I would usually not watch a film of this type of my own accord, but it was shown to me in a criminal justice course. It was rather interesting as it features Christian Slater as a young attorney assigned a case to defend a prisoner at the infamous Alcatraz prison. The case is one he is not supposed to win, he is just representing the guy and the guy is supposed to be put to death. Instead, the young idealistic attorney sees that the young man who committed murder while imprisoned for a rather minor crime committed the crime not because he was initially some sort of monster, but because the tactics used by the warden were cruel and turned him into one. Very interesting and it even has some funny scenes as well in it. Kevin Bacon does a really good job with his role and Slater is good as well. It does run a bit long, but that is usually the case with most films like this one. I liked how Slater's character was able to make his case and I also enjoyed Bacon's character when he was put on the stand as that seemed to make the point nicely. I did not care for the end, but there is not much one can do about that as it was based on a true story. Overall, though I usually do not watch films such as this I did enjoy it.
Review of Murder in the First
