Michael Douglas is disgusted by the legal system. He is a young judge who is tired of seeing the scum of the earth walking on technicalities while the public good is being ignored. He begins talking to his colleagues about this and is eventually asked by one of them to come to meet some other like-minded individuals. It turns out that there are many judges equally dissatisfied with the current legal system and have decided to band together to re-try cases and dispense "justice" when it was denied the first time in court. This "star chamber" is a way of righting the wrongs in the legal system, as if they all agree, a hired assassin is sent my them to liquidate the wrong-doer! The idea, by the way, is very similar to the Dirty Harry movie, MAGNUM FORCE.
The problem is that although it's a pretty good idea for a film and the acting is pretty good, the film falls completely on its face towards the end. And that's because one minute Douglas' character likes the idea of a "higher court" for these cases, later he inexplicably recants and tries to destroy the court! This made little sense and with a better ending this could have been a great film.
Perhaps the film had such a stupid conclusion because the people in Hollywood felt really uncomfortable with producing a movie that would have advocated vigilantism and violated the generally ultra-liberal climate in the motion picture industry. Regardless, with a little more ingenuity, this could have been so much better. Just off the top of my head I can think of two or three ways to have improved the ending--and I don't get paid to do this. What's their excuse?!
The problem is that although it's a pretty good idea for a film and the acting is pretty good, the film falls completely on its face towards the end. And that's because one minute Douglas' character likes the idea of a "higher court" for these cases, later he inexplicably recants and tries to destroy the court! This made little sense and with a better ending this could have been a great film.
Perhaps the film had such a stupid conclusion because the people in Hollywood felt really uncomfortable with producing a movie that would have advocated vigilantism and violated the generally ultra-liberal climate in the motion picture industry. Regardless, with a little more ingenuity, this could have been so much better. Just off the top of my head I can think of two or three ways to have improved the ending--and I don't get paid to do this. What's their excuse?!