THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT. PART I: PRESUMED INNOCENT
Although director/co-writer (with Frank Pierson) Alan J. Pakula re-arranges a few key events, he is mostly faithful to the novel, but you get a different kind of charge out of it. Turow's novel managed to be that rare beast, a thought-provoking page turner. Pakula and Pierson put a little more emphasis on the thought-provoking part, which to some people meant the movie was too slow, but I found it gripping anyway. One of my basic problems with the courtroom movie (or TV show) is they tend to be too slick and too melodramatic (for the latter, actors seem to think the only way to demonstrate anger is through yelling). Pakula's more subdued approach allows the movie, like the novel, to get under your skin, and while the plot twists may not resonate the same for those who read the novel, they still have power. And the great cinematographer Gordon Willis (the GODFATHER movies, ANNIE HALL), who collaborated with Pakula on KLUTE and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, once again uses shadows effectively to underline the murkiness of the world Sabich finds himself in. Unlike most courtroom movies, this isn't brightly lit, which adds to its power. At the same time, while it emphasizes thought over action, the movie cleverly teases us about whether or not Rusty did commit the murder, even up to the very end (the novel answers that question long before).
The cast likewise adopts the more subdued approach for the most part, and it works. It's true Grifasi and Sab Shimono (as Painless, the medical examiner whose testimony is crucial to the story) are basically playing one-note characters, but they play them with restraint. Dennehy, who would later appear in another Turow adaptation (the made-for-TV BURDEN OF PROOF), shows both the inner strength which made him DA in the first place, and the weakness which allowed him to lose the office. Paul Winfield plays the presiding judge with secrets of his own, and it's a tribute to his poker face that he doesn't give them away. Scacchi is of course sexy as Polhemus, but she also shows intelligence, and you can easily believe so many - not just Rusty - would lust after her. While Spencer's role is cut down from the novel, he lends gritty authenticity to the role (for fans of TV's THE WEST WING, also look for Bradley Whitford as Sandy Stern's paralegal). In the particularly difficult role
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