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Le Droit de tuer ?

Original title: A Time to Kill
  • 1996
  • Tous publics avec avertissement
  • 2h 29m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
192K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
685
280
Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Matthew McConaughey in Le Droit de tuer ? (1996)
Home Video Trailer from Unknown
Play trailer2:29
1 Video
99+ Photos
Legal ThrillerCrimeDramaThriller

A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.A young Mississippi lawyer defends a black man who killed the two white men that raped his preteen daughter.

  • Director
    • Joel Schumacher
  • Writers
    • John Grisham
    • Akiva Goldsman
  • Stars
    • Matthew McConaughey
    • Sandra Bullock
    • Samuel L. Jackson
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    192K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    685
    280
    • Director
      • Joel Schumacher
    • Writers
      • John Grisham
      • Akiva Goldsman
    • Stars
      • Matthew McConaughey
      • Sandra Bullock
      • Samuel L. Jackson
    • 362User reviews
    • 45Critic reviews
    • 53Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 7 wins & 12 nominations total

    Videos1

    A Time To Kill (2006)
    Trailer 2:29
    A Time To Kill (2006)

    Photos156

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    Top cast88

    Edit
    Matthew McConaughey
    Matthew McConaughey
    • Jake Tyler Brigance
    Sandra Bullock
    Sandra Bullock
    • Ellen Roark
    Samuel L. Jackson
    Samuel L. Jackson
    • Carl Lee Hailey
    Kevin Spacey
    Kevin Spacey
    • D.A. Rufus Buckley
    Oliver Platt
    Oliver Platt
    • Harry Rex Vonner
    Charles S. Dutton
    Charles S. Dutton
    • Sheriff Ozzie Walls
    Brenda Fricker
    Brenda Fricker
    • Ethel Twitty
    Donald Sutherland
    Donald Sutherland
    • Lucien Wilbanks
    Kiefer Sutherland
    Kiefer Sutherland
    • Freddie Lee Cobb
    Patrick McGoohan
    Patrick McGoohan
    • Judge Omar Noose
    Ashley Judd
    Ashley Judd
    • Carla Brigance
    Tonea Stewart
    Tonea Stewart
    • Gwen Hailey
    RaéVen Kelly
    RaéVen Kelly
    • Tonya Hailey
    • (as RaéVen Larrymore Kelly)
    Darrin Mitchell
    • Skip Hailey
    LaConte McGrew
    • Slim Hailey
    Devin Lloyd
    • Willie Hailey
    John Diehl
    John Diehl
    • Tim Nunley
    Chris Cooper
    Chris Cooper
    • Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
    • Director
      • Joel Schumacher
    • Writers
      • John Grisham
      • Akiva Goldsman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews362

    7.5191.9K
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    Featured reviews

    7Xstal

    Still Raising More Questions Than Answers...

    ... and when you cascade politics, religion and justice into the cauldron and catalyse them with a culture that, like all cultures, struggles to shake off its generational prejudices, you're left with a hate that's as tough to eradicate as the common cold. Some fine performances all round and quite a spectacular list of actors milling around and in the courthouse. The saddest part for me is that watching it over 25 years after reading the book I've become too accepting that the world is incapable of recognising what the true cause of prejudice is because those we elect to authority really don't want to empower and uplift those who enter the world considerably less well off than the rest.
    8lspaiser

    I was surprised this movie was this good after reading the book.

    I was very much drawn into the book, and thought that it would be hard to get the same feeling out in a movie.

    At the beginning I thought I was right. From the beginning I was thinking "they left out a whole mess of details." I was irritated that they did not develop the characters better like in the book.

    But by the 3rd quarter of the movie this was the last thought in my mind. And by the end I understood that the screenwriter had very skillfully budgeted his (limited) screen time for the most important parts of the movie, where it is well spent.

    I think the acting of the principals was very good, and I found especially for Sandra Bullock as Ellen Roark - who was the most believable character. Although the rest of the acting was very good, I felt she was the most believable.

    Which raises the main weakness of the movie, as good as it was, having read the book, I could not help being reminded that most of the characters were in fact, actors in a movie. Except for Ms. Bullock, there was a bit of woodeness to the "folk" in this small southern town. Also the plot is a bit contrived (but true to the novel). Most important is that (for me) it worked. I was moved. Its a very good movie.
    6The_Void

    An entertaining spectacle with a nice comment on justice

    Courtroom dramas are well known for providing thrilling films, and that is exactly what 'A Time to Kill' thrives on; entertainment value. It is clear that the film, in spite of having some very potent themes, puts most of it's focus on being entertaining and it's actually not a bad film for it. Sometimes, films that want to be entertaining and have themes fall down because they're too entertaining and the themes get left by the wayside; but A Time to Kill puts its cards on the table from the start, and it's always clear what this film wants to do with itself. The plot follows a man who, after his daughter is raped and almost murdered, decides to take the law into his own hands. However, this man is also a black man living in a white supremacy state, and so the film injects a racism theme into it's plot, which is always going to mean that it will have some sort of social commentary within it. However, that isn't the most interesting comment that the film wants to make; as that plaudit falls to the idea of justice, and exactly what justice is.

    The film, based on a novel by crime writer John Grisham, presents an impossible situation to the viewer and central characters; what do you do when justice will prevail whatever the verdict? The viewer and the characters must then make a choice between the law and general morality, and it is there where the film draws it's most interesting plot point from. While, as mentioned, it's always clear that this movie is meant to entertain you; it's always nice to be given something to think about as well. A Time to Kill benefits immensely from an absolutely fabulous cast, which includes the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland, his father Donald Sutherland, Ashley Judd, Chris Cooper and more, all of which are lead by Matthew McConaughey. It is the lead that most lets the film down, as although McConaughey can definitely act, he's not quite charismatic enough to deliver a lead performance in front of that cast. Still, the movie is definitely very decent and although you probably wont hurt your brain watching it, it will entertain you.
    Clever Jones

    Very well done

    I'm not sure why I didn't see this film when it came out, but I watched it for the first time last week and was blown away. "A time to kill" is not only very well done, but it shows the way racism is dealt with in an intertesting way. Every character is not only well developed, but the actors playing them make it totally believable.

    Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson, who remain two of the finest American actors are definetly one of the best parts of the film. I'm not really sure how this film was received when it was released, but I consider it to be one of the most well done films I've seen recently.
    10fimimix

    ..most people missed the point the movie is not present-day..

    I had to stop reading the commentaries, because some people thought they were attorneys and rambled-on about injustice. My Friends, in the era this film is about, none of the story would be unusual. There are prejudices much worse even now - I was amazed that one person actually compared this wonderful film to "Crash": give the world a break!! If "Crash"...Ugh!...proved anything, is was to reassure EVERYONE racism is still America's cancer.

    I am from Biloxi, Mississippi - along the Gulf Coast. That city has always been a melting-pot, so many different races live together. In my youth, it was Czechs and other European races. Today, can you believe, it is Vietnamese ! The city has also always been a tourist-area, and always had some form of gambling before it became The Las Vegas of the South - perhaps that has tempered the people there from the state's interior's citizens. Canton - during the '60s - would have been just as it is portrayed in this film.

    Because of the many TV-courtroom sitcoms, etc., today's population would wonder why there was no strongly-worded assurance the district attorney planned "to appeal". What? We are not talking about modern-day justice in this film - Shamefully, this is Mississippi at its worst, and I know about that. We didn't have this kind of racism in Biloxi then, perhaps because African-Americans "stayed in their place", a shameful statement if there ever were one. All the foreigners and citizens of other states who are not aware of those days - how can you comment on the film, except to give a critique ? Like many of the people who wrote commentaries, I can watch this film once-a-month. ALL of the cast gave a superb performance; the story did not drag; the places that were filmed were true-to-life; to some folk's surprise, there ARE people who live in the state who do not speak like idiots: people think I'm English!; Mathew Mc was astounding and Sandra Bullock's performance was exactly as it should have been, as an activist "little rich girl"; Southern gave a true performance of a alcoholic lawyer; Sam Jackson was masterful and expressed the difference in being "white" and "black"; Kevin Stacy's portrayal of a Southern lawyer with all the connections, right on; I can think of no one who wasn't brilliantly cast.

    Missed by many people who made comments, this film is a statement that today we are brutally MEAN to one another: "Crash" re-states this fact, although it is not nearly as poetic. Do I own this film? You betcha!! I'll most likely have to buy another, and it will be money well-spent. Grishom knows how to get our attention, and "A Time to Kill" clearly demonstrates all who were involved in its making were determined to keep his story pure. Wake-up, People - many parts of our world are not pretty today......

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Matthew McConaughey auditioned for the role of Freddie Lee Cobb. After reading the script, he preferred the role of Jake Brigance but didn't think they would cast him due to his experience level. He went to director Joel Schumacher, who granted him a private screentest.
    • Goofs
      When Jake calls Max after the fire, Max tries to run past him, apparently toward the off-screen dog wrangler.
    • Quotes

      Jake Tyler Brigance: [in his summation, talking about Tonya Hailey] I want to tell you a story. I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead. Close your eyes, please. This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on. First one, then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure with a vicious thrust in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they've killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to have children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. They start throwing full beer cans at her. They throw them so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones. Then they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope. They tie a noose. Imagine the noose going tight around her neck and with a sudden blinding jerk she's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking. They don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge. Pitch her over the edge. And she drops some thirty feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she's white.

    • Alternate versions
      The first name of the Jake Brigance character becomes ''Jack'' Brigance in the Italian version.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: Multiplicity/The Frighteners/Kazaam/Fled/Celestial Clockwork (1996)
    • Soundtracks
      Take My Hand Precious Lord
      Written by Thomas A. Dorsey

      Produced by Matthew Johnson and Bruce Watson

      Performed by The Jones Sisters

      Courtesy of Fat Possum Records

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    FAQ

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 13, 1996 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Tiempo de matar
    • Filming locations
      • London, Ontario, Canada
    • Production companies
      • New Regency Productions
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $40,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $108,766,007
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $14,823,159
      • Jul 28, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $152,266,007
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 29 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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