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And Justice For All [1979]
![And Justice For All [1979]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CZ7JBVGFL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £5.90 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Al Pacino plays a Maryland lawyer who takes on a judicial system rife with deal making in And Justice for All, an awkward blend of satire and sentimentality. Topical director Norman Jewison can't seem to help Pacino get comfortable with the mismatched material, which pushes the film into outrageousness at some turns and mawkishness at others. The script by Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin is more an accumulation of random ideas and moments than a congruent story. However, it's interesting to see the large cast of good actors, most of whom were unknowns at the time including Christine Lahti who made her film debut here. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Editorial
Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
French\German\Italian\Spanish
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Mono English French German Italian Spanish
Dolby Digital Mono
Filmographies
Commentary
Trailer
Arabic\Bulgarian\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Italian\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish
Editorial
Synopsis
Pacino balances a performance between comedy and bleak despair when he adds a thoroughly detestable judge accused of rape to his already miserable client list. Maybe intended as satire, maybe not. Lahti's debut film role. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actor--Al Pacino.
Editorial
From the Back Cover
In a criminal justice system where criminals go free, lawyers and judges make deals as a matter of routine and the innocent sometimes go unprotected, young lawyer Arthur Kirkland begins to wonder where the justice has gone. Arthur is an honest, idealistic lawyer who is suddenly under pressure to defend a distinguished judge accused of raping a battering a young girl - and whom Arthur knows is guilty. Jack Warden co-stars as an eccentric, cheerfully suicidal judge who thinks Arthur should play teh game. When it comes down to the trial, Arthur must choose between security of his career and his personal integrity.
not a bad show
Review date: 2008-05-13 Rating: 6 out of 10
Al pacinos career was still in its infancy when he made this,i believe this was his ninth film,dont quote me on that,the year was 1979 and the director was the very capable norman jewison.The film looks at whats wrong with the legal system and for the most part has a very serious,dark view on it,some laughs are oddly thrown in which upsets the balance slightly,some work and some seem quite slapstick when positioned among the turmoils and chaos and the moral message which is there for all to see.
The film details a lawyer called arthur kirkland played by pacino who wants to be the best lawyer he can be and buys into the idea that everyone deserves a fair trial no matter what,when he is asked to defend a judge who he hates and suspects may be guilty then he has some tough decisions to make.
There is a good support cast who all play their part in helping pacino make up his mind on whats best even if it costs him everything,i found the film to be brave yet awkward in places with great performances and a good message,not a masterpiece but a good show nonetheless.
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Reviews
Pacino shines
Review date: 2007-11-16 Rating: 8 out of 10
I first saw this film on TV several decades ago and hadn't seen it for a long time. Would it have the same impact that it had 20 years ago? Have my views changed in that time? Well having seen it again today, the answer is a resounding yes and no respectively.
Its certainly an oddball film, mixing the laugh out-loud with moments that will leave you knotted up with anger and frustration. Jack Warden plays the suicidal Judge Rayford, and John Forsythe is Judge Fleming who is accused of raping and assaulting a young woman. Al Pacino is Arthur Kirkland an idealistic lawyer who ends up defending Judge Fleming.
There are a few contrived moments, but stick with it as the ending is worth waiting for, when Al Pacino gives his opening statement to the Jury. When this film was made in the late 1970's Al Pacino was at his very best, and the movie star Pacino had not yet taken over. His performance throughout the film is marvellous.
It isn't a masterpiece by any means, but its a lot better than most films being made today. See it if only for Pacino's performance.
Privatised defense means the end of universal justice
Review date: 2006-02-07 Rating: 10 out of 10
Al Pacino is perfect for this deranged film about American justice, or rather justice in the United States of America. From the very first words and pictures we know something is rotten in the Republic. Rotten because civil ethics cannot be learned by heart, through rote-learning. Civil ethics have to be learned and implemented in real life. And then we shift to real life and then we fall down from one step to the next, from one ledge to the next, from one terrace to the next, down and down again. Every scene is the negation of some sanity or human right. Let’s accumulate some. A black transvestite forced to undress in front of a jail full of sexually deprived and hence perverted males before being locked up with them. A judge who uses a gun in court. A judge who has lunch on a ledge off some balcony at fourth-floor level over the street. A judge who brutalizes and rapes young women. An ethics committee that goes berserk about a lawyer who shaved his head when he heard that the murderer he had saved through some technicality has committed two new murders. A lawyer who betrays his clients and one of them ends up hanging himself. A yound white chap ending in prison, taking hostages in some hospital and being shot dead by some security forces, because of a taillight that did not work on his car and a name that looked like that of a wanted criminal. ETC. ETC. And there will be no end along that line. It is the system that produces this mess by forcing the accused to buy a defense, if they can. And most of the time they can’t. So they end up in the can if not on deathrow. The victims of the US judicial system are the poor who cannot afford a lawyer, hence a defense. The time of the « mocking bird » has become even worse, because you cannot count on a good defense from a lawyer committed to you by the system and paid – if what he gets can be called paid – with public money. The accused will end up dead without having had any defense. Dramatic and pathetic ! The very demonstreation that this privatised defense system is the guarantee that justice will not be for all, only for those who will be able to buy a good defense for themselves.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne
YOU are out of order!
Review date: 2005-10-24 Rating: 8 out of 10
Before Al Pacino became bigger than the movies he appeared in, before he became a parody of Al Pacino, he produced work like "and justice for all".
Aside from being a deeply disturbing, at times pathetic, at times humourous protrayal of the corruption and inertia of the legal system, Pacino hands in a dynamic and dramatic performance as idealistic layer Arthur Kirkland. Kirkland truly believes in the rule of law, that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of social status, and that there should be "justice for all".
It is such integrity that leads him to represent corrupt lawyer John Forsythe. (Charlie's Angels "Charlie", /Blake Carrington for "Dynasty"). And there his troubles start.
Along side a sucidal judge, a deeply troubled legal partner, a girlfriend whose professional commitment rivals Joseph McCarthy, and a family background which sees him struggling with absentee parents and an alzheimers Lee Strasberg, Arthur Kirkland's life is not plain sailing. Although, from the outset, we as an audience are with him, understand his straightforward professional and personal ethics of honesty, and cheer with him to the last as we see how one man can indeed fight city hall, and come out intact.
The beauty of this film is not merely Pacino's performance which is indeed credible and magnificent,and pre-dates "Al Pacino Movie Star" - but is reflective of life. Puzzling, comic, dramatic, heart breaking, and all at once redemptive.
Great Story
Review date: 2003-10-08 Rating: 10 out of 10
A truly great story about the gulf between the Legal system and true justice. And Justice For All is a gripping yarn from beginning to end and has a wonderful performance from Pacino.
What surprised me the most about the film is how funny and lively it is. It isn't a totally serious film and it has some really great funny moments. Pacino is also rapidly becoming my favourite actor and this film is so good it will make you want to hunt down his other films.
Also has a directors commentary.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Lee Strasberg
Jack Warden
Jeffrey Tambor
Al Pacino
John Forsythe
Creators:
Al Pacino (Primary Contributor)
Jack Warden (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822003231
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-02-05
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 114 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1979
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: German (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)