Heavens Fall

I had the great pleasure of seeing the East Coast Premiere of "Heavens Fall" at the Stony Brook Film Festival, Long Island, NY on July 20, 2006.

Timothy Hutton gave a riveting performance as defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. In my opinion it was his best since his equally fine portrayal of Archie Goodwin in "Nero Wolfe." Bill Sage as prosecuting attorney Thomas Knight, Jr. and David Strathairn as Judge Horton were also excellent in their roles. Bill Smitrovich as co-defense attorney, Maury Chaykin in a cameo role as a bigoted insurance salesman, Francie Swift as Leibowitz' wife, Belle, and James Tolkan as Thomas Knight, Sr. (four other "Nero Wolfe" actors) were exceptional, too, as was B.J. Britt, Haywood Patterson, in his film debut. LeeLee Sobieski and Azura Skye as Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were marvelous in their extremely difficult roles.

The score by Tony Llorens was haunting - a perfect accompaniment for the plot and the beautiful cinematography by Paul Sanchez.

This fine movie with its superb acting, splendid score, and beautiful cinematography had only been seen in the US by festival audiences, but it is now available to a broader audience. (US DVD release, November 6, 2007) The DVD includes two "behind the scenes" documentaries by Charley Rivkin with additional footage by Adam Witt. The first, "Creating The Fall," includes interviews with Terry Green, Timothy Hutton, Bill Sage, David Strathairn, Anthony Mackie, LeeLee Sobieski, and Azura Skye with their thoughts on the movie and the subject matter. The second, "Surviving The Fall," is about the difficulties the cast and crew endured and heroics they performed when Hurricane Ivan interrupted the filming of "Heavens Fall."

There is much about this film that makes it a good film, the cast are all very good and seem perfect in their respective roles. There are many different emotions and ways of thinking being portrayed and this is all done really well. In many ways this film reminds me of 'A time to kill', but it is shocking to think that the events portrayed really happened, and not that far into the past either. The racism and segregation that existed in the southern states of the USA are in many ways worse than apartheid in South Africa. To think that otherwise intelligent, moral and well mannered people can have such idiotic views regarding people of a different colour is astounding and America should be deeply ashamed of this. I wonder what some of the real people as portrayed in this film now think of their Black President? I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoyed 'A time to kill' or 'To kill a mocking bird'.

As a featured extra on the film, jury foreman, I very much enjoyed working on the film. Everyone was very very good to work with. I have done theater but this was my first film in front of the camera. EVERYONE was really great!!! Not only on camera but behind the scenes they were all wonderful people. The actors and crew were all very nice, helpful and understanding of the mistakes we made as non professionals. I have worked with other directors and Terry is one of the best.

We here in Monroeville would love to give them a very special thanks for all the things they did to help save the courthouse and the other work they did before and after hurricane Ivan.

I liked the movie a lot, and when I saw that it was inspired by a true story, well that got me thinking: 1 Is that possible that someone even one person could do such a thing without any remorse's? 2 If it's possible than can't we really do anything to stop and prevent such an awful act from happening? 3 And last but not least, are there still places not only in U.S. but on earth were such a thing is still possible? I understand that it's in their culture to HATE the black community, it's their educations foul, from father to son and so on and so fourth,but really,come on wake up... This of course applies to the past but I'm afraid that it's appliable in our present to.

this film is awesome, the story is breathtaking, the actors wonderful. I saw it at the Midwest Screening and the theater was completely spellbound. It has the heart and soul of "To Kill a Mockingbird". The scenery is so beautiful and interesting. The storyline is inspiring. No wonder Timothy Hutton chose to take this role, his character is smart, courageous and in this current political climate he is a hero for us. The rest of the cast wonderful, realistic and also multidimensional. The historical representation is authentic and yet very creative. You leave the movie inspired. What more can you ask for? Thank you for making such a thoughtful and entertaining film!! I know it will go far.