The Star Chamber (1983)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers:

Roderick Taylor (story)
Roderick Taylor (writer) ...

Release Date:

5 August 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

THEY HAVE COMMITED EVERY CRIME IN THE BOOK. Yet the law cannot touch them. They are free to walk the streets. UNTIL TONIGHT'S MEETING OF... [THE STAR CHAMBER] [UK Theatrical]

Plot:

Disgusted with criminals escaping the judicial system via technicalities, an idealistic young judge...

Plot Keywords:

Hitman | Drugs | Conspiracy | Child Murder | Courtroom

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin
Hal Holbrook	...	Judge Benjamin Caulfield
Yaphet Kotto	...	Det. Harry Lowes
Sharon Gless	...	Emily Hardin
James Sikking	...	Dr. Harold Lewin (as James B. Sikking)
Joe Regalbuto	...	Arthur Cooms
Don Calfa	...	Lawrence Monk
John DiSanti	...	Det. James Wickman
Otis Day	...	Stanley Flowers
Jack Kehoe	...	Hingle
Larry Hankin	...	Det. Kenneth Wiggan
Dick Anthony Williams	...	Det. Paul Mackey
Margie Impert	...	Louise Pacinni
Dana Gladstone	...	Dept. Dist. Atty. Martin Hyatt
David Proval	...	Officer Nelson

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (2006) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Frank Yablans Presentations

Trivia:

Director Peter Hyams created lighting innovations to create the eerie atmosphere of the movie, including a daylight lamp, and utilizing light beams for the exterior shots.

Quotes:

Judge Benjamin Caulfield: Someone has taken justice and hidden it in the law.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Star Chamber (2011)

A Most Secret Society

The Star Chamber is a film that operates under the premise that the legal system has gone awry and it's up to the judges to apply corrective action to the decisions they officially make in court. Interestingly enough Hal Holbrook who came to that conclusion as Lieutenant Briggs in the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force, is now taking a similar position as a judge.

Michael Douglas as a young Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles has reached the same crossroads. After a couple of decisions on procedure that resulted in criminals being cut loose, he starts to question whether the whole criminal justice system is out of whack. That's when Hal Holbrook tells him about a most secret society.

A panel of nine judges have taken it upon themselves to overrule their own rulings. Douglas eagerly joins them, but certain things to go off course for him and he questions whether he's made the right career move.

The cases that Douglas came a cropper on is stuff straight out of the Law and Order episode file. In that series sometimes I think the judge's rulings are somewhat bizarre. Of course in that series it just makes Jack McCoy and his successor try all the harder to win.

It's a nice film, but I do get the feeling that Star Chamber is a Law and Order episode stretched out for a feature film.