The Chamber ** (1996, Gene Hackman, Chris O’Donnell, Faye Dunaway, Robert Prosky, Harve Presnell) – Classic Movie Review 1006

Director James Foley’s 1996 legal thriller is another lacklustre adaptation from a John Grisham novel, saved by Gene Hackman’s impeccable performance as a racist bigoted bomber, Sam Cayhall, whose rookie lawyer grandson Adam Hall (Chris O’Donnell) has but 28 days to save him from Death Row’s gas chamber.

Grandpa doesn’t give a fig for the kid’s gesture or his professionalism – ‘You couldn’t save a turkey from thanksgiving’. The film is virtually plotless, with only the will-he-won’t-he-die? suspense to carry it, and not many will care about the fate of this Ku Klux Klansman double child-killer’s life. Dead Man Walking (1995) trod similar territory far better. Goldman’s only adequate script affords lots of commendable liberal sentiments and almost equal amounts of boring Southern clichés, with no subtleties or ambiguities, perhaps underestimating the audience’s intelligence.

Faye Dunaway is OK in a minor role as the kid’s drunken former white trash, now new-rich auntie. But all the other parts are underdeveloped in William Goldman and Chris Reese’s screenplay’s simplification of the novel. However, it is the wan, expressionless performance at the heart of the film from an over-extended O’Donnell, appearing in almost every scene, that sinks it.

There is merely competent rather than inspired direction by the clever Foley, who seems to have picked the wrong movie for his talents in a big-budget, straight-down-the-line piece that requires no special imagination or idiosyncratic flourishes from the director. He should be ashamed of the pretty pictures of sunsets and skyscapes, making the film further lack vigour and rigour.

It is written by William Goldman and Chris Reese, shot by Ian Baker, produced by John Davis, scored by Carter Burwell and designed by David Brisbin.

Also in the cast are Robert Prosky, Raymond Barry, Leila Rochon, Harve Presnell, Bo Jackson, David Marshall, Nicholas Pryor, Richard Bradford, Greg Goossen, Seth Isler, Millie Perkins, Sid Johnson, Blake Johnson, Josef Sommer and Leonard Vincent.

It was Hackman’s second Grisham film after The Firm (1993) and the film reunites Hackman with his Bonnie and Clyde (1967) co-star Dunaway in their first appearance together for 30 years.

Foley is known as the reliable director of At Close Range (1986), After Dark, My Sweet (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Fear (1996), Confidence (2003), Perfect Stranger (2007), TV’s House of Cards, with Kevin Spacey and Fifty Shades Darker (2017).

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(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1006 derekwinnert.com