Runaway Jury (2003)

CinemaSource
director:
details
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: Oct 17, 2003
Running Time: 128 mins.
Country Of Origin: United States
synopsis
When a young widow in New Orleans brings a civil suit against the powerful corporate consortium she holds responsible for her husband’s murder, she sets in motion a multi-million dollar case. But it’s a suit that may be won even before it begins--based solely on the selection, manipulation and, ultimately, the attempted “theft” of the jury. Representing the widow is Wendall Rohr, a courtly Southern lawyer with a moral center and a heartfelt passion for the case he’s presenting. His opponent is ostensibly the attorney representing the corporation. But in reality, defense counsel is only the front man for Rankin Fitch, a brilliant and ruthless jury consultant. At a high tech command center set up in an old French Quarter warehouse, Fitch and his team work on the surveillance and assessment of potential jurors. He will know everything about their lives, and strategically manipulate the jury selection process. The only acceptable result is the perfect jury to vote in favor of his client.Fitch and Rohr soon realize they’re not the only ones out to win the jury. One of the jurors, Nick Easter, seems to have his own plan for swaying the panel. And a mysterious woman known only as Marlee contacts both Rohr and Fitch telling them the jury’s for sale to either of them--and that the verdict won’t come cheap.While the case is argued in court, a dangerous cat and mouse game begins to play out in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Rohr’s morality put to the test, and Fitch is poised to cross the line from selecting a jury to stealing it--no matter who gets hurt in the process.
cast + crew
Director
Nick Easter
Rankin Fitch
Wendall Rohr
Marlee
Judge Harkin
Lawrence Green
Doyle
Garland Jankle
Frank Herrera
Screenplay
Screenplay
Screenplay
Screenplay
Source Material
Screenplay
Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
reviews
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rating October 17, 2003
In the film version of John Grisham’s 1996 best seller, gun manufacturers are sued for liability after a shooting spree. Never mind that Grisham’s book took on tobacco, not guns. This is Hollywood, which is both the blessing and the curse of this enter- taining but skin-deep potboiler. The movie, shot on location in New Orleans, is as colorful as hell. But you start longing for a gray area. While Elephant sees the complexity behind the issue of gun violence, Runaway Jury offers only a stacked… Continued
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Runaway Jury has a few things going for it. First of all, not since The Firm has a John Grisham story been so topical and full of interesting twists and comeuppances. Although the book goes after the tobacco companies, in this age of high school shootings and sniper attacks, gun manufacturing companies make even better villains and making them culpable will speak to many. Secondly, not since the 1957 film 12 Angry Men has a movie about serving on a jury also been so compelling. At the beginning,… Continued