Product Details

• Actors: Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry
• Directors: James Foley
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1997
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304358520
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,756 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Mystery & Suspense > Mystery & Suspense Masters > John Grisham

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Adapted from John Grisham's novel, this does not live up to its potential; although it does come close. A fresh-faced Chris O'Donnell is the naive but insistent young attorney determined to appeal the case of Gene Hackman. The latter plays a unapologetic death-row inmate accused of killing two Jewish boys 30 years earlier. O'Donnell, we quickly learn, is the grandson of the murderous old cuss and has his own agenda for trying to save him. Meant more as a character study than a courtroom thriller, this never quite gels, as it leaves a few too many questions unanswered. However, it is well worth seeing for the performances, especially Hackman as the grizzled and nasty elderly convict. --Rochelle O'Gorman

From The New Yorker

Just a few months after the senseless hit "A Time to Kill," another bloated John Grisham legal thriller gets the overblown, overacted Hollywood treatment. In this one, Chris O'Donnell stars as a vain young attorney determined to save his grandfather (Gene Hackman), a redneck K.K.K. murderer, from execution. While O'Donnell does his Tom Cruise best to appear serious and engaged, Hackman turns in one of his rare histrionic and unconvincing performances. James Foley's directorial style demands attention-the film flails all over the place in an attempt to appear tense and authoritative-but the plot never takes hold. This is generic made-for-TV fodder (racism is bad, it's wrong to take a life) dressed up like a smart, sassy lawyer: expensively. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BLUE GENE, November 17, 2004

By	Michael Butts (Martinsburg, WV USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Chamber (DVD)

Gene Hackman's electrifying performance dominates this adaptation of John Grisham's best selling novel. Hackman portrays Sam Cayhall, a man who's been on death row for sixteen years for the bombing of a lawyer's office that resulted in the death of the lawyer's two children. Cayhall is a vile man, who has lived a life of hatred and prejudice, the result of generations of such bigoted ancestors. Enter Chris O'Donnell as his young grandson, who is a lawyer and wants to reopen the case and spare his grandfather the gas chamber. What ensues is a painful exploration of hatred, prejudice and a dysfunctional family.
I liked the movie, in spite of its several flaws. Hackman is phenomenal, and Chris O'Donnell does a good job as the naively innocent, but determined, young barrister. Faye Dunaway offers wonderful support as Hackman's estranged daughter who has lived a life of secrecy and guilt. Lela Rochon, Raymond Barry, David Marshall Grant and Robert Prosky offer fine support too.
I found myself involved in the movie, and feel it didn't offer any easy answers. Hackman is a guilty man, but his performance is so well doone that one can't help but feel sorry for the life he has chosen, and the life he has sacrificed.
I think it's well worth viewing.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acting that ought to knock anyone's socks off, December 31, 1999

By	Christina Brooks "grond99" (Sydney, N.S.W Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chamber (DVD)

"The Chamber" is long, quiet and infinitely better the second time around, which makes it pretty seriously good indeed. Whatever you think of the plot and the completely salient points it makes on the subject of capital punishment the true joys of "The Chamber" are the performances of Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackman each of which are nothing short of astonishing. Dunaway's creation of Cayhall's daughter is as powerful, multi-layered and profound as anything she has ever done. Gene Hackman deserves to be inducted into the great actors hall of fame for his portrayal of Sam Cayhall. As his execution draws closer his moods swing through the gamut of human emotion creating a complete and almost unbearably real but flawed human person facing certain death. A best actor oscar should have been given for this performance. If acting is your job or something that you see all too rarely ignore the carping critics who found their sensibilities rubbed the wrong way and get "The Chamber" it improves with each viewing and says some very deep things about life and exactly what it means to be human. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars devastatingly good - a real soul searcher, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Chamber (DVD)

i had to watch the chamber as part of a class project and i thought it would be a typical story witha happy ending as usual grisham writes a top rated book which gets you at the heart and leans on the subject of the gas chamber - a truly excellent book which gets you thinking that you don't know what freedom is until it is taken away