Justicia para todos

We don't get many of these types of movies anymore. Studios worry about their commercial appeal (ie. appeal to teenagers on a date) and give us more gory thrillers or rom-coms instead, but back in the 70s the occasional satiric drama would sneak past the studio committee types and hit the box office like a blot of lightning. Part of the reason for this was the presence of successful writers of hard hitting social satire like Paddy Chayefsky among the front of rank of Hollywood scripters and another reason was powerhouse actors like Pacino. Like his earlier hit Dog Day Afternoon, here the camera stays on him like a spotlight as he fights a doomed fight with every breath in his body.

This movie took on a serious subject: a Justice System so lost in its own bureaucracy and politics that it could no longer dispense the thing it was created for, ie. justice. Pacino ran with it in classic fashion, ranting, foaming at the mouth, practically rabid with indignation and frustration. It's a powerhouse performance, not subtle by any means, but affecting, maddening, galvanizing. By the time the movie's over, you want to make this guy governor of New York.

The script by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson is the film's greatest strength. Years later I could still quote from it line for line. It is funny, clever and insane by turns with enough wildly believable ironies for ten courtroom dramas. Corrupt supposed officers of the court spout on about ethics yet are not above blackmail. The wealthy and connected enjoy privileges, while the bureaucracy grinds up the unsuspecting.

Director Jewison gave everything a professional polish, but then wisely stayed out of the way of his star. This was Pacino's stage and he owned it.

Be prepared to have your world rocked. There are few modern actors who would even attempt a role like this. They want the audience to like them. Pacino just wants to be heard. And he'll yell to make that happen.

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.

I remember this movie from when I was a kid. I remembered it fondly, and always pictured Pacino giving the big "This whole courtroom's out of order!!" speech.

I just rented it again after not seeing it for about twenty years, and WOW! There's a lot more to remember than that one speech. I absolutely loved this movie! I always like Pacino, but sometimes he just plays a similar character over and over. In this one, young Pacino got to play everything from scared to sad to funny to furious... and I thought he did great. I haven't felt for a character so much in quite a while.

The relationship between Pacino and his "leading lady" was a good one, especially for the '70's. I thought those two characters were interesting together.

The music sucked, but every movie soundtrack at that time sounded like a porno flick, didn't it?

It's a story where one bad thing after another happens in a short period of time, in very unrealistic (we all hope!) fashion - but that's a whole movie genre in itself (although I don't know what you'd call it), to make us think of lots of different things and to push the main character over the edge. Without all the subplots, I don't think the ending would have made as much sense.

I'd like a copy for my video library, and I don't say that often.

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'.

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.