The Pledge **** (2001, Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael O’Keefe, Mickey Rourke) – Classic Movie Review 4362

Jack Nicholson gives his best display of serious acting for years as Jerry Black, a Nevada police chief on the brink of retirement, who pledges to the mother that he will find the killer of her young child. He detects a link between the little girl’s murder and previous killings.

He sets up home with the single mother Lori (Robin Wright Penn) and, shockingly, uses her eight-year-old daughter as bait to lure the killer.

Lovingly directed by Sean Penn in 2001, this is a dark but brilliant movie, with the screenplay by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski based on the book by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

Also in the cast are Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael O’Keefe, Mickey Rourke, Tom Noonan and Eileen Ryan.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4362

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