Presumed Innocent

Not too sure about this one. I think I liked it much more the first time that I saw it a few years ago, and maybe because I didn’t know how it was gonna end at the time. Knowing what I did this time around, the film was still quite engaging for the most part, especially with the above-average acting job by Ford (for once), but I think some of the actual “suspense” was lost on me, due to the fact that I sorta remembered the “surprise” ending.

The basic premise is that a lawyer-friend of Ford’s has been killed and he’s put on the case (he’s a lawyer himself). But when evidence comes out that Ford used to nail the victim and that his fingerprints were found on a glass in her apartment, the nite of the murder, he gets arrested himself and the whole “court case” scenario of the film begins.

I personally enjoyed more of the first half of the film, with the whole investigation, and the flashbacks which featured the beginning of the relationship between Ford and the deceased. But once the court case got going, it seemed to be yet another one of those “too many coincidences” flicks, where basically EVERYONE and their UNCLES, is somehow connected to the girl and the incident.

For me, there was just one too many of those connections, to qualify the film as a solid one.

I was nice to see the late, great Raoul Julia acting his ass off again (I LOVE this guy’s voice!) and Ford actually stretching a couple of his acting muscles, but by the time the “surprise” ending came around, I wasn’t all that impressed by the whole thing. Then again, like I said, maybe it’s because I already knew most of what was gonna happen, so the so-called “mystery” of it all, wasn’t working for me.

I guess what I’m saying is that if you HAVEN’T seen the movie, you should still give it a whirl, especially if you dig good ol’ fashioned murder mysteries, and you HAVE seen the film already, don’t bother seeing it again, cause it doesn’t get any better the second time around.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian