A Murder of Crows (1998)

A disbarred lawyer takes credit for a late friend's book, which becomes a smash hit but the tables turn on him sooner than he suspected.

Director:

Rowdy Herrington

Writer:

Rowdy Herrington

Stars:

Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Berenger, Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Lawson Russell
Tom Berenger	...	Clifford Dubose
Marianne Jean-Baptiste	...	Elizabeth Pope
Eric Stoltz	...	Thurman Parks III
Mark Pellegrino	...	Prof. Arthur Corvus
Ashley Laurence	...	Janine DeVrie
Carmen Argenziano	...	Judge Wiley Banning
Doug Wert	...	Billy Ray Richardson
Nate Adams	...	James
Jeremiah Black	...	Bailiff
Derek Broes	...	Agent Manning
Adrian Colon	...	Detective
Gaelle Comparat	...	Thurman's Girl (as Gaelle Compart)
Tara Crespo	...	Young Woman
Anastasia Roussel	...	Clerk (as Anastasia Drake)

Storyline

After a lawyer gets disbarred, he goes off to write a book about his experience. He meets a man who lets him read his manuscript. The man dies and the lawyer passes the book off as his. Just when the book becomes a big success. He gets arrested for the true life murders of the five lawyers in his book. He then finds himself, trying to prove that he is innocent of the murders.

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Plot Keywords:

interracial sex | black bra and panties | crow | lawyer | murder | 

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Taglines:

Caw the Case.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, nudity, a scene of strong sexuality and some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 July 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nido de cuervos

Filming Locations:

Key West, Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Motion International,Goodbros. Pictures Entertainment,Trilogy Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the prisoner arrives at the prison in the opening scene it is pouring rain outside. He exits the vehicle and walks inside yet a closeup of his shoes show they are completely dry.

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Goofs

This addition is all in fun. When Det. Dubose feeds his cat, the cat is "surprised", with the canned food presented before him. The cat would have been bothering him as soon as he opened the can.

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Quotes

Lawson Russell: There's an old saying: Money talks. The only thing I ever heard it say was "Goodbye".

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Connections

References The Warriors (1979)

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Soundtracks

Rosie Girl
Performed by Shane August
Written by Shane August
Courtesy of Lavender Hope Music/ASCAP

User Reviews

Criminally overlooked, highly original thriller

Really like this film, it's criminally overlooked as far as I'm concerned. Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer who gets disbarred shortly after he lets his conscience get the better of him and he moves to Key West Florida, hoping to start a writing career. Once there, he meets and old man who happens to have written a damn fine novel. Ahhh, I don't want to reveal more, but from that point on things get very interesting.

This thriller has a genuinely original plot and is very well written. The plot twist isn't easily spotted and will definitely have viewers guessing for a long time. It's fast paced and well directed by Rowdy Herrington, who's really a director to look for (made another little known James Spader flick that's very good as well).

I've always like Cuba Gooding and he does a good job in the lead, proving he can well handle dramatic parts as well (if not better) than comedic ones. Tom Berenger does well, as always, in a relatively small part as a tough detective.

It's a rare thing these days that a film, particularly a thriller, comes up with a really fresh and original idea and executes it well. A Murder of Crows is a suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining thriller that deserves to be better known.