Product Description

A HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR REOPENS A FLORIDA MURDER CASE, AND IS CAUGHT IN A QUICKSAND PIT OF VIOLENCE AND DECEPTION. FEATURES: SCENE ACCESS.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15689 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 1999-06-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Just Cause is a film that relies on phony plot twists and steals openly from any other thriller that it can remember. If there was a drinking game requiring players to drink during every cinematic "homage," you'd be tanked after Just Cause's first 45 minutes. Take one case of racial injustice, place it in an exotic, exquisitely photographed location (the Florida Everglades), and bring in an outsider, played by a bankable star, to save the day. Make sure nothing appears as it seems. Add a couple of plot twists, some over-the-top character actors (Ed Harris, shamelessly riffing on Hannibal Lecter), stir, and serve. The big name in this case is Sean Connery, who plays a Harvard law professor summoned to the swamps by an apparently innocent death row inmate (Blair Underwood), who swears he didn't rape and kill that 11-year-old girl. He says he confessed because maverick psycho-cop Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne) made him play a solo game of Russian roulette. He says his Serial-killer neighbor on death row (Harris) committed the crime. Connery buys it, the audience buys it, and how could they not? Director Arne Glimcher (who made the lackluster Mambo Kings) coerces everyone with simplistic plot manipulations. Characters are given no depth, and the actors are pawns moved about like pieces on a Clue gameboard. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews

What Evil Lurks
There's more than the alligators lurking in the swamplands of the Everglades in this thriller. It's hard to know who to trust as a Harvard law proffessor(Sean Connery) who hasn't even had a case in 25 years, reopens one of a convicted killer(Blair Underwood) in Florida. There is evidence to support that his confession was beat out of him, and the proffessor intends to prove it.
Don't take anything for granted in this chilling mystery as the list of suspects grows. There's the tough lawman(Laurence Fishburne),the psychotic serial killer(Ed Harris) over in the next cell,and you may even suspect the alligators in the swamps for a while. There are many twists and turns that will have you wondering who done it? The prof's wife (Kate Capshaw)is even invovled. Lots of action, lots of gripping suspense to keep you glued to your seat. You wont want to miss a minute of it.
The cast listed above all do marvelous work in this film. But I must also mention that the legendary Ruby Dee makes a superb appearance, as well as Kevin Mccarthy and Hope Lang.
So let's talk about the DVD. Fabulous! Wonderful widescreen picture. The swamps never looked so clear. Colors looked perfect.Nighttime scenes were all perfectly visable. The sound in the Dolby Surround 2.0 was actually very good, probably could have been perfect in the 5.1 with all the action though. Don't look for any special features,this DVD has only the language selection of French.It's a great film to add to the thriller section of you DVD library(even without the extras)
So Look out for those alligators and enjoy.......Laurie

also recommended:Presumed Innocent

Simplistic, & Proud of It.
I don't expect much from movies, and am seldom disappointed. Just Cause gave me much more than I expected because I thought it was over before it ended. It had petered out into a smelly Everglades methane swamp of political correctness, and I thought it was all over but the discreditable credits. Then Just Cause really began. It want from swamp gas to a film that's as sharp as a shiv.

Connery and Fishburne are good in both parts of the movie, smelly beginning and incisive end. Ed Harris's performance, however, is over the top and literally off the wall. It's a beautiful thing. (I'm usually offended that Hollywood tricks out its sickest sickos with the accoutrements of Christianity, something Hollywood knows it can get away with because Christians are too polite to riot & 'necklace' producers, directors, and actors. Having the Harris character declaim from the Book of Job, though, makes sense. It's ugly but honest, rather like Just Cause.)

Evil in the Everglades
Sean Connery stars as Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong in this cunning and twisting story of primeval evil and revenge. Bobby Earl is locked up in prison for the horrific rape and murder of an 11-year old girl in Ochopee, Florida. Bobby Earl's letter, delivered to Armstrong by Bobby Earl's grandmother, pulls the law professor into Florida where he reopens the investigation of the murder. While he's working, discovering how flimsy the evidence was against Bobby Earl, Armstrong is stalked by the two policemen that put the young man away. Tanny Brown, the lead policeman, is convinced that Bobby Earl is guilty, and isn't at all remorse about putting a gun inside the defendant's mouth to exact a confession. Armstrong's investigation leads him back to the prison where Bobby Earl is being held, and to the madman serial killer, Blair Sullivan, who is going to be executed within days. Armstrong meets resistance at every turn, but the surprises are even more daunting. Only days into the case, Armstrong finds out that Bobby Earl was brought up on kidnapping charges before the murder, and that the prosecuting attorney was none other than Armstrong's own wife who urged him to take the case.

Sean Connery is hands-down one of the best actors in the business. Watching him work so effortlessly, yet hitting every nuance and pulling the audience into the story, is poetry in motion. Besides starring as the original James Bond, he's played in dozens of movies, portraying serious roles as well as comic relief. Lawrence Fishburne, Tanny Brown in the movie, is known to most fans as Morpheus in THE MATRIX, but he's done several crime thrillers in addtion to this one, including ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, HOODLUM, FLED, and DEEP COVER. Ed Harris, who starred in THE ABYSS and THE ROCK, plays deranged serial killer Blair Sullivan. Blair Underwood, L. A. LAW and DEEP IMPACT, plays Bobby Earl.

JUST CAUSE, based on the novel by John Katzenbach, is a slick, speeding bullet of a movie. The pacing is dynamically charged, and the plot twist reveals are staged to set the viewer up for senses-shattering one-two deliveries. The thriller fan will see some of the twists coming, but others will come out of left field yet maintain perfect sense. The ones that are seen coming bring the stomach-turning anxiety of watching a car wreck in motion and being unable to look away. Every character in the movie outside of Paul Armstrong has hidden depths and agendas of his and her own that play out against the main plot. Sean Connery, as always, delivers an outstanding performance. Fishburne leaves the impression that he could have been Tanny Brown had life gone differently for him. Blair Underwood plays Bobby Earl to a T, coming across as a guy who's just been unlucky in life. But the biggest gut-churning experience of the film is Ed Harris' portrayal of Blair Sullivan, which guarantees some uneasy moments long after the movie is over.

The only real fault in the movie is the recovery of the missing murder weapon after eight years. Armstrong looks for the knife himself after Tanny Brown tells him he's on a wild goose chase. Yet Tanny comes with him and they ultimately recover the blade. Instead of calling in a crime scene investigation, as most viewers know would have to be done, Tanny takes the weapon into custody himself. Also, follow up DNA work would have been nice to see, to further confirm the evidence. With all the DVD packaging that's coming out these days, behind-the-scenes featurettes or interviews with Connery or the other actors would have been a natural. DVD fans have come to expect these things and not having them on JUST CAUSE was a bit of a disappointment.

JUST CAUSE is a fabulous movie and a definite must for thriller fans. The addition of Sean Connery and the sterling performance by Ed Harris are icing on the cake. Anyone who enjoyed SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, L. A. CONFIDENTIAL, or THE USUAL SUSPECTS will also enjoy this DVD.