Justicia para todos

This movie is compelling. It is not just a supremely entertaining courtroom drama, but more so a brilliantly detailed character study. Al Pacino, predictably, is just class, and the other characters give him some very competent support. The interweaving of secondary cases with the main one is seamless, and keeps the pace moving at a pleasing level. The ending, which is so often talked about, is terrific, if a little sudden, and not totally satisfying. The script is faultless. My only criticism is that the disco soundtrack is incongruous with the serious issues at hand and at times pretty comical. But I guess the time period is perfectly evoked through it, not that the issues are exclusively relevant to the late 70s/early 80s though. 9/10.

As a student in 1968 I worked in my father's law office when 20 years of age running errands and picking up clients and other attorneys at the airport. I once thought I wanted to become a lawyer like the old man. After that experience it never crossed my mind again. It was then I recognized that lawyers were merely another "mob" with public sanction. My father ultimately had to give it up because of all the disingenuous people he had to deal with in that arena. Justice is difficult to come by under the best of circumstances and courtrooms present an intellectual environment one notch above that of an alley.

For me this movie should be required viewing by all prospective attorneys. Especially the criminal variety for eventually they shall be exposed to all that they have seen in this movie in one form or another and very likely much, much worse.

Oh, and I liked the movie.

In this movie Al Pacino once again proves my point that he (Al Pacino) is one of the greatest actors off all time. By 1979 he had already pretty much proven this but never the less this is one of his best films yet. Even without Al Pacino this movie would be great.(Not near as great but never the less)I mean it is also very well directed and the screen play alone is magnificently written. So if you are a Pacino fan, or even if your not a Pacino fan i am telling you, that to die without seeing this movie is a sin.

"...And Justice For All" is one of those well-intentioned movies that doesn't achieve the goal it was set out to accomplish. Having said this, the film is a good example of the way some lawyers truly do care about their clients and not intent on making a lot of money.

I now know why Al Pacino is considered one of the greatest film stars in Hollywood. With roles in "The Godfather," "Scent Of A Woman," "Heat," "Devil's Advocate" and "The Insider," Pacino has proven he is an actor with integrity and presence. The best thing about "...And Justice For All" was the true and genuine care that Pacino's character had for his clients.

The only thing I would change about this movie would be to narrow the story lines because it had a few too many to follow. With the number of subplots in this film, it was too difficult to pinpoint the main plot and enjoy the film outright.

Overall, this movie was good and I recommend it.

I liked And Justice for All. I found it very entertaining and absorbing. In its satiric way, the movie is full of rich characters and plausible situations even if sometimes you can spot the cliché around the corner. Sometimes satire works as a magnifying glass to expose and better criticize something. And I believe that's what happens in this movie with all those bizarre scenes and deranged characters.

Even though Jewison focuses problems such as corruption, criticizes the danger of powerful people in the wrong places and brings up moral dilemmas about the practice of law, I believe And Justice for All is more of a satire than a serious alert to a possible decadence of the judicial system. The odd elements in the plot are one too many to see the movie strictly from its dramatic point of view: a cross-dresser client, an evidence-eating defendant, a suicidal judge, a hysterical lawyer.

In a certain way, the message of this movie reminded me the one of Mike Nichols anti-war comedy Catch-22: in order to cope with a crazy situation you have to become a little crazy. In a war scenario people fight for values like justice and order, but they also fight for power and interests; the same thing happens inside a courtroom. Some lawyers see Law as a business, some see it as a way to promote their personal careers and some see it as the opportunity given to those who have nothing else to lose.

The performances are just great, specially the ones of Jack Warden and Jeffrey Tambor. Al Pacino unquestionably steals the movie with another over-the-top performance as the lawyer willing to risk everything and delivers another memorable speech during his `opening statement'.