I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) - Systemic injustice bared in LeRoy's crackerjack crime drama

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A dangerous holdup in what appears a criminal underworld environment is presented on this murky poster for Mervyn LeRoy's I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

After having served military duty in WWI, James Allen returns to civilian status but does not want factory work; he wants to build something new up as an engineer! But following an unfortunate arrest, he is sentenced to 10 years in a chain gang. - He manages to escape! - But his past finds him ...

 

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is written by Howard J. Green (The Millionaire (1957, TV-series)) and Brown Holmes (Castle on the Hudson (1940)), with Sheridan Gibney (The Locket (1946)) contributing uncredited work, adapting the autobiographical I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! (1932) by Robert Elliott Burns, and directed by great Californian filmmaker Mervyn LeRoy (No Place to Go (1927)).

Thoroughly suspenseful, fast-paced, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang relies on a thrilling story for its success. The woman, who forces a lucrative marriage through by blackmailing our protagonist, is one of the film's exciting, credibly played (by Glenda Farrell (Bonanza (1964, TV-series))), memorable characters. All of it rings 100 % true. 

SPOILER A very exciting climax ends up in a shockingly tragic, stirring ending: 'The system can crush a good man' is the icy lesson here. Paul Muni (Hudson's Bay (1940)) is beautiful and outstanding as the hero in this electrical, indignant film.

 

Related post:

 

Mervyn LeRoy: The Green Berets (1968) - Wayne's gung ho pretty picture of the Vietnam War clashes with reality (co-director)

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 228k $

Box office: 1.599 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 7.01 times the cost)

[I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang premiered 9 November (Washington D.C.) and runs 93 minutes. LeRoy was paid 13.2k $ for his direction of the film. Shooting took place from July - September 1932 in California, including in Los Angeles, with stock footage of Chicago, Illinois also used. The film grossed 650k $ in North America, 40.7 % of the total gross. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor (Muni) to Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII, Picture to Cavalcade and Sound to A Farewell to Arms. The film also won 2 National Board of Review awards. It was instrumental in the appeal and release of Burns and "several other chain gang prisoners nationwide in the U.S." in 1933. LeRoy returned with Hard to Handle (1933). Muni returned in The World Changes (1933). I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is fresh at 96 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang?

The Idealist/Idealisten (2015) - Thrilling Cold War true story scandal served by Rosendahl and Co.

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The Danish and American flags melt together on this tension-establishing poster for Christina Rosendahl's The Idealist

A radio journalist in Eastern Jutland, Denmark in 1988 latches himself onto a story, which will henceforth define his career: The crash of a US B52 airplane carrying four thermonuclear bombs in Greenland back in 1968, - at a time in which the enormous Northern territory was supposed to be free of nuclear weapons, and the secret aftermath of the affair, in which a large groups of Danes cleaned up the mess and got seriously ill.

 

The Idealist is written by Lars Kristian Andersen (Flame & Citron/Flammen & Citronen (2008)), Simon Pasternak (Sex, Drugs & Taxation/Spies & Glistrup (2013)), Birgitte Stærmose (Camino (2023)) and great Danish filmmaker, co-writer/director Christina Rosendahl (Supervoksen (2006)). It is based on the actual Thule base scandal.

Rosendahl and Co. have weaved together a surprisingly good and very debate-opening Cold War film here, a journalistic drama with grand political and principal perspectives more so than a thriller perhaps, but it is terrifically thrilling nevertheless, especially for Danes and Greenlanders. But really the conflict here with a giant allied super power in a bind in relation to basically a lilliput nation has much wider relevance, and the lies and weapons race during the Cold War has frightening perspectives and consequences the world over.

Peter Plaugborg (Ditte & Louise (2015-16)) is excellent as Brink, the energetic, idealistic and naive journalist protagonist; and so is Søren Malling (The Promised Land/Bastarden (2023)) as the leader of the clean-up workers, who collaborates with him. Smaller parts are also handled with the foremost professionalism by both Danes and Americans. The story is very large, and it goes around the Greenlanders' position in the matter. In the same way, it remains unclear how Brink in the first case gets onto the scandalous story. The Idealist is still impressively made and exceedingly well edited.

 

Related posts:

 

Christina Rosendahl: 2020 in films - according to Film Excess

The Good Traitor/Vores Mand i Amerika (2020) - Tenderness and no-nonsense Danish and world history meet in great Rosendahl war drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 20.5 mil. DKK, approximately 2.88 mil. $

Box office: 372k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.12 times its cost)

[The Idealist premiered 19 March (Nuuk, Greenland) and runs 114 minutes. The film disappointed at the Danish box office, selling only 39,661 tickets, coming to 372k $. The film was also released in Norway, Brazil and Argentina, likely with tiny results, as these are not reported at Box Office Mojo, where the Danish result figures. The film won 1/10 Robert award nominations, (Denmark's Oscar). Rosendahl returned with Vold i Kærlighedens Navn (2017, documentary) and theatrically with Vores Mand i Amerika (2020). Plaugborg and Malling both returned in The Shamer's Daughter/Skammerens Datter (2015). 1.6k+ IMDb users have given The Idealist a 6.9/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Idealist?

Mørkeland (2024) - Good elements, wrong plot in botched political thriller sequel

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Star Anders W. Berthelsen photoshopped in on some non-existing stairs in front of Denmark's parliament on the poster for Mikkel Serup's Mørkeland

Following several years of unemployment, journalist Ulrik Torp gets an internship at his old workplace, a national Danish newspaper. He is tasked with an assassination story that seems to have implications involving the ongoing general election...

Mørkeland is written by Marie Østerbye (Player (2013)), adapting the same-titled 2019 novel by Niels Krause-Kjær (Tilskueren (2004)), and directed by Mikkel Serup (Klassefesten 2: Begravelsen (2014)). It is the sequel to Nikolaj Arcel's great thriller King's Game/Kongekabale (2004), which was also a Krause-Kjær adaptation. The title translates to 'darkland'.

The novelist has finished two books more since 2019's Mørkeland, and one wonders as a spectator if this film took too long to get made, or was the wrong novel to adapt to begin with, because in any case it comes out as somewhat redundant in today's post-COVID, Ukraine War beset Europe. Denmark's political scandals in the last several years have revolved around its overly powerful, self-governed prime minister and her even less rationally controlled, (sometimes dangerously out-of-control) chief of staff and close friend, that are the very center of Denmark's democratic power. Yet in Mørkeland's alternate universe the threat for most of the film is a tiny right-wing party that struggles to get past the 2 % support barrier to actually obtain MPs, - we are never introduced to any of the more central politicians of the country's election race, - and in fact everything somehow revolves around this tiny, insignificant party. This is an odd plot-line that may have been partly relevant - before the Trump presidency, COVID and several other things happened.

Anders W. Berthelsen (Ditte & Louise (2018)) is back as Torp, with more skin flaps and larger old-man ears, a few more pounds, an actor positively freed from glamouring himself up with procedures and fitness torture, (it is appreciated!), and his journalist look is still very much spot-on. The surrounding cast is competent but that's about it, as their characters are mostly drained of the juice that is wit, humor or personality. There are neat exterior shots of traffic in motion and the film's thriller score (by the completely unknown trio Elvin Matz, Aramis Silvereke and Alexander Weslund (Houseplants, short (2023, all))) is perhaps its best component. Did these three actually make this score? In the age of AI, one is naturally suspicious.

SPOILER The movie's surprise twist is that the real villains are really (deep state) mainstream thinkers (including ex-intelligence agents) who believe they better quell the electorate's right-wing leanings and secure EU stability. Real-world Denmark has had vocal, big right-wing parties with power for decades, so this fantasy seems more than a bit far-fetched. And the relevant political scandals of much bigger proportions (that could have been tackled) are standing in a very long line around the block. 

Mørkeland, in short, shrinks compared to King's Game. But the execution isn't terrible.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 30 mil. DKK

Box office: 11.5 mil. DKK and counting

= Too early to say

[Mørkeland was released 22 August (Denmark) and runs 99 minutes. The film has been #1 for 2 weekends in Denmark and sold 137k tickets so far, but it plays in Biografklub Danmark/'cinema club Denmark', meaning that at least half the tickets are sold at half prize. It opens in Sweden, its only slated foreign market, 13 September. Serup does not have his next film announced yet. Berthelsen returns in Børnene fra Sølvgade (2024). 160 IMDb users have given Mørkeland a 6.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Mørkeland?

In the Heat of the Night (1967) - Southern racism blasted in Jewison's riveting crime drama

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A very "groovy" and "hip" zeitgeist-tasting poster for Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night

An important engineer is found slain in a small South state town, and right away homicide investigating expert Virgil Tibbs from an Eastern state is accused. But he'll soon be tasked with collaborating with the local racists.

 

In the Heat of the Night is written by Stirling Silliphant (Over the Top (1987)), adapting the same-titled 1965 novel by John Ball (Judo Boy (1964)), and directed by great Canadian-American filmmaker Norman Jewison (40 Pounds of Trouble (1962)).

It is an electric, powerful picture, - still one of the most stimulating American films of all time. The racism theme is served with aplomb; through the terrific performance of Sidney Poitier (The Jackal (1997)), the audience experiences what it may have been like to be black in the American South, both the belittlement and the menace involved. Rod Steiger (End of Days (1999)) inhabits the local sheriff, who learns something from the outsider during the course of the film, in role-model fashion. All of the local rednecks are portrayed convincingly. The cotton farm scene is especially effective.

In a way the murder plot is 'second fiddle' to the racism theme here. Quincy Jones' (Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)) score (abetted with participation from Ray Charles) is a hip and mighty musical pairing that also deserves praise. Haskel Wexler's (Something's Gotta Give (2009)) cinematography is outstanding. SPOILER In the Heat of the Night succeeds in condensing its issue at hand in a meaningful way to reach an optimistically hopeful conclusion; that human meetings may break down hatreds and prejudice.

 

Related post:

 

Norman Jewison: The Hurricane (1999) - Terrific performances in Jewison's long racism drama

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 24.3 mil. $ (North American alone)

= Mega-hit (projected return of 17.5 times its cost)

[In the Heat of the Night was released 2 August (USA, Philippines) and runs 110 minutes. Poitier was paid 200k $ and 20 % of the profits for his performance; Steiger 150k $. Shooting took place from September - November 1966 in Illinois, Tennessee and in Los Angeles, California. The film had reportedly racked in 11 mil. $ in North American rentals (the gross minus the exhibitor's cut) by 1971, which would make the 24.3 mil. $ domestic gross realistic. If the international reception was markedly less enthusiastic, - not unlikely due to the film's very American theme of Southern racism, - a very conservatively set 35 mil. $ world gross may be projected. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 5: For Best Picture, Actor (Steiger), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Sound. It lost Best Director to Mike Nichols for The Graduate and Sound Effects to The Dirty Dozen. The film also won 2/4 BAFTA nominations, 3/7 Golden Globes and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Poitier returned as Tibbs in the two sequels They Call Me Mister Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971). A 1988-95 spin-off series also entitled In the Heat of the Night was also made. Jewison returned with The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Poitier returned in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967); Steiger in The Girl and the General (1967). In the Heat of the Night is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In the Heat of the Night? 

Indestructible Man (1956) or, The Nearly Indestructible Man!

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Scantily dressed young women screaming with intense fright competes with firetruck red, a fearfully intense star Lon Chaney Jr. and terrific title art on this tremendous poster for Jack Pollexfen's Indestructible Man

A wrongfully condemned man returns after his electrical execution with super powers with only one mission in mind: Revenge!

 

Indestructible Man is written by Sue Dwiggins and Vy Russell (Monstrosity (1963), both) and produced and directed by Jack Pollexfen (Dragon's Gold (1954)).

The homicide case that opens the narrative is handled in the best Raymond Chandler style. Lon Chaney Jr. (Buckskin (1968)) is 'Butcher', the (nearly) indestructible man! Not even the police's bazooka or flamethrower can stop him!

The weak dialog (almost none of it given to Chaney) is weighed up with several other qualities: Car-driving scenes shot from a car driving in front of the action are cool (cinematography by John L. Russell (Billie (1965)); Chaney's "eye effect", illustrating the electrical intensity, is fantastic; the grandiose ending at a Los Angeles power station is great; the score (by Albert Glasser (Tormented (1960))) is wonderful, and there's a romantic end scene that is extremely corny. Indestructible Man is an enormously rad picture for fans of low-budget strange fare of this period.

Related post:

Jack Pollexfen: Monstrosity/The Atomic Brain (1963) - Crazed doctor schlock

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Indestructible Man was released 25 March (USA) and runs 72 minutes. Shooting took place around November 1954 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film was shown on a double bill in North America with World Without End (1956) and in other areas with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). It was also released in at least 6 other markets, but details of its budget and box office results are regrettably not readily available. The film has fallen into public domain and is available for free and legal download and streaming right here. Pollexfen returned with Monstrosity (1963). Chaney Jr. returned in Telephone Time (1956, TV-series) and theatrically in The Black Sleep (1956). 3.2k+ IMDb users have given Indestructible Man a 4.4/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Indestructible Man?

Insomnia (2002) - Nolan hones filmmaking skills with solid thriller

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+ Best Alaska Movie of the Year + Best Detective Movie of the Year + Best Remake of the Year

 

A gloomy darkness and a feeling of dread hangs over this poster for Christopher Nolan's Insomnia

Two LAPD homicide detectives are sent to a remote part of Alaska to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, but things go haywire in the almost ceaseless daylight of the extreme North.

 

Insomnia is written by Hillary Seitz (Early Bird Special (2001)) and directed by English master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), whose 3rd feature it is. It is a remake of Erik Skjoldbjærg's same-titled 1997 Norwegian film.

An excellent 'little' thriller, Insomnia sports a masterful Al Pacino (The Irishman (2019)) and Robin Williams (Jumanji (1995)), who is good here in an unusual villainous part as a bestial murderer with inferiority complexes. The film also distinguishes itself with its insomnia theme, which is illustrated cinematically in Pacino's character's increasing confusion along with the entire plot, which is generally credible. Perhaps except for the spectacular Hollywood-type ending. (Although this is not to say that the film would be better off without said ending.)

 

Related posts:

Christopher Nolan: 2023 in films - according to Film Excess 

Oppenheimer (2023) - Nolan treats aficionados of history, politics, science - and cinema 

2020 in films - according to Film Excess

Tenet (2020) - Nolan blows smoke up your ass 

Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2017 in films - according to Film Excess 
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie  

Top 10: Best future-set movies
Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in opulent, exciting epic
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Inception (2010) - Nolan's best is a grand piece of action sci-fi, perfectly awesome nonsense 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman 

The Prestige (2006) - Nolan's overrated magician picture 
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Memento (2000) - Nolan's overrated amnesia mindfuck   
Following (1998) - Nolan's ineffectual debut

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 46 mil. $

Box office: 113.7 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.47 times its cost)

[Insomnia premiered 3 May (Tribeca Film Festival, New York) and runs 118 minutes. Pacino was paid 11 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from April - June 2001 in Alaska and British Columbia. The film opened #3, behind holdover hits Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man, to a 20.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell out of the top 5 in its 2nd weekend, grossing 67.3 mil. $ (59.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.8 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Japan with 7 mil. $ (6.2 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Nolan returned with Batman Begins (2005). Pacino returned in S1m0ne (2002); Williams in The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003, TV movie) and Freedom: A History of US (2003, TV-series) prior to his theatrical return in The Final Cut (2004); and Hilary Swank (The Hunt (2020)) in The Space Between (2002, short) and theatrically in The Core (2003). Insomnia is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Insomnia?

The Pelican Brief (1993) - Everything works in phenomenal Pakula thriller

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A great pitch tagline (if you can make it out) and an intense close-up of co-star Julia Roberts make up most of this murky poster for Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief

An ambitious, smart law student writes a sensational brief on the possible perpetrators of a double assassination of two Supreme Court Justices, - which makes her a hunted target.

 

The Pelican Brief is written, co-produced and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Alan J. Pakula (The Sterile Cuckoo (1969)), whose 15th feature it was. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1992 novel by John Grisham (The Street Lawyer (1998)).

Pakula makes this murky political thriller come alive as an eminent film. James Horner (Titanic (1997)) has written a classical suspense score across it, and Grisham's plot is not more far-fetched than what we are willing to swallow to stay in this 'ride', which has exciting locations in Washington DC and New Orleans.

The cast is super, led by arguably the greatest actors of their generation, Denzel Washington (2 Guns (2013)) and Julia Roberts (Closer (2004)), - SPOILER who may not get each other here. On the other hand the ending is a salute to Roberts and her splendid student character here, and it is right on.

John Lithgow (The Crown (2016-19)) is also worth highlighting in the part of an editor here. At more than one point, the film succeeds with good old-fashioned Hitchcockian suspense, and coupled with the progressive lead casting, it makes The Pelican Brief a chief work in the modern thriller genre.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 45 mil. $

Box office: 195.2 mil. $ 

= Big hit (returned 4.33 times the cost)

[The Pelican Brief premiered 17 September (Canada) and runs 141 minutes. Roberts was paid 8 mil. $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place from May - September 1993 in Washington DC and in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film opened #1 to a 16.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then another 3 in the top 5 (#2-#2-#5), grossing 100.7 mil. $ (51.6 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Pakula returned with The Devil's Own (1997). Roberts returned in I Love Trouble (1994); Washington in Philadelphia (1993). The Pelican Brief is rotten at 54 % with a 5.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Pelican Brief?

Phone Booth (2002) or, Boxed In

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A dramatic and dynamic mix of images and text make up this poster for Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth

Stu is a PR man in New York and relatively successful in his line of work, until a moralistic sniper gets him to come clean inside of a phone booth!

 

Phone Booth is written by Larry Cohen (The Ex (1996)) and directed by Joel Schumacher (The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)).

There's a confession scene and a cop character (played by Forest Whitaker (Empire (2017-18))) that are a bit naive in their design, but otherwise this minimalist, real-time thriller works. Colin Farrell (Widows (2018)) is naturally decisive as Stu, and he does well. Perhaps most impressive about Phone Booth is that it was shot in around 10 days - in Los Angeles!

 

Related posts:

Joel Schumacher: House of Cards - season 1 (2013, VoD) - Mean streaks at the sausage factory 

The Number 23 (2007) - Carrey's big ol' turkey 

Falling Down (1993) - Schumacher's arguably best film, a fiery dragon of a societal thriller

The Lost Boys (1987) - A crazy 80's teen vampire bonanza 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 13 mil. $

Box office: 97.8 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 7.52 times its cost)

[Phone Booth premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 81 minutes. Cohen pitched the idea to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s and kept him updated over the following years on his inability to find the necessary ploy that would force the protagonist to stay inside a phone booth. The solution came to him in the late 1990s in the form of the sniper antagonist. Jim Carrey was set to star but bowed out. Shooting took place from November - December 2000 in New York and Los Angeles, California. The release was postponed from November 2002 to April 2003 due to the D.C. sniper attacks that left 17 people dead and 10 wounded over a 10 month period. The film opened #1 to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#5), grossing 46.5 mil. $ (47.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10.9 mil. $ (11.1 %) and Spain with 5.8 mil. $ (5.9 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Schumacher returned with Veronica Guerin (2003). Farrell returned in The Recruit (2003). Phone Booth is fresh at 72 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Phone Booth? 

High Crimes (2002) - Unremarkable paranoia military thriller

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The two big stars stand weirdly close together on this questionable poster for Carl Franklin's High Crimes

Claire is a successful young attorney, but when her military husband is accused of a mass murder in El Salvador, she is forced to consider the possibility that she might be living with a homicidal liar.

 

High Crimes is written by Yuri Zeltser (The Circle (2005)) and Grace Cary Bickley (The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)), adapting the same-titled 1998 novel by Joesph Finder (The Zero Hour (1996)), and directed by Carl Franklin (Nowhere to Run (1989)).

High-polished, formulaic Hollywood fare here, which lives especially due to its stars; mainly the sympathetic Ashley Judd (Divergent (2014)); Morgan Freeman (The Comeback Trail (2020)) is highly convincing as a drunk and Jim Caviezel (Transit (2012)) as the dubious husband.

The film in its best sequences instills the feeling in the audience of mistrusting a very cynical liar in one's closest surroundings. High Crimes is superficial but entertaining.

 

Related post:

 

Carl Franklin: House of Cards - season 2 (2014, VoD) - More ruthless power plays from Willimon and Co. 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 42 mil. $

Box office: 63.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.51 times its cost)

[High Crimes premiered 3 April (USA) and runs 115 minutes. Shooting took place from November 2000 - March 2001 in Mexico and California, including in San Francisco. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Panic Room, to a 14 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 41.5 mil. $ (65.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 4.5 mil. $ (7 %) and Mexico with 2 mil. $ (3.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Franklin returned with Out of Time (2003). Judd returned in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002); Freeman in The Sum of All Fears (2002). High Crimes is rotten at 30 % with a 5.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of High Crimes?