ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Robert J. Maxwell Based, more or less, in real events in 1913. Mary Phagan, a young girl who works in an Atlanta pencil factory, is found raped and murdered. The ambitious prosecutor (Jordan) manages to pin it on the factory's manager, Leo Frank (Gallagher), who happens to be a happily married Jew. Frank is convicted and sentenced to hang, based mostly on the testimony of a black factory worker (Dutton) and some help from other girls who seem to want their pictures in the paper.Should the governor (Lemon) commute the sentence to life imprisonment? Well -- yes and no. "Yes", because Lemon's own investigation reveals that Dutton has lied and the defense was practically incompetent so there is more than enough room for reasonable doubt, if not for Gallagher's innocence."No", because practically everybody in Georgia wants to see Gallagher get hanged. A commutation would kill Lemon's chances for the senate seat and assure him of complete obscurity.Lemon's is the most interesting character because he's in a conundrum of the sort that psychologists call an approach/avoidance conflict and Immanuel Kant would have seen as a choice between a categorical imperative (what's the moral thing to do?) and a hypothetical imperative (what's in it for me?). As Leo Frank, Gallagher is a tragic figure, a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn who seems to have been railroaded by tribal sentiments, but he has no choice in the matter. He's like a guy who's just been run over accidentally by a car. Too bad. But Lemon is like the driver of the car who can take off at high speed or stop and face the consequences.It's a well-done TV movie with high production values -- great big ballrooms with balconies, lavish sets, hordes of extras, nifty writing and direction that doesn't shove the tragic or violent moments in our faces. Never -- never -- does the viewer see the jury foreman get to his feet and solemnly say, "Your honor, we find the defendant, Leo Frank, guilty of murder," as the camera zeroes in on the foreman's unshaven, redneck face. That's just one of many clichés avoided.And what a cast! Lemon, Gallagher, Kevin Spacey in a minor role, Bill Macy in an even smaller part, Paul Dooley, Robert Prosky, Cynthia Nixon. Among the best performances are those of Charles S. Dutton as a sly and savvy liar and Loretta Devine as the girl he flirts with in the jail. Frank's wife is played by Rebecca Miller, whose beauty combines conventional prettiness with elegance. And a musical score by Maurice Jarre that evokes the hymn, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." I assume the use of the religious tune is meant to be ironic because, at the end, the good church-going folk string up Leo Frank and kill him.

Rose-35 This is one of the best mini-series I've seen in a long time. They get the story right and is acted out very well, esp. by Lemmon and Gallagher. It was also nice to see Kevin Spacey in one of his first roles. If you get a chance, watch this one. It will be worth it.

Goon-2 When a four hour miniseries is shown in its full length, it is not an attractive prospect of something to watch, but still, it was a dull Sunday afternoon and since I knew Dylan Baker quietly appreared in this film, I decided to give it a try anyhow. Amazingly, I was far more entertained and engrossed in the film than I expected, probably because of the good acting and production values. Being the network miniseries it was, this film is leaps and bounds above the usual, well, junk they have to offer. The script has a nice theatrical quality and whomever shot this film certainly knows what they are doing and picked beautiful locations to shoot it in. And the acting...for a NETWORK TV movie, this is some of the best acting you'll get from there, but what can be expected from such thespians as Jack Lemmon, the late Richard Jordan, Robert Prosky, Charles Dutton, W(illiam) H. Macy, Kevin Spacey, Peter Gallagher, and Dylan Baker, the latter four, who were still quite unknown back then. With these actors giving it all they've got, basically anything they are in would be watchable.They don't make it absolutely perfect, though( This is after all, a movie about the murder of 14-year-old Mary Phagan and the big court case that followed with her alleged murderer(Gallagher, who gives one of his better performances, surprisingly)on trial. I think it's somewhat impossible for a TVM about a court case not to get a little bit too dramatic at times, and naturally this one does, particularly with Rebecca Miller, who plays the wife of the accused man, giving dramatic outbursts in the court room(I won't begrudge her, though. She actually does a nice job in her role)and the silly town folks, who sing hymns for some reason and have their children sing a ridiculous song about Mary Phagan dying. Like kids would even care about a court case. Nevertheless, it kept me watching it for almost its entire running time and I wasn't really bored, so I would say this one wasn't so bad.

Merely Wonderfully engrossing drama that is well acted and completely interesting. Is a little gem that by the look of the votes here, was missed by lots. That's a shame. If you ever come across it in the future, is worth a look. I gave it a 9.