Murder in the First (film)

''Murder in the First'' is a 1995 American legal drama film, directed by Marc Rocco, written by Dan Gordon, and starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, Brad Dourif, William H. Macy, and R. Lee Ermey. It tells the alternate history of a petty criminal named Henri Young who is sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary and later put on trial for murder in the first degree. This film was described on the poster as "the case that took down Alcatraz".

Plot

As a 17-year-old orphan, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) steals $5.00 from a grocery store to feed himself and his little sister Rosetta (Amanda Borden), both of whom are destitute. He is apprehended by the shopkeeper (Wally Rose) and Rosetta is sent to an orphanage. Because that grocery store also housed a U.S. Post Office, his crime is upgraded to a federal offense. Young never sees Rosetta again and is sentenced to Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas.

After later being transferred to Alcatraz where he gets oppressed by associate prison warden Milton Glenn (Gary Oldman), he participates in an escape attempt with two other prisoners Rufus McCain (David Michael Sterling) and Arthur Barker (Michael Melvin).

The escape plan fails due to the betrayal of McCain. Barker is killed by the guards and Glenn punishes Young by having him sent to " the hole", which is in Alcatraz's dungeons where Glenn also had him tortured. Except for 30 minutes on Christmas Day in 1940, he is left in there for three years. The solitary confinement causes Young to lose his sanity.

On release back to the general population, he experiences a psychotic episode in the prison cafeteria and attacks McCain, stabbing him to death with a spoon in full view of the prison staff and the other convicts.

Young is put on trial in San Francisco for first degree murder in what district attorney William McNeil ( William H. Macy) and the public-defender's office run by Mr. Henkin (Stephen Tobolowsky) believe is an open-and-shut case. Public defender James Stamphill (Christian Slater), a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, is given the case. After discovering the facts of Young's case, Stamphill attempts to put Alcatraz on trial by alleging that its harsh conditions drove him insane.

The trial overseen by Judge Clawson ( R. Lee Ermey) becomes highly politicized and contentious. While Glenn denied any mistreatment of Young, Stamphill also held Warden James Humson (Stefan Gierasch) accountable for not being present during Glenn's actions towards Young.

Young tells Stamphill that he wants to change the plea to guilty as he would rather be dead than be sent back to Alcatraz. Young is convicted of involuntary manslaughter and not first-degree murder. He is returned to Alcatraz and put in "the hole" on Glenn's orders with Young claiming that he still won either way. Young was found dead in his confinement prior to his appeal where he has "victory" written on the walls. Stamphill's narration stated that Young did not die in vain and thanked him for making him a baseball fan.

The film concludes with an investigation into Alcatraz. Glenn was convicted for mistreatment and banned from working in the US penal system.

Cast

* Christian Slater as James Stamphill, a defense attorney who represents Henri Young.
* Kevin Bacon as Henri Young, a young man sent to Alcatraz for petty theft.
* Gary Oldman as Milton Glenn, the associate prison warden of Alcatraz.
* Embeth Davidtz as Mary McCasslin
* William H. Macy as D.A. William McNeil, the district attorney who prosecutes Young.
* Brad Dourif as Byron Stamphill
* R. Lee Ermey as Judge Clawson, a judge who oversees the trial of Henri Young.
* Stephen Tobolowsky as Mr. Henkin, Stamphill's boss.
* Mia Kirshner as Rosetta Young, the fictional sister of Henri Young.
** Amanda Borden as young Rosetta Young
* Ben Slack as Jerry Hoolihan
* Stefan Gierasch as James Humson, the prison warden of Alcatraz and Glenn's boss.
* Kyra Sedgwick as Blanche
* David Michael Sterling as Rufus McCain, an inmate who takes part in Young's early escape attempt and betrays him to Glenn which led to McCain's death.
* Michael Melvin as Arthur "Doc" Barker, an inmate who takes part in Young's early escape attempt and is killed by the guards.
* Wally Rose as the shopkeeper of a grocery store that Henri tries to rob.
* Bill Barretta as Man on Street

Production

Filming

To prepare for his role as Henri Young, Kevin Bacon spent a night in a solitary cell and lost twenty pounds.

Principal photography began on December 13, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, with the courtroom sequences being filmed first. On January 17, 1994, filming at Triscenic Production Services Inc. in Sylmar was interrupted by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Filming resumed two weeks after the quake, and in February, the production moved to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Filming there had to be done at night, because the National Park Service did not want to disrupt daily tourism in the daytime. More than 300 crew members had to be crammed in the prison cells. Production wrapped on March 12, 1994.

Historical accuracy

The film makes numerous changes to historical events. The real Henri Young was not convicted of stealing $5 to save his sister from destitution. He had been a hardened bank robber who had taken a hostage on at least one occasion and had committed a murder in 1933. Young was also no stranger to the penal system. Before being incarcerated at Alcatraz in 1936, he had already served time in two state prisons in Montana and Washington. In 1935 he spent his first year in federal correctional facilities at McNeil Island, Washington before being transferred to Alcatraz.

The film ends with the fictional Henri Young being returned to the dungeons of Alcatraz in the early 1940s where he supposedly dies. In reality the real Young remained on Alcatraz until 1948 before he was moved to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri where he stayed until 1954. While on Alcatraz he remained in the main cell block. Young was not kept in any dungeon as they had been closed almost a decade earlier. In 1954, Young was transferred to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla to begin a life sentence for the murder conviction in 1933.

In 1972, after Young was released from Washington State Penitentiary at age 61, he jumped parole. According to Washington State authorities his whereabouts remain unknown. Young was born in 1911; if still alive as of , he would be about years old.

According to the '' San Francisco Examiner'', April 16, 1941, the Defense stated in court that Henri Young was locked up in solitary confinement for over three years. This is taken directly from the paper, "Emphasis which they repeatedly laid on the fact that Young was in isolation or solitary confinement for more than three years—and that he drove his knife into McCain’s abdomen just eleven days after release from such confinement, made it clear that the defense hopes to show not only that Young was “ punch-drunk” but that the punches were administered by the Alcatraz "system".

Four other prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz with Young, not just two. One of the men omitted from the film (Dale Stamphill) has the same name as Young's lawyer.

Many of the ideas in the movie were taken directly from newspaper articles of the trials, including the ending scene where the jury only convicts Young of manslaughter, and requests that Alcatraz be investigated.

Release

The film was released on January 20, 1995 in 1,237 theaters in the U.S. and Canada and grossed $4,719,188 in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $17,381,942 in the U.S. and Canada and $29.5 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.

Reception

On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, ''Murder in the First'' has a score of 53% based on reviews from 38 critics. The site's consensus states: "Despite a strong cast and story inspired by incredible real-life events, ''Murder in the First'' is strictly second rate."

Though Bacon received a positive notices for his performance, critics negatively cited the film's handheld camera shots, scenes of brutality, and underdeveloped characters. Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' wrote, "Murder in the First''' lacks an all-important core of emotion. It tries to find it in the growing friendship between the lawyer and the client on trial for murder, with scenes of the lawyer trying to draw the convict out — and of the two men talking freely. But the friendship never seems more than a device."

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and said Slater "is an actor with talent, but he is too young for this role, and not confident enough to dial is performancedown a little."

Screenwriter Dan Gordon, who was unhappy with the film version of his script, wrote a novelization of his screenplay and later adapted it into a stage play.

Awards and nominations

Kevin Bacon won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.

References

External links

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Henri Young—Alcatraz Killing

{{Marc Rocco

1995 films
1990s crime drama films
1995 drama films
1990s legal films
1990s prison films
American courtroom films
American legal drama films
American prison drama films
Films about miscarriage of justice
Films directed by Marc Rocco
Films scored by Christopher Young
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in the San Francisco Bay Area
Films set on islands
Drama films based on actual events
Alcatraz Island in fiction
StudioCanal films
The Wolper Organization films
Torture in films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films