence of the incident is pretty clear down to the character of Rusty Pirone being a pretty clear analogue for Gotti (and the casting of Assante who would play Gotti a mere two years later in an HBO TV movie). Made by Morgan Creek on a frugal budget in Canada, the movie was originally intended to be a much larger production with Phillip Noyce originally slated to direct and the role of Valerie considered for the likes of Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Demi Moore (who'd ironically do a very similar movie called The Juror two years later). The role of Pirone was also offered to more name actors such as James Woods and John Travolta but both demanded salaries that Morgan Creek wasn't willing to pay hence why the ultimate casting was left without many big names. With no real big stars the film's distributor, Warner Bros., put the bare minimum to marketing the film and unceremoniously in a mid September release where it opened in fourth place behind some Summer holdovers (one of which was Noyce's Clear and Present Danger) with the film disappearing from theaters within two weeks. What critical reception there was tended to skew negative with many critics criticizing the dialogue and performances of the cast. While some of the critical derision of the film has been overblown, Trial by Jury is a mostly unengaging potboiler drama that harkens back to the B-movie noirs of RKO.

On the surface you seemingly have all the elements in place for a pulpy and engaging courtroom thriller with a ripped from the headlines premise inspired by a notirous case of Jury Tampering by the mafia and a high concept hook of a single mother terrorizing into voting to acquit a violent, manipulative, and sadistic murderer, but it's all the little pieces that make the film unravel with the biggest issue undeniably being in the casting. Having spoken to people involved in the production it's clear this was originally intended to be a bigger film than it with attempts at trying to court the likes of Nicole Kidamn, Jodie Foster and Demi Moore for the role of Valerie or James Woods and John Travolta for Rusty, and you get the sense that the casting is made up of the second, third, or even fourth choice on the list because the others either weren't available, unaffordable, or turned them down.

Joanne Whally-Kilmer (as she's credited in the movie) was in a number of films throughout the 80s and 90s typically in a supporting capacity but was most known for her work on British TV such as the serial Edge of Darkness. While Joanne Whally-Kilmer has been fine in some prior work, she's really not capable of doing lead roles and it really shows just how unequipped she was to take on a role that was written in mind with some of the most notable actresses of the 90s and she just doesn't sell it here especially in one scene where she gives an unconvincing emotional collapse that feels forced and unnatural. As for the rest of the cast they're all working with what they have. Rusty Pirone isn't all that interesting as a gangster, Gabriel Byrne isn't all that interesting as the DA (in fact Byrne was a late in the game last minute addition), and while Hurt is clearly trying his all in the role the character of Vesey isn't all that clearly defined and his heel turn and infatuation with Valerie feel really underdeveloped.

Trial by Jury is what it is, movie of the week material that's given just enough spit and polish so that it technically works on the silver screen. Maybe if the material had the actors the production team wanted maybe I'd be saying something different, but with the movie built around an actress like Joanne Whally-Kilmer who just isn't suited to a role of this magnitude and filled with uninteresting archetypes it's the kind of movie that's in one ear and out the other. I don't think I agree with the assessments that put this on their year's worst list (for my money Silent Fall is way worse as a thriller) and aside from some very "90s" takes on homosexuality it's a very typical thriller that just happens to be built around an unqualified lead.

More often that not, I'll call a movie overrated, but this one, I think, is underrated. It features solid acting and a very involving story.

There isn't as much violence as most modern-day crime movies and that's fine because this story doesn't need it. The profanity is also lower-than-normal. All that's missing is better cinematography.

Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Armand Assante, Gabirel Byrne and William Hurt all make this interesting and provide good performances. This is a good attention-diverting movie that is a good "date movie," too. It's tense without a ton of the usual overdone violence and profanity.

This improbable thriller about a woman juror (Whaley) who is kidnapped (and worse) in order to coerce her into voting to acquit a mob boss (Assante) who is on trial for murder, was better than I expected it to be. The plot is preposterous but the performances are excellent, particularly Hurt's as an alcoholic ex-cop who does part time work for the mobster. The appropriate time to watch this movie would be Saturday morning. Nevertheless, it is all right. I gave it a "6."