This is a 1990 film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Scott Turow. It was directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Harrison Ford, John Spencer, Brian Dennehy, Raul Juliá, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Winfield and Greta Scacchi.
The lead character is Rozat “Rusty” Sabich who is a prosecutor of Kindle county and the right hand man of the chief prosecutor Raymond Horgan. He is shocked by the murder of his ex-mistress Carolyn Polhemus and is put in charge of the investigation by Horgan. Polhemus had dumped Sabich after learning about his friend ship with Horgan and his lack of ambition. Sabich had since made up with his wife Barbara but could not erase Polhemus from his mind. The head of homicide Tommy Molto has left to assist Nico Della Guardia in his election campaign. Both Molto and Della Guardia are enemies of Sabich.
As the investigation progresses incriminating evidence come up against Sabich. This included Beer glasses with his finger prints, Carpet threads from his home and sperm recovered from the body of Polhemus are incriminating evidences. These proofs even turns Horgan against Sabich and he feels that Sabich had taken charge to in the case to cover up the investigation trail against him. Sabich is truly trapped and calls his friend Lipranzer to narrow the investigation to keep his affair with Polhemus away from the case. But more bad news arrive with Della Guardia’s victory. Both Guardia and Molto aggressively pursue the evidence and try to frame Sabich.

In his desperation Sabich enlists the help of his rival attorney Stern to help him. Stern soon starts chipping at the evidence. He notices that the beer glass has been missing as evidence and persuades the Judge Lyttle to keep this from the Jury. Lipranzer also find evidence that Polhemus was acting as a courier for an high official in a bribery scandal. The high official turns to be Judge Lyttle. The missing beer glass and other evidences make the defense arguments weak and Lyttle fairly dismisses the case against Sabich. Stern tells Sabich about the bribery scandal and tells him that Lyttle is essentially a good judge and deserves a chance.
Sabich is highly bitter as he feels that the stain of murder is not completely not washed from his head. But in an unusual twist while gardening he comes across vials of Blood and Polhemus’s hair. He confronts his wife Barbara with the evidence. Barbara confesses that she had fallen in to depression after his affair with Polhemus and had killed the mistress to avenge her shame. She had planted the beer glasses and the carpet threads to frame Sabich.
Sabich is stunned but cannot bring himself to to separate Barbara from their son and he tosses the evidence out. This movie did an average business at the box office. It won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best film and was favorite with the critics. A good movie if you are a action buff and are interested in court room intrigues.

This black comedy western is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and star Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. Paris Pitman Jr is a bespectacled smooth talking con man and a murderer. He is a very evil man with no morals and soft feelings within him. But being a cool operator he is able to charm his way out of difficult situations and win the trust of those around him.
Pitman and his gang loot the house of a wealthy rancher, Lomax and make away with half a million dollars. But one by one the gang members are shot by the police and the surviving lone marauder is killed by Pitman himself to prevent him from claiming a share on the booty. Pitman escapes and enters a brothel. He ties the money up and drops it in a rattlers pit.
He enters the brothel, is recognized by Lomax and is subsequently arrested and sentenced to a prison Arizona. The prison is in the middle of a desert and a hard life awaits Pitman. But he tries to bribe Warden LeGoff to help him escape. His plans go awry when the warden is killed by one of the inmates and his place is taken up by an upright officer called Lopeman. Lopeman is an idealist who is in favor of prison and judicial reform. He believes in reforming the criminals and presents a slew of measures to improve the conditions in the prison.

Pitman is enraged at first at his failure, but soon wins the trust of Lopeman. Lopeman puts him in charge of the building of a new prison dining room. Soon he starts manipulating others to formulate a plan for escaping from the prison. He forms a gang of his own which includes Missouri Kid, Whinner and Macnutt (a gay con artist couple), Floyd moon, Michael Blodgett, a kid on death row and Ah Ping, a silent Chinese. All of them slowly feel the power of Pitman Jr and plot an escape. They plan to start a riot during the inspection day by the governor.
Soon the plot is successful, with full scale rioting taking place, and as a result, all of them escape from prison. But Pitman the backstabber that he is, kills every one. Lopeman sheds all his idealisms and vow to bring back Pitman dead or alive. But fate has another things in store for the outlaw. As Pitman takes out the loot from the Rattlers nest he is bitten by one of them.
This is the most cynical movie I have ever seen. There is no good vs evil fights with good triumphant over the bad. This is the story of a bad man who corrupts and manipulates his way out to meet the just desserts by the quirk of fate. Tough movie to watch on.

The Tin Star directed by Anthony Mann is adapted from a short story of the same name. The movie is considered as a classic in the genre of western films and was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay. Veteran Bounty hunter Morgan Hickman comes to a town to hunt an outlaw. The town Sheriff has been killed and is replaced by young Ben Owens. Ben Owens is inexperienced and does not have any people skills. His confidence levels are very low. He is struggling to maintain the law and order and especially is bullied by the brutish Neville.
Morgan Hickman ultimately captures the outlaw and brings him in dead. He is cold shouldered by the town people who treat him with contempt. But as Hickman puts it ”I don’t mind the chill, I’m after money”. He has steeled himself for this reception and does not let him bother him. Initially Ben Owens also treat him the same way, but soon comes to know about his courage.
Ben wants to be the permanent sheriff of the town and needs to impress the people of the town with his skills. He feels that Morgan can help him in this department. He asks him to train him in fire arms.

Morgan initially skeptical, agrees to the bargain and soon he is imparting lessons to the young Owens. He takes a liking to Owens and imparts people management skills also. As Morgan says “A gun is only a tool, you can master it if you got the knack. It is harder to master people”.
During one such interaction Ben is astonished to know that Morgan was a sheriff a long time ago and wore the tin star. He was disillusioned by the the towns people who treat him shamefully when his wife and son was killed. He prefers to be a free bounty hunter with no conscience.
The film also deals with the problem of racism especially against the Indians. A widow is treated as an outcast for marrying an Indian and Morgan develops feelings for her and her son. Ultimately while training Ben, Morgan rediscovers himself and his love for the badge.

This movie was adapted from a book by Maxwell Anderson, “The True story of Christopher, Emmanuel Balestrero” and is based on a true life incident.
It deals with a couple who fight for justice when the husband is convicted as a result of a mistaken identity. Manny Balestrero, a musician in a night club and his wife Rose live a hand and mouth existence. He tries to borrow money against Rose’s insurance for some dental work which needs to be done. While he is at he insurance office, the clerk notices that he resembles the armed robber who had robbed the office. He calls in the police and soon the witnesses are marched in who swear to have seen him robing the office. Manny tries to prove his innocence, but fails. Even in his handwriting sample, in his nervousness, he misspells the same words that the robber himself had mis-spelt. Soon Manny is taken in to custody and the trial begins.
The couple hire Frank O’Connor as the defense attorney who builds up the case in their favor. He argues that Manny and Rose were on a vacation during the first robbery. But the 3 witnesses who had seen them during the vacation had died and this alibi also fails to impress. During the second robbery Manny had a swollen jaw which would have been easily noticeable by the insurance agency employee.

Rose is unable to bear the strain of this ordeal and soon buckles under pressure. She is confined to the sanitarium and is treated for depression. During the trial a bored Juror passes a remark which makes the judge to declare a mistrial. Manny is forced to await another trial in prison. As luck could have it the real robber is arrested and Manny is set free. He reaches Rose with the happy news but finds her apathetic. Soon Rose is cured and the family moves to Florida.
This movie was based on a true life story and is the last movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock for Warner bros. After this he made pictures only for Paramount. This movie is said to have been the only true story in Hitchcock’s entire body of work. He is said to have hated the police and this sentiment is amply reflected in this movie. Hitchcock even did a cameo as the story teller in the movie and this is the only time he has appeared in any one of his pictures. He even cast the real Balesstrero witnesses in small parts for the movie. The real life Frank O’Connor is a New York Senator who rises to a appellate Judge.
The wrong man failed to impress at the box office, but is considered a classic. This movie has significant influence on many directors, and was influenced in making of the 2006 movie Lucky Number Slevin.