Guilty As Charged
Sometimes, it really can be something to see when a former Oscar winner like Rod Steiger, his career on the skids in the late 80s as he battled depression, takes on a role like this in a 1991 b-movie and literally give one of the best performances of his life. Steiger plays Ben Kallin, a meat packing owner who, underneath his factory, keeps convicted murderers who have slipped through the cracks with light sentences in a private prison, trying to get them to repent for their sins before executing them in his own homemade electric chair to âsend them on to Godâ, under belief that âThe Law Of Manâ has failed the victims of their crimes. It certainly is weighty material for low-budget standards, and Steiger does a wonderful job of balancing out his characterâs seemingly insane lifeâs work with equal doses of humanity and compassion as well, showing the audience that he feels he is a righteous man who truly cares for the souls of his condemned prisoners and with the principles of being humane, which results in some funny moments like when he becomes concerned at the âbarbaricâ practice of having two men share one cell because thereâs just not enough room. The film also smartly raises questions about the issue of capital punishment itself, neither condoning nor condemning Steiger and letting the audience make up their own minds, particularly when getting into the issue of an escaped con wrongly convicted for a murder that was actually committed by a corrupt Congressman running for Governor (Lyman Ward, best known as Ferris Buellerâs dad). The film features an eclectic supporting cast of some good performers as well, including ex-supermodel Lauren Hutton as the Congressmanâs acerbic wife who knows the truth about what he did; Heather Graham at the peak of her beauty (before the crowâs feet took her) as a gorgeous young parole officer who uncovers Steigerâs operation; Soul Legend Isaac Hayes as the twisted ex-preacher who tries to help the prisoners repent; Zelda âTanginaâ Rubinstein as the duplicitous maid of the Congressman; Irwin (House Of 1000 Corpses) Keyes as the head guard at the private death row; The X-Filesâ Mitch Pileggi as one of the prisoners who comes to a bad end (an obvious nod to his villain role in Shocker); Miami Viceâs Michael Talbott and former Freddy Krueger victim Ricky Dean Logan as other convicted murderers awaiting their fate; and even Earl Boen (psychiatrist from Terminator 1 and 2) as a toxic waste executive and benefactor to the Congressman. All in all, itâs Steigerâs show though, showcasing a brilliant mix of insanity and righteous humanity, with this viewerâs favorite moment being when he leaps through a criminalâs apartment window like Batman en route to another capture, not to mention his touching final moments of self-realization. The filmâs screenplay stumbles a bit at the end with a needless twist to show that Steiger was in cahoots with another character, and the final scene showing the remaining characters âcarrying on his workâ is a bit too broad for my tastes, though the end credits do feature a very soulful rendition of Amazing Grace by Hayes. Overall, a woefully underseen, mostly unknown flick that deserves to at least be thought of as a major cult classicâŚ
9/10