THE CHAMBER (FILM)

'''Time is running out.'''
'The Chamber' is 1996 drama/thriller film based on the John Grisham novel of the same name. The film is directed by James Foley and stars Gene Hackman and Chris O'Donnell.

Contents

Synopsis

Cast

Trivia

External links

Synopsis

Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's (Hackman) only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall (O'Donnell) seeks at the last minute to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks (exactly 28 days) before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi state prison which has held him since the crime in 1980 (16 years ago). The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall," about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber. While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds. Not only does he fight for his grandfather, but perhaps for himself as well. He has come to heal the wounds of his own father's suicide, to mitigate the secret shame he has always felt for having this man as a grandfather, and to bring closure -- one way or another -- to the suffering the old man seems to have brought to everyone he has ever known.

Cast

★ Chris O'Donnell - Adam Hall

★ Gene Hackman - Sam Cayhall

★ Faye Dunaway - Lee Cayhall Bowen

★ Robert Prosky - E. Garner Goodman

★ Raymond J. Barry - Rollie Wedge/Donnie Cayhall

★ Bo Jackson - Sgt. Clyde Packer

★ Lela Rochon - Nora Stark

★ David Marshall Grant - Gov. David McAllister

★ Nicholas Pryor - Judge Flynn F. Slattery

★ Harve Presnell - Atty. Gen. Roxburgh

Trivia

★ The execution scene was filmed in the actual gas chamber at Parchman Penitentiary.

★ Ron Howard was originally set to direct the film, but left the project to direct ''Ransom'' (1996). He stayed on as Executive Producer on the film.

★ Brad Pitt was committed to playing Adam Hall, but left the project when Ron Howard left to direct ''Ransom''.

★ William Goldman, who wrote the early drafts, was reportedly unsatisfied with the re-writes and never saw the finished movie.

★ During the execution scene at the end of the film, one of the members of the crowd cheering and holding scenes at the prison holds up a cardboard sign reading, "suck gas, evildoer." This is the trademark battle cry of Darkwing Duck, from the Disney TV series about a duck superhero who uses a gas weapon against criminals.

External links

★ ''The Chamber'' on the Internet Movie Database

★ ''The Chamber'' on the All Movie Guide