Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Dave from Ottawa Caryl Chessman, in 1960, was one of the last Americans executed for crimes other than murder. While on death row, he wrote a celebrated book and became the face of the anti-death penalty movement.Alan Alda strikes a convincing note as the cocky Caryl Chessman, convicted and sentenced to death in a string of crimes known as the Red Light Bandit attacks. The movie's creators, however, cheat a bit by making Chessman a little too sympathetic. Alda throws a chair across a room to show his frustration in one scene, but the film stops short of showing just how confrontational and difficult to like Chessman was in real life. Chessman was a brilliant writer, but anyone carefully reading his books sees a fundamentally dishonest and manipulative sociopath behind the clever prose. He proclaims his innocence of the crimes, yet never bothers to account for why their pattern so closely matches his own descriptions of his earlier exploits that landed him in Folsom Penitentiary. Had the film gone in for more of a warts and all approach to the character, it would have succeeded at being at least less dishonest than its subject.That said, the film accurately captures its period and brings out the many details in Chessman's trial that seemed to indicate that it was something less than fair. The film tiptoes around the central issue of Chessman's guilt, portraying the Red Light Bandit crimes in flashback without showing the identity of the perpetrator. But his fight for fair treatment by the justice system, guilty or not, makes for strong cinema. This movie is definitely worth a watch, however one might view its protagonist's guilt.

lisajayne_1999 I have read some drivel in my time but the comment of this movie and the header page is full of absolute crap! Obviously this person has no idea about this story at all! HE WAS INNOCENT! Yes this is a true story and the reason its great, apart from the acting, is because of the complete unjustness of the whole "Capital Punishment System" IT DOESN'T WORK! How the hell are you going to pay restitution to someone who is dead.....god you make me bloody angry. Get a grip, get your facts right, and let this be a lesson, 12 years on death row...????? if your innocent is ridiculous, you want to know what else is ridiculous. Your suppose to proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt. If there is no reasonable doubt then he should have been there one day whilst they set the damn electric chair up then did the deed....SEEMS TO ME 12 YEARS MEANS THERE IS A HELL OF A lot OF REASONABLE DOUBT. He should never have been given the death penalty at all.....No one should you bloody red neck!

JimHammond I arrived at my destination (a commune) and was told to wait in a sitting room for them to process my application. The sitting room had a TV, and it was showing this movie. This movie was as awful as a movie can be, and by the time it was over I again truly understood how much it is a shame to waste precious time. For any reader of this post, do not see this piece of junk.Sometimes I have got to tell it like it is!

brew-5 Oh man, I saw this when I was about 9 at hotel somewhere in Pennsylvania (this was in 1977!) and the thing that haunted me for years, years!! - was the image of Alan Alda strapped into the gas chamber and being executed.The admonition of the guard to 'breathe deeply, it'll be easier' was so chilling that I can remember it to this day! I've never seen the movie since but those images are so vivid I can't forget them!On a political note, it makes you think about capital punishment and whether or not you're for or against it, it does spark a debate on how punishment is administered.