Early
in Runaway Jury, we are
told that 30,000 Americans die and 100,000 are injured
each year by guns, statistics that do not stop the
National Rifle Association from serving as the public
relations front for an industry that rakes in $2
billion each year. Directed by Gary Fleder and based
on the novel by John Grisham that targeted Big Tobacco,
the film begins with the deaths of eleven members
of a firm by a disgruntled former employee who used
an automatic weapon that was purchased with questionable
legality. Two years later, a widow, Vanessa Lembeck
(played by Jennifer Beals), decides to sue the manufacturer
of the weapon, Vicksburg. The attorney for the plaintiff
is Wendell Rohr (played by Dustin Hoffman), and the
gun company's attorney is Durwood Cable (played by
Bruce Davison). Since a victory for the plaintiff
could easily lead to other suits, eventually bankrupting
firearms manufacturers, Vicksburg hires Rankin Fitch
(played by Gene Hackman) to fix the jury. However,
one juror, Nick Easter (played by John Cusack), is
in league with his longtime girlfriend, Marlee (played
by Rachel Weisz), who arranges to inform both attorneys
that the jury is for sale. With clever interpersonal
skills, Easter develops his role to be in a position
to sway the jury, and Runaway Jury is quite insightful
in revealing how jurors interact. Meanwhile Marlee
contacts both lawyers, demanding a nonnegotiable
$10 million (later $15 million) as the price for
fixing the outcome of the jury's deliberations. By
the time the film ends, one side has indeed swallowed
the bait and paid the price. Why Marlee and Nick
seek to profit from jury tampering, which they pulled
off before in other towns, is also revealed in the
otherwise predictable ending. The Political Film
Society has nominated Runaway Jury for
best film on democracy and best film exposé not
only for trotting forth the statistics about gun-related
deaths in a sleeker manner than Bowling
for Columbine (2002) but also for
demonstrating that there is a science to jury selection
and even jury tampering. Ominously, the film's tagline
is that "Trials are too important to be decided
by juries." However, the film appears to challenge
investigative reporters to find out whether the NRA
may have been financing pro-gun films, such as the
recent Open Range. That
challenge remains. MH
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Runaway
Jury
by John Grisham
Millions
of dollars are at stake in a huge tobacco-company
case in Biloxi, and the jury's packed with people
who have dirty little secrets. A mysterious young
man takes subtle control of the jury as the defense
watches helplessly, but they soon realize that he
in turn is controlled by an even more mysterious
young woman. Lives careen off course as they bend
everyone in the case to their will. |