Presumed Innocent (1990)

This is a powerful movie with a terrific performance by Harrison Ford. It might even be his most thoughtful one.Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) is a prosecuting attorney whose life and career are unravelling. He has damaged his marriage to Barbara Sabich (Bonnie Bedelia) by having a torrid affair with an ambitious assistant, Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi), and despite the fact that she ended the affair, he can't get over it. "You're still obsessing", his wife accuses him, and she's right, he has withdrawn into himself and just seems to be going through the motions. When Carolyn is murdered, he is ordered to handle the case, but murky layers are exposed throughout the legal profession, and eventually he becomes the number one suspect.This is an absorbing, complex mystery from Scott Turow's novel with enough courtroom drama to put it in a class with "Anatomy of a Murder", "The Paradine Case" and "Witness for the Prosecution".It was directed by Alan J. Pakula; a master of the mystery/thriller genre. His best ones had plenty of atmosphere and not a little darkness. "Klute", "The Parallax View", "All the Presidents Men", "Dream Lover" and "Consenting Adults" are all his. He was never a real name-above-the-title director like Hitchcock or Polanski, but his work was often as distinctive.The cast really delivers: Bonnie Bedelia, Raúl Juliá, Brian Dennehy, and especially John Spencer as Dan Lipranzer, but no actress at the time was hotter than Greta Scacchi. She sizzles in a couple of scenes making believable poor old Rusty's befuddlement when she dumps him. These days, it's interesting to see Greta 25 years later in more sedate roles in "Miss Marple" and "Agatha Christie's Poirot".But this is Harrison Ford's film and he dug deep here - you can feel his pain as he wrestles with his guilt over the betrayal of his wife, and his humiliation in front of his friend, the tough Lapranzer, as he tries to distance himself from Carolyn's murder.Along with the great look of the film, the music helps with the feel. The brilliant Michael Small was usually Pakula's go-to composer, but for some reason John Williams got the job. You have to admire William's range - he can do anything. He came up with a low-key, dark-hued score for this film with simple piano chords to the fore. There were some very good scores around the 1990's, and this one can stand comparison to Jerry Goldsmith's 1992 score for "Basic Instinct"."Presumed Innocent" was a big hit when it was released - it's still a not-to-be-missed movie.

Sentence : dullWell, this is a strange movie : the movie starts without exposing the characters and after 30 minutes, i had the feeling that i skipped chapters by errors. They talk about characters and facts that you don't see so it's hard to make an idea to what happens. Then, the pacing was horrible as there is a lot of empty scenes (Harrison's family for example or flashbacks) for which i indeed skipped the chapters to give a punch. The ending was not ending anything and Harrison's final voice over is totally cryptic ! So, for a trial and thriller movie when you need clear, cut things, here it's all about confusion and bad editing ! Harrison acts good but his characters is unbelievable as he seems to be ignorant of his own behavior ! For those who looks for a more convincing trial of injustice, i will recommend Gavras' « Music box »

Well, this movie has the classic case in which the accuser becomes the accused, getting able to understand how it feels to be in such position. In the whole movie, many evidences lead to believe in the prosecutor's guilt, and sincerely, he doesn't seem to do his best to prove the contrary. The cast is decent, with highlights to Raul Julia, who greatly portrayed a lawyer doing his best. However, what makes this movie worth a watch is the outcome; since evidences all indicated that the murderer would be a guy, it felt extremely hard to guess that Rusty's wife would be the one. Also, the scene in which everything is explained feels quite tense, due to the great comes and goes that director throws at us. Besides, her reasons are WELL thought and intelligently written, and I don't mind if it was in the original novel or not; it simply works in the movie, so it deserves my congratulations. To be honest, this movie's novel has been standing in my ex-boss' camera (he is a judge) for long time, and I've always wanted to know what it was about. Well, now I fortunately do, and reading it may become an option for me in the future. In my opinion, "Presumed Innocent" is a great movie that adds a few steps to the genre, and deserved to be more known than it was.

I love the Indiana Jones films. But, in terms of Harrison Ford, they sometimes overshadow what I will refer to as his more serious films. So when I see a film like "42", or this one, I appreciate Harrison Ford's acting ability even more.One of the ways that I know this is a good film is that -- aside from Ford -- most of the actors are people I don't really care for. Brian Dennehy is usually a turn-off for me, but I have to admit that here he was very good as the head prosecuting attorney. I generally don't like or dislike Raúl Juliá, but here as the attorney defending Ford, he was excellent. Bonnie Bedelia, as Ford's wife, is an actress I give little thought to, and here she does her job. Paul Winfield is competent and interesting as the judge. Greta Scacchi, as the murder victim and Ford's colleague is good, and generally she turns in pretty solid performances, though she seems to generally be under Hollywood's radar.The script here is very good, particularly with the courtroom scenes that dominate the second half of the film. I do think that the film drags a little in places, particularly in the first half. Considering the film's 127 minute run time, there could have been some editing to tighten the action. There are a couple of nice twists, and all the loose ends are tied together before closure.Nevertheless, overall this is a class act (so to speak), and well worth your time. Highly recommended.