THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
MURDER IN THE Everglades is as good a reason as any to trot out all the familiar surprises and twists of the thriller genre. ``Just Cause,'' in which Sean Connery goes south to solve an 8-year-old murder, is more entertaining than most. Even though it almost falls apart in the last reel, it is an engrossing ride while it lasts.
Connery, a man we have been conditioned to trust, plays a Harvard professor who is steadfastly opposed to the death penalty. He's ripe for the picking when Grandma Ruby Dee travels north to beg him to come down to Florida and help her boy Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood). He's on death row, convicted of killing and raping an 11-year-old girl eight years ago. He and grandma claim that he was framed, forced into confessing after he was beaten by a police officer.
The professor, who is married to a lawyer played by Kate Capshaw, finds that no one in the town wants to talk about the murder, especially the tough, threatening local cop, played by the scene-stealing Laurence Fishburne.
This is a steal from ``In the Heat of the Night'' - a culture-clash whodunit surrounding dark deeds. Before it ends, however, it becomes a steal from ``Cape Fear.'' As so often happens with thrillers, the new Hollywood just has to get melodramatic and violent.
No matter. There are several genuine surprises along the way. The twists are great fun - and, for the most part, fair.
Underwood, a Petersburg native who is making a big-screen bid to rise above his ``L.A. Law'' success, scores nicely. Capshaw, though, is miscast, and her character is the most difficult to believe (among several). Fishburne knows how to steal scenes. Connery, giving the whole thing a touch of class, can carry a film. Ed Harris has an over-the-top bit as a crazed killer who is also on death row. In giving his own version of Hannibal Lector, he is allowed to overact unmercifully. Dee is endearing as the caring grandmother.
The supporting cast includes such luminaries as Hope Lange (a long way from her Oscar nomination for ``Peyton Place''), Chris Sarandon, Ned Beatty, Daniel J. Travanti, Kevin McCarthy, Lynne Thigpen and Liz Torres.
There is much that keeps this from becoming a first-rate product, including alligators with eyes that glow like flashlights. (The director claims that this is an accurate look, and we aren't prone to search out alligators at night to challenge him).
If you like the thriller genre and don't mind a bit of stealing from earlier nail-biters, ``Just Cause'' is an entertaining evening of guesswork. by CNB