Customer Reviews

True Believer

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

James Woods is erstwhile civil liberties attorney Eddie Dodd, his idealism long since forsaken for 4th Amendment violation-under-every-bed cynicism, & Rbt. Downey, Jr., is his summer intern (well, autumn intern) Roger Barron. Woods character based loosely on Frisco criminal def. lawyer J. Tony Serra.

Dodd's conscience-bending guilt submits to Roger's yuppie charm, & the two pursue the mysteries of why a young Korean gang member is serving time for murder & now's offed a member of some supremacist cult in prison. Woods's Dodd is light years beyond over the top with this, but an excellent supporting cast (Downey, Jr., ["...so we can get off guilty little pricks!"], Margaret Colin, Miguel Hernandez, & "70s Show"'s Kurtwood Smith as a D.A. with a closet full of diced-up skeletons) & brisk dialog make him seem right @home there. To the paranoid, conspiracy-soaked veteran & witness to the original crime: "Cecil, are you what heroes are made of?" Cecil: "I did two tours in 'Nam."

If you can get past the new twist on the climactic courtroom scene & the veritable litany of continuity issues here, "True Believer" is one of the most watchable flicks I've seen---meaning, I can sit thru the whole thing without once hitting the pause button or pondering my full bladder.

The great scene in Eddie's kitchenette (with the de rigueur Chinese food) is especially instructive. When Downey, Jr.'s, Roger spouts armchair activist rhetoric ("We all think it's a good fight."), Woods's Dodd lets loose with a tirade against bleeding-heart do-goodism that would make Bill O'Reilly cringe.

As a lawyer who has been both prosecutor and public defender, I have to say this is my favorite movie about lawyers and my favorite James Woods performance. I get goosebumps every time I hear his speech about ..."the only good fight is one you win!", said with the passion and spite that only James Woods has perfected. His comment on plea bargaining, that "..this isn't ... Yale, he [the client] doesn't care if we go down but go down nobly. He's looking at 40 years of hard time, and he bet it all on me!" James Woods looks good with a pony tail, and the opening scene where his new intern, played by Robert Downey, Jr., mistakes him for the cocaine dealer is hilarious. So is the scene where Downey tells Woods he is quitting because he is "tired of using exalted legal principles to get off guilty little pricks". (I bet Downey was glad for those exalted legal principles in his own case.) I have to disagree with the comment that this movie realistically portrays the "insidious relationship between police, district attorneys and their snitches". I wholeheartedly doubt that the frame at the heart of this movie is routine anywhere in the United States. But the movie does say something meaningful about the tragedy that happens when good people with good motives go too far. I knew this movie was a touchstone when someone used Downey's line on me during a job interview where I was seeking to hire an assistant district attorney. He didn't get the job, but I haven't forgotten him-and you won't forget this movie.

another of those non-mainstream James Woods movies that turns out to be the one you remember forever. I honestly don't know how Woods can get so much emotion into a character.

This is probably his greatest work (with Diggstown right there) and you will be able to experience his characters Frustration, pain, and relief right along side him. A touch of humor to lighten but mostly the best dramatic court scenes and flat out grit will have you recommending this to strangers on the street.

I read some of the previous reviews and anyone who thought this movie was "boring" must not have a pulse because mine was pounding from the getgo to the very end. I've probably watched this film five times (ok, maybe ten over the years) and I've never tired of it. I credit that to the impeccable acting of James Woods (always underated) and the fast moving script along with the dry humor that he delivers so flawlessly. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect, idolizing, naieve sidekick, paying his dues and learning from the master. Great entertainment in my book.

Great movie. James Woods doing his best acting. If you like a great courtroom drama with twists after twists, then movie is for you.

My wife had been fed up with all of the legal dramas I was maknig her watch. Being a third year law student she always netpicks the details. But the story in this fil overrides the legal fallacies, making True Believer a great drama that centers around a lawsuit.

James Woods gives such a true to life performance as Eddie Dodd that you really believe he is an attorney who turned performer for this role.

Woods role is reportedly based on the legal career of long-time San Francisco radical attorney Tony Serra. In True Believer Woods (Eddie Dodd) takes up the case of a Korean man wrongly convicted of murder. The man is convicted falsely to facilitate the protection of a 'snitch' within the New York district attorney's office.

The film is a blend of politics, crime and humour and is riveting from start to finish.

On a more practical vein the film successfully illustrates the insidious relationship between police, district attorneys and their 'snitches'.

Woods (Dodd) is hired by the parents of the man convicted of a New York gangland Chinatown murder and sentenced to prison. After eight years in prison the convict's mother and sister approach Dodd. He has just been accused of murdering a fellow inmate and nazi during a prison brawl.

Reluctant at first to take the case, Dodd and his young assistant, played by Robert Downey, eventually unearth the events which led to the frameup and conviction.

Woods is very convincing as the jaded radical who spends his time defending drug dealers and does not want to get involved. When he does, Woods does so with a passion.

The courtroom scenes are authentic and add further touches of realism to the film.

Luis Guzman, currently co-starring, in The Limey has a supporting role as a prison inmate. His courtroom scene is intense.

This film definitely has a political point-of-view and will be enjoyed by viewers interested in the criminal justice system.

I just watched this yesterday and it was a very enjoyable and had a very surprising end. The actors were excellent. I am a James Woods fan anyway. It is worth the price and the time to watch it.

Keeping this short..."True Believer" is a film that my husband and I watch at least twice a year, and never get tired of! It's a superb combination of murder mystery, courtroom drama, and redemption story. Clever, quick-moving, superbly acted (with a dazzling performance from James Woods at the center), and full of delicious witty surprises, like the wonderful character of "Cecil (He likes it pronounced See-Sill) Skell", the much-needed witness who can re-open an old murder case, but who resides in a mental institution, and is convinced that the Telephone Company killed President Kennedy. A wonderful movie!

This movie is by far among the greatest legal thrillers I've seen, not only because the writing and directing are superb, but James Woods' acting performance is nothing short of spectacular. The variations he projects in his character expressions--with so many subtle nuances--make him 100% believable and fetching as that character. And when his sense of right is piqued, he explodes in the most compelling, absorbing, credible way--one which just pulls you another foot deeper into the story, kind of the way quicksand pulls you in: you just can't get out, nor do you want to.

In this story, the Woods character is fighting not only for an innocent man's life, a prisoner doing time, but even more important, he's fighting for his own life--his sense of self-respect, honor, and decency, none of which he feels in his earlier law practice while defending and acquitting sleazeballs whom he knows should be in prison instead wrecking society with their crimes.

I watched this movie a second time the night after I watched it the first time and got even more out of it. Buy it and keep it. It's far batter than most of the John Grisham legal thriller movies.

No question about it: James Woods is one of the most underrated actors today. He performed almost equally as well in "Indightment" the McMartin child abuse case.

I've omitted talking about the plot because you can obtain that from many of the below reviewers.