Murder In The First

365 Films

Entry #76

Murder In The First

Directed by Marc Rocco

Murder in the First brings up an interesting paradox in the eternal debate over which films are suitable for children and which aren’t.  I vividly remember, as an eleven year old, being shocked by the horrific (albeit) brief violence that occurs early in the film and tremendously saddened by the degrading conditions forced upon the hero as the film continues.  That sounds like the proper reaction, right?  Then again, being that wide-eyed and naïve, I was completely immune to the obvious manipulation tactics that were so egregiously on display in this film.  It’s an interesting idea and one that I have definitely not put any kind of serious thought into but if you think about it, movies aimed at adults often times wind up appealing more directly to children.  Getting back to the film, Murder in the First tells the (not very) true story of the trial that brought down Alcatraz.  Kevin Bacon plays Henri Young, an orphan turned desperate petty criminal who is then once again transformed into a murderous psychopath by the degrading conditions of solitary confinement on Alcatraz Island.  Christian Slater plays James Stamphill, an enterprising young upstart lawyer who doggedly takes on this David V. Goliath case in hopes to uphold truth, justice, and the American way.  Oh, and I almost forgot, Gary Oldman plays the sadistic and cartoonishly evil Alcatraz warden who slits Henri’s heel early in the film, hobbling him for life.  I remember walking out of the theater and feeling tremendously moved by this inspiring true story of courage, determination, and adversity against all odds.  Bacon was tragically heroic, Slater was supremely focused, and Oldman was sufficiently evil.  Basically, it told a fascinating story and it told it well.  I remember being so vividly outraged when the film failed to garner a single Academy Award nomination for any of its performances.  What was I seeing that everybody else was missing?  Many years later, I sat down to re-watch the film and it was then that I came to my previously stated conclusion: I enjoyed this film so much precisely because I was a child when I saw it.  Watching it again, I was startled by how obtrusive and ultimately distracting a lot of the directorial choices turned out to be.  Sadly, director Marc Rocco passed away four years ago so I don’t mean to harp on this or anything and the film is definitely not without merit, but some of it is incredibly poorly executed.  For example, the film has a camera that will literally, not sit still for more than five continuous seconds.  I don’t know if this was because the television shooting style known as “walk and talk” was becoming so prevalent on shows like ER or if the director was simply not confident enough to let his courtroom drama play out naturally but either way, it’s a really strange choice.  I felt validated in my observation of this when Ben Affleck made the exact same assessment on the Dogma DVD cast commentary.  Not to mention the fact that the film wildly exaggerates and distorts several key aspects of the “True story” upon which it is based.  Not to say that a fictional recreation of historical events has to be slavishly dedicated to the truth but when those alterations are used to smooth out a morally uneven narrative, it diminishes the film and robs it of any sense of human complexity.   The film is so obsessed with getting you to feel exactly how they want you to feel about each and every character that it essentially becomes an exercise in preaching to the choir.  And since we all know the eventual outcome of the case; that seems like a particularly unnecessary plan of attack from the filmmaking standpoint.  Murder in the First was my first introduction to what is now a ubiquitous form of Hollywood product: that which is known as middlebrow, pre-packaged, totally transparent Oscar bait prestige picture.  No wonder I liked it so much at the time.