Home :: DVD :: Drama :: General  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General

Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
...And Justice For All

...And Justice For All

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Flawed but fascinating indictment of the justice sysyem
Review: ...

Pacino is "Arthur Kirkland"a principled young attorney and the somewhat rambling and unfocussed narrative tells of his trials and tribulations as he makes his way through the system in Baltimore.These include a judge with a death wish,(Jack Warden--proficient as ever)who sees Pacino as a protege and whose penchent for dicing with death on helicopter flights produces one of the best scenes in the picture,a partner (Jeffrey Tambor)who is plagued by guilt at having gotten a murderer off on a technicality,an affair with a member of the ethics committee,
(

As a sideline I should note that legal ethics ,like rap music ,is surely an oxymoron)

He is blackmailed into defending a reactionary judge(John Forsthye)on a rape charge and this is the pivotal plot strand in a movie that ultimately tries to cram too much into its 114 minute running time giving the picture a slightly rambling feel

The performances are excellent,especailly a fired up Pacino,and there is a neat turn by Lee Strasberg as his fading Grandfather.

The major fault is one of over ambition but it is a fault on the right side

Good and true in its depiction of law as a game or charade in which politics and corruption ally with your economic status in determining if you will be stiffed or walk free

Fish rot from the head down

So too does the legal profession if this tart movie is to be believed

Provocative and provoking .Give it a try

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I Swear I Wasn't Drunk When I Watched This . . And loved it.
Review: A farce? A comedy? No! Heck no?! I thought this was a great movie and I am connected to the legal world, and in the worst way too! Okay, I'm going to have to watch this one again, it's been a while, but I've always loved it and have no recollection of thinking it was dumb or "out there". The over-worked and underpaid criminal defense attorney always gets me. Yup, that is reality. Clients fall through the cracks, judges can be control freaks with their own agendas, who often times have horrible "I am God" issues, under those respectable looking robes. Plus I love the eighties feel (wow, or should I make that seventies?) of the movie. I liked the attorney going nuts, and the Chinese food date, and the men's bathroom laughing. I'm not a very big Al Pacino fan, I like this and Author! Author!, I guess I have terrible taste! I do think this perhaps simplistic and romantic and oft times over-dramatic view of the legal system is a good watch for a Saturday afternoon, when the weather's kinda rotten or you're still recovering from Friday's docket of indigent and yet still demanding clients, and a bit too much happy at happy hour.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pacino's Justice is delivered in this film With a Vengence!
Review: Al Pacino in a Acadmey Award nominated performence is an idealistic lawyer who is caught up in the daily coruption of the justice system while defending a judge accused of [harasment]. This film spreads out alot during it's course from being a satire to sentimentality giving Pacino alot of emotion to lash out especally during the trial scene when he goes bersek and instead of defending his client who he knows is guilty ends up during the reverse and proscute him. With Pacino screaming out the words to the judge "Your out of order". Pacino's exhublent performence as the overworked stressed out lawyer is the main reason to see this film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Courtroom Insanity, Dealmaking , As Only Pacino Can Deliver
Review: Al Pacino's eight minute grandstand that concludes And Jusice For All is one of the actor's most emotional and powerful performances ever captured on film. Pacino's tirade against a corrupt judicial system filled with inside deals is a representative statement for the underpriviledged and middle class who often do not have the financial resources or the political connections to achieve false innocence. When watching Pacino's oratory expose, I felt energized, empowered, and exalted that the underside of our legal system was revealed. It did not matter if the film's technical accuracy to proper courtroom and legal protocol was not strictly adhered to. The film's societal message of a dual system of justice, one for the rich and one for the poor, over-rides any cinimatic deficiencies in portraying accurate court procedings. The film focuses not on what transpires before clients,lawyers,judges, and the jury in an overt courtroom, but rather what occurs behind closed doors. Pacino's frustation, anger, and, salvation burn through his closing courtroom salvo. His emotions are sensitized when tears emerge during his fiery outburst. Pacino has never been better. Only Pacino's similar climatic defense of Matt Damon in Scent of A Women matches the intensity of this performance. The film's camera work, editing, script, and direction may not be cinematic wonders. But the film's message and Pacino's emotional performance overwhelm the viewer. The film's ending shows that justice (Hollywood's concept anyway) is indiscriminate.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A fairy tale depiction of the legal system
Review: Anyone connected with or even remotely familiar with the legal system in this country can tell you scenes like the ones depicted in this film just don't happen. There's a decent acting performance by Pacino, but it's not one of his better ones. The entire screenplay is just a bogus fantasy, the worst one made since the Three Stooges short "Disorder In The Court".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pacino shines in courtroom satire
Review: Ever since watching the Godfather films I've been a huge Al Pacino fan. His amazing over-the-top performance in the courtroom scene at the end is what makes this unsympathetic look at our criminal justice system so memorable. However, I agree with other reviewers that the plot is slow at times & the movie wavers uncomfortably between comedy & drama. The humor is at times a little too forced & the disco music doesn't help. One of the things I really enjoyed was seeing the great Lee Strasberg play Pacino's grandfather. Remember Godfather Part 2 when Pacino had Strasberg "taken out"? I only wish they could've made more films together. The great cast also includes John Forsythe (who plays a TOTALLY unlikable villian), & Jack Warden, whose suicidal antics get annoying after a while. Of course, it's Pacino that makes this movie so entertaining & so watchable 25 years later. While it's no masterpiece I still highly recommend it to Al Pacino fans (& especially lawyers!).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Your out of order!
Review: Good movie, classic Pacino, not his best work but still a good movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: by Marilyn Monroe
Review: I just saw this movie on tcm last night and I laughed my head off! It is really amazing how popular this movie was in 1979, did you know that Al Pacino turned downed Kramer vs Kramer for this role? A great video and a great era it was made in!!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: it didn't really work for me
Review: i really do like Al Pacino, and this film has great satire on our country's leagal system, but i found the movie to be rather slow. the script almost seemed incohesive at times: at one moment, he is telling a woman of his frustration with the legal system, then he is taking a dangerous helicopter ride with a judge and then he is defending a drag queen who had last been seen at the very beginning of the movie. i also enjoy watching Jack Warden act, but his character in this movie did not seem real or natural at all.

the DVD doesn't have too many whistles or bells, but there is a director commentary, so that scores some points.

i did not enjoy this movie, but if you are a diehard Pacino fanatic and want to see everything he has done, go ahead and watch it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: You can never go wrong with Al
Review: Let me start by saying that over the last two years Ive become an admirer of Al Pacino. His acting is sincere, his voice and accent unique, and over all, hes just one of a kind. Theres nobody like him. After CARLITOS WAY, HEAT, THE DEVILS ADVOCATE and THE INSIDER, this is the fourth movie of his Ive viewed, and I can honestly say that though this Pacino might be less mature he is as strong and believable as his more ripe self is today. Buying this movie know that you are guaranteed one more great performance by good-old reliable Al. But...
...but dont expect (as I did) a great trial show filled with long trails of legal battles and passionate speeches. We all love trial dramas, great arguments, and brilliant lawyer talk, but that is missing in this plot. We get a slight taste of that in the end, but you get the feeling that just wasnt enough, it was too short and you wanted just a little bit more.
So, the plot has structure but lacks a more basic momentous climax that would transform this work into something more memorable. Nevertheless, and to say this simply, I enjoyed this movie. Seeing Al Pacino whimpering, with a fear of hights, in the helicopter of a mad suicidle judge...well, its a funny scene to say the least. This 70s movie, lasting more than 100 minutes has many good scenes, and...did I mention(?), has as central issue the...injustices of the American Justice system, and it makes its point well.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates