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

Joe Eszterhas wrote the screenplay with Jane Fonda in mind to play the female lead. Both Eszterhas and producer Irwin Winkler wanted to cast Fonda but director Costa-Gavras thought that she was too old for the part and cast Jessica Lange instead. Fonda was paid $1.25m in compensation for losing the part.

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Quotes

Mack Jones: What do we know about our parents?

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Connections

Referenced in Blonde Poison: The Making of 'Basic Instinct' (2001)

User Reviews

Jessica Lange in one of her best performances

This film is of course a dangerous experiment with ingredients like: a court drama, holocaust 40 years after and absolute no action at all. But because of the great performances by the actors, it ends up as a deeply moving experience.

And at the very center, Jessica Lange does a tremendous job as the lawyer and daughter of a Hungarian war criminal - or is he? She appears in almost every picture of the film, and I find her very convincing in her emotional ups and downs throughout. She does it with no glamour, but alone her incredible personality.

Most of the other actors does a great job as well, and the only reason for not voting it in top is, that the plot is not too convincing - but it first became obvious some time after I watched the film, simply because of the fine acting.

I voted 9/10.