...And Justice for All (1979)

I can't believe a director of Norman Jewison's caliber would make a movie this bad. The acting is terrible and the script is ridiculously over the top. The movie is more uninspired slapstick than courtroom drama. Name me a single incident in history where a judge fired his revolver at the ceiling instead of using his gavel to silence his courtroom?

Defense attorney Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) gets out of jail for taking a swing at insanely tough Judge Henry Fleming (John Forsythe) for railroading his client Jeff McCullaugh. McCullaugh is imprisoned after exonerating evidence comes in 3 days after a deadline. Fellow defense lawyer Jay Porter (Jeffrey Tambor) is a friend. Gun-toting judge Francis Rayford (Jack Warden) is friendly and very eccentric. His grandpa Sam (Lee Strasberg) in a nursing home has dementia. He starts dating Gail Packer (Christine Lahti) who is on the committee investigating him. Judge Fleming is arrested for rape and he calls on Kirkland to defend him.While I like the sense of chaos in the legal and penal systems in my movies, a judge shooting into the ceiling is going over the line especially if everybody just shrugs it off. There are a couple of points about the law that don't ring true. The acting is superb led by Al Pacino. Jack Warden is excellent. Director Norman Jewison is able to create a nice sense of a broken system.

This film has become a classic, meaning it is commonly quoted when you speak of the problem of justice in the USA, in this case Baltimore, Maryland. The title of the film is the end of the pledge of allegiance that is read at the beginning of the film by several children in some class. Every Ameican knows it and it is essential to keep it in mind here."I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."Apart from the sidetracking subplot of the grandfather of the main character, a lawyer, the rest has to do with nothing but justice and prison. Even the affair this main character has with the lawyer turned bureaucrat in the court administration or surveillance committee is part of the plot because she has a lot to say about a lot of things and about what he should do or should not do. Our main character, Arthur Kirkland, is seen taking care, a strange way of speaking, of two clients. One will commit suicide and the other will be shot by some sniper of the police when he steps out of line. The lawyer himself, Arthur, is liquidated and he has no other way than accepting this self-liquidation provided he can in doing so bring at least one rotten judge down. If you step off the line, either you become rotten all the way, hence the slave of the system, or you will be kicked out and you will starve. Liquidation by starvation.Justice is shown as malfunctioning from beginning to end, from left to right and back from right to left, up and down and the reverse, from front to back and vice versa. They do not have the slightest interest for the people they are supposed to try and send to prison, or eventually release, put on probation or parole. It is absolutely disheartening but there is nothing to do about it. So better accept it and make do with it, or at least make believe you believe in the fairness of that justice for all which is the miscarriage of justice for most.Enjoy the film. There is nothing else to say except the details of the arguments. You better watch them and discover them yourself, but be sure you have not eaten something too greasy if you do not want to be sick, I mean vomit in your lap.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

first off what a great courtroom drama. Al Pacino turns in a wonderful performance,, as well as Craig T. Nelson, Jack Warden, and a host of others. this movie explores the criminal justice system,, and makes you wonder just how much this is based on reality,, a lot i'm sure. our lawyer hero tries to defend his clients the best he can,, some are guilty some are innocent,, you have to feel for his main client wrongly convicted and rotting in jail,, as far as the dirty judge goes, i'm glad the storyline had our hero not defending the scumbag judge,, the part of the movie that was intriguing to me was the woman hired to get dirt on the case and our hero,, he winds up sleeping with, I guess maybe he figured he would beat her to the punch so if she had information regarding the investigation he would be the first one to find out what was going on.