Jeffrey Leach 2007-05-25
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
"The Star Chamber" is one of my personal favorites. I don't know why. The movie stars Michael Douglas, an actor I don't really care for most of the time. Nonetheless, I have always enjoyed watching this film. I'll actually stop whatever I am doing and sit down to watch the picture if I notice it's on television. Why? Maybe the reason has something to do with director Peter Hyams. He has lensed a bunch of films that I end up watching despite their inherent flaws. This guy is responsible for such films as "2010," "Outland," and "The Presidio". I like all three of these pictures. I also enjoyed "A Sound of Thunder," "Capricorn One," and "Timecop". As for "End of Days," well, not so much. Lest you think Hyams sticks solely to thrillers and actioners, he also directed the John Ritter comedy "Stay Tuned" back in the early 1990s as well as a coming of age flick called "Our Time" back in 1974. He's versatile, I'll give him that. Anyway, "The Star Chamber" obviously received a studio green light in an effort to cash in on the public's concerns over a spiraling crime rate back in the early 1980s.
Douglas plays Superior Court Judge Steven Hardin, a good guy that takes his job very seriously. He wants to do the right thing and put the bad guys away for a long time, but the legal system hinders his efforts at every turn. It seems that every lawyer coming into his courtroom figures out some technicality--some niggling point hidden in the law books--that forces Hardin to release the obviously guilty criminal in question. For example, Hardin has to dismiss a case against a thug when the police improperly removed evidence dumped into a garbage truck. It had something to do with the refuse in the trashcan not being mixed with the other garbage. Whatever the case, the technicality is such a fine point that Hardin really starts to question what he's doing on the bench. His wife Emily (Sharon Gless) tries to make him feel better about his job, but her tender mercies increasingly fall on deeply troubled ears. Even Hardin's fellow judge and best friend, Benjamin Caulfield (Hal Holbrook), can't offer much assistance. He's in the same boat as his young friend, although he does make a few cryptic comments that hint at a possible solution. Hardin's not ready to make the leap, according to Caulfield, but the time comes soon enough.
The straw that breaks the camel's back arrives in the form of Arthur Cooms (Joe Regalbuto) and Lawrence Monk (Don Calfa). Two sleazebags wrapped up in the narcotics industry, Cooms and Monk find their way into Hardin's courtroom after the cops pulled the two over and found evidence eventually linked to a string of grisly child murders currently plaguing the city. Sadly, the police officers in question conducted an improper search. Once again, Hardin must release the criminals. A dramatic incident in the courtroom immediately after the dismissal shakes our man to the core of his being. At this point, Caulfield swoops in and tells his friend about a group of judges who meet regularly to discuss the worst of the worst cases, the cases involving hardcore criminals freed on legal technicalities. They review the cases, they make judgments, and they pass sentences. And they have a vacancy. He asks Steven Hardin to sit on this Star Chamber. But will Hardin oblige? And what happens if one of the cases presented to this jury of judges should happen to involve an innocent person? Will this court still insist on carrying out the sentence? If so, how can one man stop an even greater miscarriage of justice?
"The Star Chamber" works so well because the actors involved give great performances and deliver solid dialogue. I also enjoyed the conclusion even though it rates quite high on the unbelievability chart. Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain haircut and how they filmed the explosion at the end are unintentionally hilarious. Numerous viewings of this film have, however, revealed several huge plot holes that I ought to mention. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on television, but I'm fairly certain one judge wouldn't face this many cases involving legal technicalities. I once read that they're pretty rare, so that's a problem to work through right there. I also can't believe that a Star Chamber consisting of so many highly educated judges wouldn't have some mechanism in place to monitor new members. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain that Hardin harbors serious reservations about his work on this underground court. Don't you think the judges would have someone watching his house just in case, you know, he decided to go to the police and tell them everything that's going on? And what's up with the cover art on the DVD case? Douglas toting a gun gives the viewer the impression that he's a cop.
Despite the flaws I pointed out, and several that I didn't, I like "The Star Chamber". What I didn't care for as much is the DVD. Sure, we get a widescreen version of the film on one side of the disc and the fullscreen cut on the other, but that's about all we see. The picture quality isn't that good--colors are muted and the movie has a soft look that's slightly annoying. The audio isn't much better. When the explosion takes place, I thought I heard distant thunder outside. It was the movie! Ouch. As for extras, forget about it. We get nothing. I'm not always a fan of commentary tracks (not all commentary tracks are created equal), but I wanted one for this movie since I've seen it dozens of times over the years. I definitely wanted to hear what Hyams had to say about that explosion and the cheesy way they filmed it. Darn! Oh well. I'm giving it four stars. Enjoy.
