Director: Norman Jewison
Screenplay: Valerie Curtin, Barry Levinson
Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Christine Lahti, Lee Strasberg, Jeffrey Tambor, Sam Levene, Robert Christian, Thomas G. Waites, Craig T. Nelson
Country: USA
Running Time: 119 min
Year: 1979
BBFC Certificate: 15
Norman Jewison is a producer-director who started out in TV in the 50s, before moving into the world of films from the 60s up until the early 2000s. He helmed a wide range of titles and was nominated for 7 Oscars throughout his career. He died in 2024 at the ripe old age of 97.
He’s probably best known for the civil-rights-era drama In the Heat of the Night and, despite dipping into various genres and subject matters, the socially conscious nature of that acclaimed film has filtered into much of Jewison’s subsequent work.
One such example of this is the filmmaker’s 1979 blackly comic legal drama …And Justice For All, which is being released on Blu-ray by Indicator.
The film centres around Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino), a principled, hot-headed defence attorney practising in Baltimore, who is driven by a genuine desire to help his clients – many of whom are marginalised or caught up in bureaucratic nightmares. His dedication repeatedly clashes with a judicial system rife with hypocrisy, self-interest, and corruption.
Judge Fleming (John Forsythe), one of the city’s most feared and authoritarian judges, is notorious for valuing procedure over fairness, often destroying lives in the process. Fleming had kept Jeff McCullaugh (Thomas G. Waites), one of Kirkland’s clearly innocent clients, in prison due to a technicality, fueling Kirkland’s disdain.
When Fleming is charged with brutally assaulting and raping a young woman, he manipulates circumstances so that Kirkland is forced to take his defence – under threat of disbarment if he refuses. The case forces Kirkland into an impossible moral position, defending a man he believes to be guilty while trying to preserve his career.
Along the way, Kirkland deals with a spectrum of personal and professional crises: a suicidal judge friend (Jack Warden), another colleague (Jeffrey Tambor) spiralling into a breakdown over the system’s failures, and clients whose fates highlight the law’s callousness.
As mentioned, Jewison’s film, which was written by the then husband and wife team of Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson, has a strong message to deliver. It takes a cynical look at a broken legal system, unfurling a world of corrupt plea-bargaining, trials fought on ego rather than truth, and, generally speaking, lawyers playing games with people’s lives. The film also looks at the problems behind a system and nation driven by competition, or by winning, more specifically.
You could see the film as being heavy-handed in delivering this message, as we get several big dramatic moments that highlight problems within the American legal system. Personally, however, I think the approach works because Jewison, Curtin and Levinson manage to avoid getting preachy.
The comical aspects help but it is also aided by the Gail Packer character (played by Christine Lahti, who does a great job of standing toe to toe with Pacino in a number of heated arguments). Her debates with Kirkland add an intelligent counterpoint. Yes, the audience will tend to side with Pacino’s character, but her stance still makes sense and adds entirely valid food for thought.
Contemporary critics were also often put off by the tonal shifts between comedy and drama. Personally, I found this is what pushed the film to another level though. I think the balance is perfect and the blend of tragedy and comedy is one of the film’s greatest strengths. Sometimes, all you can do when facing something hopeless or bafflingly wrong is to laugh. Even in our darkest hours, there’s time for humour. Otherwise, what is there to live for? Plus, when the storylines get particularly heavy in the second half, the film largely avoids any ill-timed gags, sticking almost solely to drama.
Also, I found that even the funniest moments felt genuine. Yes, some elements are exaggerated, and a couple of courtroom scenes get out of hand, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility. It just probably wouldn’t all happen within such a short time period.
A scene featuring Jack Warden and Pacino in a helicopter is the only sequence that I felt pushed things a little too far into farce. The music is also a little too light-hearted and dated in places.
Otherwise, I thought the film was fantastic. It had me laughing, it got me emotional, and it got me riled up and it did so without me feeling manipulated. Its beats are well deserved.
Also aiding the success of …And Justice For All is an incredible cast. Pacino was rightfully Oscar-nominated (along with the script). The role is thought to have marked the beginning of his ‘shouty’ persona, which may or may not be a good thing, but the balance of rage and empathy is perfect here.
He’s far from the only great actor on screen though. It was Jeffrey Tambor’s first film role, and he creates one of the most memorable characters among a crowd of heavyweights. Jack Warden is a lot of fun too, John Forsythe is suitably slimy, Craig T. Nelson has a small but powerful role, Thomas G. Waites expertly captures the pain and desperation of his character, and I already mentioned how Christine Lahti manages to hold her own against Pacino.
Added to this is a rare on-screen performance by the legendary acting teacher, Lee Strasberg. Jewison said he hired Strasberg because of the near father-son relationship he had with Pacino (whom he tutored). It works, as the pair have a great warmth on screen together as grandfather and grandson.
Also impressive in …And Justice For All is its treatment of the Ralph Agee (Robert Christian) character. It’s an early example of a Hollywood film taking a truly empathetic look at a trans character. Agee is abused by prison staff and inmates, but Kirkland fights to protect them. Christian’s performance is superb, leading to some heartbreaking scenes that play out relatively subtly.
Overall, I found …And Justice For All to be a passionate, gripping and deeply affecting drama with enough humour to entertain and add life to this thoughtful damnation of the American legal system. Sadly, its attack still feels all too relevant today.
Film: 
…And Justice For All is out on 18th August on region B Blu-Ray, released by Indicator. The transfer is good, looking clean, with natural grain and colours. The tonal range is pleasing too. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review for reference, though these have been compressed. The audio is strong too. I had no issues with it.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
– High Definition remaster
– Original mono audio
– Audio commentary with director Norman Jewison (2001)
– Audio commentary with film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson (2025)
– Norman Jewison: The Testimony of the Director (2008, 12 mins): archival interview
– Barry Levinson: Cross-Examining the Screenwriter (2008, 7 mins): archival interview
– The Guardian Interview with Barry Levinson (2000, 66 mins): archival audio recording of the writer-turned-director in conversation with Adrian Wootton at the National Film Theatre, London
– Four deleted scenes (11 mins)
– Original theatrical trailer
– David Zeiger trailer commentary (2025): short critical appreciation
– Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
– New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Sergio Angelini, archival interviews with actor Al Pacino, co-writer Barry Levinson, and director Norman Jewison, and film credits
– UK premiere on Blu-ray
– Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
Included is an archival audio commentary with Norman Jewison. This is an enjoyable listen. He tells some anecdotes about the shoot, as well as describing the reasoning behind some of the decisions made in making the film.
Jewison also appears in a 12-minute interview. This treads a lot of similar ground to his commentary, but if you don’t have time to listen to that, it’s a good summary of his thoughts and provides some illuminating information about the production.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson provide another commentary on the disc. They analyse the film in great detail. It’s an excellent track.
There’s also a Guardian interview with Barry Levinson. This runs for just over an hour and is fantastic. There’s no mention of …And Justice For All, but he discusses his career as a whole.
Levinson appears in a short to-camera interview too, talking specifically about the film. He tackles the criticisms that it “doesn’t know what it wants to be”, as well as discussing some other aspects of his script.
David Zieger provides a trailer commentary. This is decent but very short, so it doesn’t add much to the wealth of extras elsewhere.
Finally, there is a handful of deleted scenes. These are well worth watching. They may not be vital to the story, but they do a good job of developing the characters.
I wasn’t sent a copy of the booklet to comment on that, but Indicator are the best in the business at compiling these, so I imagine it’s a valuable asset to the limited edition release.
So, it’s an excellent release for a wonderful film that deserves more love than it gets. Highly recommended.
Disc/Package: