The Chamber (film)
The Chamber | |
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File:The chamber poster.jpg
The Chamber movie poster
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Directed by | James Foley |
Produced by | John Davis Brian Grazer Ron Howard |
Screenplay by | William Goldman Phil Alden Robinson (as "Chris Reese") |
Based on | The Chamber by John Grisham |
Starring | Chris O'Donnell Gene Hackman Faye Dunaway Lela Rochon Robert Prosky Raymond J. Barry Shannon Griffith (uncredited) David Marshall Grant |
Music by | Carter Burwell |
Cinematography | Ian Baker |
Edited by | Mark Warner |
Production
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates
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Running time
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113 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $50 million |
Box office | $22,540,359 |
The Chamber is a 1996 crime thriller film based on John Grisham's novel of the same name. The film was directed by James Foley and stars Gene Hackman and Chris O'Donnell.
Contents
Plot
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Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather Sam Cayhall's (Hackman) only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall (O'Donnell) seeks to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two Jewish children 30 years ago. Only 28 days before Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary which has held him since his conviction in 1980. The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall" about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber.
While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds. He fights not only for his grandfather but also perhaps for himself. He has come to heal the wounds of his own father's suicide, to mitigate the secret shame he has always felt for having this man as a grandfather and to bring closure, one way or another, to the suffering the old man seems to have brought to everyone he has ever known. At the end, there is some redemption for the condemned man when he expresses remorse and realizes his wasted life of hate. It is revealed that there were others involved in the bombing, but he is the only one who is actually executed.
Cast
- Chris O'Donnell as Adam Hall
- Gene Hackman as Sam Cayhall
- Faye Dunaway as Lee Cayhall Bowen
- Robert Prosky as E. Garner Goodman
- Raymond J. Barry as Rollie Wedge/Donnie Cayhall
- Bo Jackson as Sgt. Clyde Packer
- Lela Rochon as Nora Stark
- David Marshall Grant as Gov. David McAllister
- Nicholas Pryor as Judge Flynn F. Slattery
- Harve Presnell as Atty. Gen. Roxburgh
- Millie Perkins as Ruth Kramer
Production history
Ron Howard was originally set to direct the film, but left the project to direct Ransom (1996). He stayed on as a producer on the film.[citation needed] Brad Pitt was committed to playing Adam Hall, but left the project when Howard left to direct Ransom.[citation needed]
William Goldman, who wrote the early drafts, described the project as a "total wipeout disaster... a terrible experience" and never saw the finished movie.[1]
Filming locations
Scenes were filmed in the actual gas chamber at Parchman Penitentiary.[2] Other locations were filmed in Chicago, Jackson, Mississippi, Indianola, Mississippi, Greenwood, Mississippi, Parchman, Mississippi, and Los Angeles.
Reception
Critical reaction to The Chamber has been negative, with the film earning a rating of 12% on Rotten Tomatoes.[3]
Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, remarking: "In the early days of X-rated movies, they were always careful to include something of "redeeming social significance" to justify their erotic content. Watching The Chamber, I was reminded of that time. The attitudes about African Americans and Jews here represent the pornography of hate, and although the movie ends by punishing evil, I got the sinking feeling that, just as with the old sex films, by the time the ending came around, some members of the audience had already gotten what they bought their tickets for."[4] James Berardinelli also gave the film two stars out of four, saying: "Plot-wise, The Chamber is full of seeming irrelevancies. The movie should have been streamlined better; there's no need to try to include virtually every character from the book. [...] The Chamber [...] is mechanical and artificial, and tells you what to think."[5]
Grisham called the film a "disaster" and a "train wreck from the beginning". He added, "It could not have been handled worse by those involved, including me. I made a fundamental error when I sold the film rights before I finished writing the book. It was a dreadful movie. Gene Hackman was the only good thing in it."[6] Faye Dunaway's performance in the movie earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, but did not win the award.
The score by Carter Burwell was well received.[7]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Filming Locations for "The Chamber" IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115862/locations?ref_=ttco_ql_6
- ↑ The Chamber reviews at Rotten Tomatoes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "This is a case where the music is much better than the film." "This is an excellent score which goes with a not so average movie." http://www.amazon.com/The-Chamber-Original-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B0000014ZV
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1996 films
- English-language films
- Articles using small message boxes
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2007
- Films about capital punishment
- Films produced by Brian Grazer
- Films directed by James Foley
- Films based on works by John Grisham
- Screenplays by William Goldman
- 1990s thriller films
- American thriller films
- American films
- Films shot in Mississippi
- Universal Pictures films
- Imagine Entertainment films
- Davis Entertainment films
- Films based on American novels
- Film scores by Carter Burwell