High Crimes

Director: Carl Franklin Carl Franklin

Overview

Defense attorney Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) seems to have the perfect life. She has a high profile job at a big firm, a beautiful home outside San Francisco, and a husband, Tom (James Caviezel of The Thin Red Line), who loves her. Claire's biggest problem appears to be that she wants to have a baby, and she's having trouble getting pregnant. But when the police investigate a routine break-in at her home, they uncover the truth about her husband's identity, and her life is thrown into turmoil. Claire finds out that her husband's name is actually Ron Chapman, and that he's an ex-marine accused of murdering seven innocent civilians in El Salvador during a raid in the late '80s. He admits that he was there, and that he changed his identity to escape prosecution for the crimes, but he insists that he's innocent, and that the massacre was committed by another soldier under the orders of a powerful general (Bruce Davison), who is using Ron as a patsy to cover it up. Claire is eventually convinced that Ron's telling the truth. Faced with defending her husband in an unfamiliar military courtroom, Claire enlists the aid of Charles Grimes (Morgan Freeman), an ex-Army judge advocate with an axe to grind. Stonewalled by the military bureaucracy at every turn, they uncover a web of deception and disappearing witnesses, and they soon find their own lives in danger. High Crimes was adapted from Joseph Finder's novel by the husband and wife screenwriting team of Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley. The film was directed by Carl Franklin (One False Move), and co-stars Amanda Peet and Adam Scott.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/27/2002
UPC:	0024543051473
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Language:	English
Sales rank:	14,399

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ashley Judd	Claire Kubik
Morgan Freeman	Charlie Grimes,Reporter No. 4
Adam Scott	Lt. Embry
Amanda Peet	Jackie
Michael Gaston	Maj. Waldron
Bruce Davison	Gen. Marks
Tom Bower	FBI Agent Mullins
Juan Carlos Hernandez	Maj. Hernandez
Jude Ciccolella	Col. Farrell
Emilio Rivera	Salvadoran Man
Michael Shannon	Troy Abbott
John Billingsley	Lie Detector Coach,Actor
Dendrie Taylor	Lola
Paula Jai Parker	Gracie
John Apicella	Franklin
Dawn Hudson	La Pierre
Samuel Sheng	Josh
Florence Regina	Nurse
Julie Remala	Mrs. Stenstrom
Kyle T. Heffner	San Francisco Judge
Joe Mazza	San Francisco D.A.
Jesse B'Franklin	Ramona
Wayne Terry	Bartender
Maureen McVerry	Female Attorney
Jakob J. Gentry	Male Attorney No. 1,Male Attorney #1
Anthony C. Jackson	Male Attorney No. 2
Julia Mendoza	Givens
Ray Hanis Jr.	Cook
Don Bajema	Mr. Arguer
Edith Bryson	Mrs. Arguer
Rusty Mahmood	Mahmood
Patsy Bob Rust	Pickup Truck Driver,Pickup Truck Driver
Don J. Byron	F.B.I. Agent
Saiba Roberts	F.B.I. Swat Guy
Adam Segen	General's Aide
Eddie Santiago	Guard No. 1
Arlen Escarpeta	Guard No. 2
Lucas Ford	Guard No. 3
Andrew Wesely	Marine
Alex Nesic	Bailiff
Cynthia Shope	Court Stenographer
Stephen Jared	Military Guard No. 1
Randy Mulkey	Military Guard No. 2
Karen Kahn	Reporter No. 1
Paul Ghiringhelli	Reporter No. 2
Elaine Corral Kendall	Reporter No. 3
Linda Laing	Reporter No. 5
Lee Whittaker	Student in San Salvador
Alicia Kepler	Mother Holding Baby
James Caviezel	Tom Kubik,Actor
Amanda Pest	Actor
Tom Brower	Actor
Graeme Revell	Composer

Technical Credits

Yuri Zeltser

Cary Bickley

Joseph Finder

Carl Franklin	Director
Yuri Zeltser	Screenwriter
Cary Bickley	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Jesse B'Franklin	Producer
Bobby Brown	Stunts
Louis Carlucci	Special Effects
Mali Finn	Casting
Lisa Henson	Executive Producer,Producer
Arnon Milchan	Producer
Kevin Reidy	Executive Producer,Producer
Janet Yang	Producer
Joseph Finder	Screenwriter
Jesse Beaton	Producer
Naomi Despres	Producer
Eric Sherman	Producer
David Crawford	Special Effects
Javier Bennassar	Sound Effects
Stu Bernstein	Sound Effects
Claudia Carle	Sound Effects
Gail Clark Burch	Sound Effects
Harry Cohen	Sound Effects
Balo Bucio	Stunts
Dennis E. Jones	Producer
Omar Ayala	Stunts
Mario Roberts	Stunts
Steve Nelson	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, who teamed so felicitously in 1997’s Kiss the Girls, reunite for this extremely slick, well-mounted thriller. Judd has always been convincing as the vulnerable but strong-willed woman who overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles, so she’s perfectly cast here as a successful corporate attorney shocked by the arrest of her loving husband (James Caviezel) on mass-murder charges. He’s to be tried by a military court for allegedly perpetrating a massacre of civilians in El Salvador while serving in the Marine Corps years ago. Freeman, equally adept in the role of the unorthodox outsider, plays the underachieving, alcoholic lawyer and self-described "wild card" whose investigations uncover evidence of a military conspiracy. Director Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress), working from a complex if somewhat predictable script, keeps his actors on track and hits every dramatic beat with metronomic precision. Although numerous plot twists are sprinkled throughout the story to keep viewers on their toes, High Crimes is not what we’d call a dazzlingly original film. It’s more like the cinematic equivalent of comfort food -- something easily digested and all the more eagerly anticipated because we know exactly how it tastes. Which is a fancy way of saying this familiar but well-turned-out melodrama is guaranteed to please. DVD extras include two commentaries -- one by Franklin, another by Judd and Freeman -- along with deleted scenes, seven short featurettes covering various aspects of the film’s production, a storyboard-to-screen comparison, and original theatrical trailer.