The Chamber (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Chamber|

|
caption = "The Chamber" movie poster |
director = James Foley|
producer = John Davis
Brian Grazer
Ron Howard
David T. Friendly|
writer = John Grisham (novel)
William Goldman (screenplay)
Chris Reese (screenplay)|
starring = Chris O'Donnell
Gene Hackman
music = Carter Burwell|
cinematography = Ian Baker|
editing = Mark Warner|
distributor = Universal Pictures|
released = October 11 1996|
runtime = 113 min.|
country = USA|
language = English|
mpaa_rating = R
amg_id = 1:136812'
imdb_id = 115862|

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

ynopsis

Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather Sam Cayhall's (Hackman) only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall (O'Donnell) seeks to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only 28 days before Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi state prison which has held him since his conviction in 1980 (16 years earlier). 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. He fights not only for his grandfather but also perhaps for himself. 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

Production history

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.Fact|date=June 2007 Brad Pitt was committed to playing Adam Hall, but left the project when Howard left to direct "Ransom".Fact|date=June 2007

William Goldman, who wrote the early drafts, described the project as a "total wipeout disaster" and never saw the finished movie. [cite book
last = Goldman
first = William
authorlink = William Goldman
title = Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade
publisher = Vintage
year = 2001
origyear = 2000
isbn = 0375403493
pages = p. 125]

Filming locations

Scenes were filmed in the actual gas chamber at Parchman Penitentiary.Fact|date=June 2007

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0115862|title=The Chamber
*" [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:136812 The Chamber] " on Allmovie