The Star Chamber (1983, Dir. Peter Hyams)
Synopsis:
Young Judge Steven Hardin (Michael Douglas) is growing disillusioned with the law after two cases he hears have to be dismissed due to the evidence being incorrectly handled by the police. When his having to dismiss one case has especially tragic consequences, he accepts the offer from his friend and mentor, Judge Caulfield (Hal Holbrook) to sit on a Star Chamber: a panel of 9 judges who come together privately to judge the cases that the legal system allows to slip through the cracks. If a ‘guilty’ verdict is reached, then a hitman is dispatched to dispense ‘justice’ on the criminals concerned. As Hardin struggles with his conscience, new evidence emerges about a case he has brought before the Star Chamber. Hardin lobbies to reverse the decision and call off the hitman and, in doing so, puts his own life at risk.
I’ve already professed my great love of Peter Hyams’ films in my posts on Narrow Margin and Running Scared. To me, he is the epitome of an underrated filmmaker — creating numerous superb, well-crafted films over the years and yet, despite many of them doing well at the box office, he’s rarely featured in any lists of great genre directors. This film, the last he would make before becoming his own cinematographer, is one that’s underrated even among fans of his work — due, perhaps in part to a terrible trailer (see above) — but it shouldn’t be. It’s an interesting and often thought-provoking look at what justice actually means, with some stand out performances and a dark edge to it which (much like our previous film, Cruising) makes it feel much more like a 70s film than an 80s one.
It’s a film filled with great performances, starting with Douglas himself, playing a more vulnerable and less self assured character here than he normally does. Look at the anguish in his face during the scene where he’s confronted by a dead boy’s father, when he knows that the law won’t allow him to accept the evidence in the case. It’s great work by anybody’s standards in a well-written, heartbreaking scene.
As good as Douglas is however, he (and the rest of the cast) are almost overshadowed by a scene stealing performance from Hal Holbrook which is every bit as good as his work in Capricorn One, Magnum Force or The Fog. His character’s dialogue is often banal, because he’s making small talk, coming across as a sort avuncular uncle figure to Douglas’ character. Holbrook’s genius is to imbue all of his exchanges with the sense of underlying artifice — constantly telling the audience that here is a character who can lie through his teeth without breaking a sweat. So that later near the end of the film when he visits Douglas in his office it’s clear he’s saying more than he actually is and that Douglas shouldn’t trust him.
There’s also great work from Yaphet Kotto as Detective Lowes and Hyams regular James B. Sikking, who gives an astonishingly powerful performance as the father of a murdered boy and overall the film has the vibe of an ensemble piece, even though the film mostly centers around Douglas’ character. The sense of interlocking narratives brings to mind more recent films such as Traffic (where Douglas also played a Judge) or Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and the script cleverly introduces seemingly minor characters that come to have greater significance as the story progresses.
Despite the fact that Hyams didn’t photograph the film himself, his stamp is all over the look of the film from the side lit courtroom scenes and smoke filled interiors to the beautifully framed master shots and the stunning sequence, at the end of the film of Douglas searching the deserted warehouse. He and cinematographer Richard Hannah create a film look that is reminiscent of Gordon Willis and Alan J. Pakula’s work on The Parallax View. Another reminder of that film is present in the score, which was also composed by the late, great Michael Small — one of my favorite underrated 70s film composers — and both films have similar musical motifs: something that sounds like American pastoral music of Copeland with dissonant elements being added over the top, to suggest something rotten at the heart of “truth, justice and the American Way.”
Do yourself a favor and track down this overlooked gem that’s way too good to be “dismissed due to lack of evidence”.
