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      The Chamber

      R 1996 1 hr. 51 min. Drama List
      12% 25 Reviews Tomatometer 39% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score Young lawyer Adam Hall (Chris O'Donnell) launches a legal appeal for his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman), a former Ku Klux Klan member he has never met. Accused of killing two young Jewish boys years earlier, Sam meets his grandson in a Mississippi prison on death row, and the atmosphere is tense. Despite having no sympathy for the older man, Adam has other motives for defending his grandfather that have to do with his own father's suicide. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Nov 08 Buy Now

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      Audience Reviews

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      David D Great movie. Gene Hackman is a brilliant actor. The movie is suspenseful dramatic and even poignant. Hackman's character is very remorseful and regretful for his past mistakes. And he even for a moment shows compassion towards his daughter for a past transgression that left her with extreme guilt. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/17/24 Full Review steve d The acting is good but there is very little to the story. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie acts as a curiosity, since Gene Hackman was originally offered the role of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, instead of Anthony Hopkins. So if you want an inkling of what could have been, this is a good movie to watch. But, as always, Chris O'Donnell is just bland. I can't believe he was considered for the lead in Men In Black before Will Smith. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review jay s Enjoyed the movie. Hackman is brilliant as ususal, just like Chris O'Donnell. I got the taste of a pinch of Dixie. As European, see the ugliness of our race conserved for too long in the US. The supremacist white. Were we really so superior? Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Not the most likable of Grisham films, but it keeps your interest. A bit unsettling and I wasn't sure what to think about it. (First and only viewing - 8/10/2019) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review don s I found this to be a touching story of a grandson, who is a lawyer, trying to save the grandfather, an admitted KKK member and child killer on death row, who he doesn't even know. There are layers to the family story that unfold throughout the movie leading these two philosophically opposed men to grudgingly respect each other. The story begins at 28 days until gas chamber and ends with a last-ditch effort to save the old man. Gripping performances by O'Donnell and Hackman. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Chamber

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (25) Critics Reviews
      Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: C Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Emanuel Levy Variety Lacking the surface glitz, attention-grabbing plot and star power of John Grisham's previous adaptations, Folley's film will also suffer due to comparisons with the similarly-themed and better Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, released last year. Rated: 2/5 Mar 8, 2006 Full Review Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Rated: 1/4 Jun 18, 2002 Full Review Mal Vincent The Virginian-Pilot A familiar Death Row location, but it handles itself with a good deal more levity, and believability, than the other Grisham melodramas. Rated: 3/4 Mar 2, 2022 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 2, 2005 Full Review Caffeinated Clint Film Threat Rated: 2/5 May 6, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Young lawyer Adam Hall (Chris O'Donnell) launches a legal appeal for his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall (Gene Hackman), a former Ku Klux Klan member he has never met. Accused of killing two young Jewish boys years earlier, Sam meets his grandson in a Mississippi prison on death row, and the atmosphere is tense. Despite having no sympathy for the older man, Adam has other motives for defending his grandfather that have to do with his own father's suicide.
      Director
      James Foley
      Executive Producer
      David T. Friendly, Ric Kidney, Karen Kehela Sherwood
      Screenwriter
      William Goldman, Chris Reese
      Production Co
      Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Davis Entertainment
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 19, 2016
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $14.4M
      Sound Mix
      Stereo, Surround
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