Chris O'Donnell
Adam Hall
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Crime
Drama
Idealistic young attorney Adam Hall takes on the death row clemency case of his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall, a former Ku Klux Klan member he has never met.
Top Billed Cast
| Release Date | 1996-10-11 |
|---|---|
| Runtime | 1h 53m |
| Directors | Ian Baker, James Foley |
| Producers | Ric Kidney, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, John Davis, Karen Kehela Sherwood, David T. Friendly, Karen Snow |
| Writers | William Goldman, John Grisham, Phil Alden Robinson |
If you spend half as much time trying to be a lawyer instead of trying to be Dick Tracy, I might not be dead in five days.
The Chamber is directed by James Foley and adapted to screenplay by William Goldman and Phil Alden Robinson from the John Grisham novel of the same name. It stars Gene Hackman, Chris O'Donnell, Faye Dunnaway, Lela Rochon and Robert Prosky. Music is by Carter Burwell and cinematography by Ian Baker.
Young attorney Adam Hall (O'Donnell) fights to keep his Klansman grandfather, Sam Cayhall (Hackman), from the gas chamber.
Grisham famously slated the film, even shouldering some of the blame himself, it's not hard to see why. It's a legal drama without any drama, it plods aimlessly along, getting by on Hackman's fully committed performance. At times it forgets its legal duties and gets wrapped up in family strife, which would be OK if this aspect of the story had anything worthwhile to say, it doesn't, and you can see the cast and director straining to make a two hour talkathon worthy of your time. It isn't, sadly, making it the poorest Grisham adaptation to screen. 5/10
— John Chard