...and this film contains some of his best work in that regard....I'm speaking not so much of Treat Williams, who though in the main superb, occasionally chews the scenery, but of the myriad ensemble of lesser known actors who knit together in this piece like a well oiled machine...I love it when you leave a film saying, "I don't know where he found these people, but..." To me a superb ensemble of virtually unknown faces provides a verisimilitude unattainable in any other way, and this movie is one of the best examples of that you'll ever see. The "junkies" are especially realistic; there's a great performance by old vet Lee Richardson as a particularly oily, maleficent prosecutor. And somehow all the actors portraying the Federal attorneys and D.A.'s pull off their nuts and bolts dialogue with superb aplomb,(the hardest kind of acting to pull off)
I would say that along with "The Fugitive Kind", this is Lumet's most harrowing, compelling work...
I found the original, badly worn VHS release of this in a video store whose owner is too stubborn to sell off his vintage collection; God bless him. Is it really possible that this is the only way to obtain this film??
I would say that along with "The Fugitive Kind", this is Lumet's most harrowing, compelling work...
I found the original, badly worn VHS release of this in a video store whose owner is too stubborn to sell off his vintage collection; God bless him. Is it really possible that this is the only way to obtain this film??