Movie Review: Trial By Jury (1994)

Genre: Legal Drama Thriller  

Director: Heywood Gould  

Starring: Joanne Whalley, Armand Assante, Gabriel Byrne, William Hurt, Ed Lauter, Kathleen Quinlan  

Running Time: 107 minutes  

Synopsis: Notorious crime boss Rusty Pirone (Armand Assante) is facing a trial by jury, with prosecutor Daniel Graham (Gabriel Byrne) confident of a conviction. Ex-cop-gone-bad Tommy Vesey (William Hurt) is now Pirone's "jury consultant", and targets juror Valerie Alston (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) with an intimidation campaign, threatening her son and father unless she sabotages deliberations and achieves a hung jury. But Vesey also starts to care for Valerie, leading to conflicted loyalties and violence.

What Works Well: Wayward plotting is saved by a gloss of production quality and an exceptional cast. Director Heywood Gould sets the context in short sharp strokes, and introduces a large set of characters with admirable efficiency. From courtroom jousting to the various threats unleashed on Valerie's life, the energy is maintained at a high level. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer is at her best when she tangles up the jury deliberations, Armand Assante drips oily villainy, William Hurt finds complexity in a memorably unlikely role, and the likes of Gabriel Byrne and Ed Lauter provide depth.

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot gets increasingly more outlandish and ultimately discards any pretense of logic or grounding. The opening sequence demonstrates what Pirone's criminal enterprise is capable of, undermining most of the subsequent pussyfooting to manipulate a jury outcome.

Key Quote:

Rusty Pirone: I'm the guy who falls into a sewer and comes out with his pants pressed.

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