Classic Movie Review: ... And Justice for All (1979(

...And Justice for All (1979)

Directed by: Norman Jewison.

Written by: Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson.

Starring: Al Pacino (Arthur Kirkland), Jack Warden (Judge Rayford), John Forsythe (Judge Fleming), Lee Strasberg (Grandpa Sam), Jeffrey Tambor (Jay Porter), Christine Lahti (Gail Packer), Sam Levene (Arnie), Robert Christian (Ralph Agee), Thomas Waites (Jeff McCullaugh), Larry Bryggman (Warren Fresnell), Craig T. Nelson (Frank Bowers), Dominic Chianese (Carl Travers).

 

I’m not quite sure its fair to say that And Justice for All is the film that marks the beginning of Al Pacino’s tendancy to go wildly over the top in his film, overtaking, and essentially becoming the entire film – sometimes in good ways, sometimes, not so much. But it certainly feels like it. Pacino became a star with 1972’s The Godfather – which also started a streak of four straight years with Oscar nominations (for The Godfather, Serpico, The Godfather Part II and Dog Day Afternoon) – but And Justice for All was only his second film in the four years since. Pacino would only make five films in total throughout the 1980s. When we really returned, full time, to movie acting in 1990 – with the twin shot of Dick Tracy and The Godfather Part III, his tendancy for larger than life performances that suck all attention on the screen to him was in full force – and it has served him well over the last 30 years of his career – including in his one and only Oscar winning performance in Scent of a Woman. It has become a cliché that Pacino does this – and to a certain extent, And Justice for All seems like the place it started.

 

The film itself, directed by Norman Jewison and written by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson, isn’t particularly good. It is a legal drama, but takes bizarre detours into comedy that don’t make a lot of sense. IT doesn’t really understand the legal profession – but then again, no movies or TV shows do, because if they did, the result would be much too dull to put onscreen. You can see the roots of shows like Law & Order and The Practice here (I’m too young to remember L.A. Law – but probably that too). The film has one main plot – but then close to a dozen subplots that pop up, some for a scene or two, and some that run throughout the film. The only constant in the film is Pacino himself, who is at the heart of nearly every scene in the movie, and he somehow holds the whole thing together. There’s nothing subtle about Pacino’s performance here – even before the infamous closing scquence, where Pacino screams “I’m not outta order, you’re outta order” etc – Pacino has gone to the well of screaming numerous times in the film. But this is a film that needs that level of engagement and scenery chewing from Pacino – because if that’s not there, then what really is left in the film?

 

The main plot of the film has Pacino’s Arthur Kirkland – a driven, principle defense attorney in Baltimore, known for fighting for his clients, sometimes literally, being forced to become the attoerny for Judge Flemming (John Forsythe) who has been accused of rape. Kirkland and Flemming hate each other, but that’s why Flemming wants him – and because he is so powerful (he even apparently remains on the bench while awaiting his trail, and can make rulings on other cases that Kirkland handles!) he could pull some strings with the ethics board, who is currently making things miserable for all lawyers, and get him disbarred. Kirkland is also sleeping with a member of that same ethics board (Christine Lahti), has a partner (Jeffrey Tambor) who is going insane, is friends with another judge (Jack Warden) who has already gone insane, has a senile grandpa (Less Strasberg) he has to visit every Tuesday or he will get confused, and has not one, but two clients, whose lives are put at risk because others don’t respect the law the way he does.

 

The film is an odd mixture of tones – at one moment self-righteous about the sancittuy of law, and the next almost a romantic comedy between Pacino and Lahti. The film wants you to know – desperately – that the law doesn’t treat everyone the same – if you’re rich and powerful, you’ll be fine even if you are guilty, but if you’re poor, you’re fucked. It’s not an overly original message – and it isn’t handled with any subtly here by anyone, who beat you over the head with it. It’s also odd to see Pacino’s Kirkland, the most self-roghteous of the self-righteous, about the law, do everything in his power to prevent being disbarred, end up taking the one tactic that will almost assuredly end with just that happening (guilty or not, I don’t think it’s standard lawyerly practice to scream in open court how your client is really, really guilty – and also a horrible man).

 

Still, it’s never dull to watch Pacino go full on crazy as he does in that final scene, and he carries the rest of the movie. That he received his fifth Oscar nomination for this film is somewhat strange, although not as strange as the fact that the mess of a screenplay got nominated as well. And Justice for All isn’t a boring movie – it holds your attention – but it isn’t a particularly good one either. It’s interesting to see because of Pacino going at full tilt, and to see some of the origins of this genre that would come to dominate TV 15-20 years later.