THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610120055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 74 lines
TWO OUTSTANDING performances and a level-headed director spark what is the best film adaptation yet of a John Grisham novel. Grisham's potboiler legal thrillers have come to resemble each other - yet none of the movie adaptations have been less than big hits. Ironically, ``The Chamber,'' which takes a darker and saner look at the American South than the current, highly melodramatic ``A Time to Kill,'' may be the least popular at the box office.
Against it is the fact that it arrives after a more complex Death Row drama, ``Dead Man Walking.'' It is also marred by the too squeaky-clean presence of the hard-working but somewhat vapid Chris O'Donnell in the central role.
This said, ``The Chamber'' still has a great deal going for it. In the end, it's a much more believable film than any of the other Grisham film adaptations.
Gene Hackman is riveting in the role of belligerently racist Sam Cahall, a man who has been living in prison for almost 30 years and is set for the gas chamber. Hackman evolves as the scariest prison inhabitant since Hannibal Lecter, in spite of the fact that he has to use none of the gorier threats of that character. Cahall was convicted of murder in connection with the 1967 bombing of a Jewish lawyer's office. Five-year-old twins died as a result of that explosion.
The convicted murderer recants nothing. He's, outwardly at least, ready to die but his estranged grandson, a somewhat naive young lawyer, has come from Chicago to attempt to ``save'' him. Cahall wants no part of the desperate defense, commenting, to his fresh-faced grandson: ``You don't look as if you could save a turkey on Thanksgiving.''
Faye Dunaway, in her best screen performance in years, plays Hackman's daughter and O'Donnell's aunt, a boozing Southern socialite who has hidden the identity of her convicted father for years and now lives with the guilt of a murder she once witnessed. Dunaway inhabits the role with a flighty, breezy facade that has eluded her in her parade of more overwrought, serious characters. Looking around her mansion, she laughs, ``Pretty good, uh - for white trash.'' It's the first time she and Hackman have worked together since ``Bonnie and Clyde.'' They have one scene, and it's a clencher.
Director James Foley has a mixed record. He directed the terrible Madonna vehicle ``Who's That Girl?'' but he also brought tense life to the movie adaptation of the play ``Glengarry Glen Ross.'' Here, he's clearly an actor's director, getting two fine performances and a series of serviceable ones from his cast.
Lela Rochon (``Waiting to Exhale'') is the governor's aide who helps O'Donnell in his effort to unearth old town, and family, secrets. Bo Jackson, the football and baseball star, has a nice little role as a guard who believes Hackman is guilty but still musters some degree of friendship for him.
The tension, while never on the level of a melodramatic ``thriller,'' is there, mostly about long-ago whispers rather than roaring action.
The major flaw is O'Donnell who, at best, manages to suggest tenacity and dogged determination to keep on the trail.
``The Chamber'' is a familiar Death Row location, but it handles itself with a good deal more levity, and believability, than the other Grisham melodramas. ILLUSTRATION: UNIVERSAL
Chris O'Donnell stars in ``The Chamber'' as a young lawyer
determined save his grandfather, played by Gene Hackman, who is a
convicted murderer headed for the gas chamber.
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Chamber''
Cast: Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Lela Rochon,
Bo Jackson
Director: James Foley
Screenplay: William Goldman
MPAA rating: R (racism, violence, language)
Mal's rating: *** by CNB