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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Roderick Taylor (story)
Roderick Taylor (writer) ...
more
Release Date:
5 August 1983 (USA) more
Tagline:
THEY HAVE COMMITED EVERY CRIME IN THE BOOK. Yet the law cannot touch them. They are free to walk the streets. UNTIL TONIGHT'S MEETING OF... [THE STAR CHAMBER] [UK Theatrical] more
Plot:
Disgusted with criminals escaping the judicial system via technicalities, an idealistic young judge... more | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Jerry Bruckheimer Still Wants to Play 'Apaches'
(From Cinematical. 13 October 2009, 9:45 AM, PDT)
If it's Tuesday, there's a new Nicolas Cage movie to talk about
(From Corona's Coming Attractions. 8 September 2009, 12:55 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
A Most Secret Society more (25 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Michael Douglas | ... | Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin | |
| Hal Holbrook | ... | Judge Benjamin Caulfield | |
| Yaphet Kotto | ... | Det. Harry Lowes | |
| Sharon Gless | ... | Emily Hardin | |
| James Sikking | ... | Dr. Harold Lewin (as James B. Sikking) | |
| Joe Regalbuto | ... | Arthur Cooms | |
| Don Calfa | ... | Lawrence Monk | |
| John DiSanti | ... | Det. James Wickman | |
| Otis Day | ... | Stanley Flowers | |
| Jack Kehoe | ... | Hingle | |
| Larry Hankin | ... | Det. Kenneth Wiggan | |
| Dick Anthony Williams | ... | Det. Paul Mackey | |
| Margie Impert | ... | Louise Pacinni | |
| Dana Gladstone | ... | Dept. Dist. Atty. Martin Hyatt | |
| David Proval | ... | Officer Nelson |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
109 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)
Certification:
Germany:12 (re-rating) (2006) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Director Trademark: [Peter Hyams]a character named Spota. more
Quotes:
Judge Benjamin Caulfield: Someone has taken justice and hidden it in the law. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009) (V) more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (25 total)
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The Star Chamber is a film that operates under the premise that the legal system has gone awry and it's up to the judges to apply corrective action to the decisions they officially make in court. Interestingly enough Hal Holbrook who came to that conclusion as Lieutenant Briggs in the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force, is now taking a similar position as a judge.
Michael Douglas as a young Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles has reached the same crossroads. After a couple of decisions on procedure that resulted in criminals being cut loose, he starts to question whether the whole criminal justice system is out of whack. That's when Hal Holbrook tells him about a most secret society.
A panel of nine judges have taken it upon themselves to overrule their own rulings. Douglas eagerly joins them, but certain things to go off course for him and he questions whether he's made the right career move.
The cases that Douglas came a cropper on is stuff straight out of the Law and Order episode file. In that series sometimes I think the judge's rulings are somewhat bizarre. Of course in that series it just makes Jack McCoy and his successor try all the harder to win.
It's a nice film, but I do get the feeling that Star Chamber is a Law and Order episode stretched out for a feature film.