Music Box (1989)

A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Director:

Costa-Gavras

Writer:

Joe Eszterhas

Stars:

Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Lange	...	Ann Talbot
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Mike Laszlo
Frederic Forrest	...	Jack Burke
Donald Moffat	...	Harry Talbot
Lukas Haas	...	Mikey Talbot
Cheryl Lynn Bruce	...	Georgine Wheeler
Mari Töröcsik	...	Magda Zoldan
J.S. Block	...	Judge Silver
Sol Frieder	...	Istvan Boday
Michael Rooker	...	Karchy Laszlo
Elzbieta Czyzewska	...	Melinda Kalman
Magda Szekely Marburg	...	Judit Hollo
Felix Shuman	...	James Nathanson
Michael Shillo	...	Geza Vamos
George Pusep	...	Vladimir Kostav

Storyline

Hungarian immigrant Mike Laszlo has done well for himself since arriving in the USA nearly 50 years ago. He is particularly proud of his daughter, Ann, a successful lawyer. Following the release of some secret WWII records by the Russians, Mike finds himself accused of being a notorious war criminal. He's convinced it's a communist plot to discredit him and insists that Ann defend him in court.

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Plot Keywords:

lawyer | immigrant | war crime | war criminal | hungarian | 

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Taglines:

As a lawyer all she wanted was the truth. As a daughter all she wanted was his innocence. How well do you really know your father?

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian

Release Date:

January 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mucho más que un crimen

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Gross:

$6,263,883 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both Kirk Douglas and Walter Matthau wanted to play the father (Michael Laszlo) and were in contact with director Costa-Gavras. Costa-Gavras also considered Marlon Brando for the part. Instead, he picked Armin Mueller-Stahl, who a couple of years earlier had said he would love to work with him after seeing his movie, Missing, at the theater.

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Quotes

Jack Burke: You trust your heart, you gonna get it broken.

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Connections

References 60 Minutes (1968)

User Reviews

Intense Court Drama

Greek director Costa Gavras is the one that gave us such strong and impressive films as "Z" (based on the kidnapping and murder of CIA agent Dan Mitrione by pro-Cuban Tupamaro's urban guerrilla in Ururguay in the late 60's) and "Missing" (about the disappearance of a young American citizen during General Pinochet's military government in Chile in the 70's). No doubt the man liked to enter compromising and complex movies.

In "Music Box" he delivers a sort of court film drama about a lawyer in Chicago that defends her father when he is accused of being a war criminal in his youth as a member of the Hungarian branch of the German SS troops. Though perhaps sort of predictable, the film is intense and catching right from the start. Jesicca Lange renders one of the best performances of her career and so does Armin Mueller-Stahl in the main roles both most convincing.

With no major bumps along its 2 hours run, "Music Box" is an enjoyable and highly recommendable product in its genre.

Just for the record: in Argentina "Music Box" was renamed as "Mucho màs que un crimen" ("Much More than Just a Crime").