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A Time to Kill

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A Time to Kill

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Also known as Time to Kill

1996 film by Joel Schumacher

Film · TMDB

7.4

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

Released: 1996-07-24149 minDir: Joel SchumacherCrime, Drama, ThrillerBudget: $40.0MBox office: $152M

Cast

  • Matthew McConaughey as Jake Brigance
  • Sandra Bullock as Ellen Roark
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Carl Lee Hailey
  • Kevin Spacey as Rufus Buckley
  • Ashley Judd as Carla Brigance
  • Donald Sutherland as Lucien Wilbanks

Themes

  • sniper
  • rape
  • court
  • jurors
  • ku klux klan
  • mississippi river
  • forgiveness
  • blackmail
  • attempted murder
  • trial

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Ratings

IMDb

7.5/10

192,181 votes

Rotten Tomatoes

66%

Metacritic

53/100

Year
1996
Runtime
149 min
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated
R
Awards
7 wins & 12 nominations total

via OMDb · IMDb

Key facts

Directed by
Joel Schumacher
Screenplay by
Akiva Goldsman
Based on
A Time to Kill , 1989 novel, by John Grisham
Produced by
Arnon Milchan John Grisham Michael Nathanson Hunt Lowry
Starring
Sandra Bullock Samuel L. Jackson Matthew McConaughey Kevin Spacey Brenda Fricker Oliver Platt Charles S. Dutton Ashley Judd Patrick McGoohan Donald Sutherland
Cinematography
Peter Menzies Jr.
Edited by
William Steinkamp
Music by
Elliot Goldenthal
Production company
Regency Enterprises
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
Release date
July 24, 1996 ( 1996-07-24 )
Running time
149 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$40 million
Box office
$152.3 million

via Wikipedia infobox

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

A Time to Kill is a 1996 American legal drama film based on John Grisham's 1989 novel of the same name. Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Spacey star, with Donald and Kiefer Sutherland appearing in supporting roles and Octavia Spencer in her film debut.

The film received mixed reviews but was a commercial success, making $152 million worldwide. It is the second of two films based on Grisham's novels directed by Joel Schumacher, with the other being The Client released two years prior. It marked the final film appearance of Joe Seneca.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “A Time to Kill” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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