''Seven Hours to Judgment'' is a 1988 film directed by and starring

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award, Emmy, two-time Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nomine ...

. It was produced by

Mort Abrahams Mort Abrahams (26 March 1916 – 28 May 2009) was an American film and television producer. Among his credits are nine episodes of spy series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' and, as associate producer, the films '' Doctor Dolittle'', ''Planet of th ...

and written by Walter Davis and Steven E. de Souza (under his pseudonym Elliot Stephens). The film also stars

Ron Leibman Ron Leibman (; October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019) was an American actor. He won both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1993 for his performance as Roy Cohn in ''Angels in Ame ...

and

Julianne Phillips Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960) is an American former model and actress. She began her career as a model in the early 1980s before moving on to acting. She first attracted attention as the first wife of Bruce Springsteen and later for her ...

Plot

In Los Angeles, Judge John Eden (

) is presiding over the preliminary hearing of four gang members -- members of the Ice Men Gang -- who brutally robbed Ellen Reardon (Sandra Lee Gimpel), pushed her into the path of a subway train, and left her to fight for her life. John had already set some of the gang's members free in a previous case. Ellen's husband, David Reardon (

), pleads to have the hearing delayed because he has found evidence that can put the gangbangers away, but the evidence is in the hands of a rival gang. John refuses to delay the hearing, and he tells David to take it up with the D.A. At the hearing, John reluctantly rules that there is not enough evidence to put the attackers on trial. Meanwhile, Ellen passes away from her injuries, which devastates and further angers David. That evening, John is kidnapped by an understandably enraged David, who blames John for not doing enough to try and punish Ellen's killers. David has a large, mentally handicapped man named Ira Martin ( Tiny Ron Taylor) working with him. David reveals that he's holding John's wife Lisa (

) in an abandoned warehouse, and that he's prepared to kill her. John has no choice but to obey, since David has rigged the abandoned warehouse with various electronic gizmos and traps. However, John can save Lisa if he goes out on a rough trek through various parts of an especially rough neighborhood to find the evidence that's in the hands of the Ice Men's rival gang. It's a part of town that David hopes will teach John some lessons about what gangs are doing to the city, so John won't be so willing to set gang members free anymore. Forbidden to call the police, and having no money or credit cards, John now has the task of running around the neighborhood on foot in the middle of the night, and returning with the evidence. David tells John that it has to be done in seven hours or less, or Lisa will be killed. It also becomes a hunt for the four gang members.

Cast

Notes

External links

* * * * 1988 films 1988 drama films American drama films Films set in Seattle Films with screenplays by Steven E. de Souza Films scored by John Debney Trans World Entertainment films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{1980s-US-film-stub