High profile New York mobster Rusty Pirone (Armand Assante) is put on trial for the murder of 11 individuals with the case spearheaded by ambitious District Attorney Daniel Graham (Gabriel Byrne). Seeking to secure his freedom by any means necessary, Rusty having already dispatched the prosecution's star witness sets his sights on creating deadlocked jury by extorting one of the jurors, in this case single mother Valerie Alston (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer). Rusty sends former cop turned freelance enforcer Tommy Vesey (William Hurt) to put pressure on Valerie to vote "not guilty" with the threats of murder towards her son Robbie (Bryan Shilowich).
Trial by Jury is a 1994 legal thriller directed by Heywood Gould and co-written by Gould and Jordan Katz (who wrote the original screenplay under the titles The Hanging Jury and Deadlock). The film takes inspiration from the 1987 incident wherein George Pape, a jury foreman in a 1987 trial of John Gotti, sought out Gotti's underlings, who agreed to pay him $75,000 in exchange for a not guilty vote. The influence of the incident is pretty clear down to the character of Rusty Pirone being a pretty clear analogue for Gotti (and the casting of Assante who would play Gotti a mere two years later in an HBO TV movie). Made by Morgan Creek on a frugal budget in Canada, the movie was originally intended to be a much larger production with Phillip Noyce originally slated to direct and the role of Valerie considered for the likes of Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Demi Moore (who'd ironically do a very similar movie called The Juror two years later). The role of Pirone was also offered to more name actors such as James Woods and John Travolta but both demanded salaries that Morgan Creek wasn't willing to pay hence why the ultimate casting was left without many big names. With no real big stars the film's distributor, Warner Bros., put the bare minimum to marketing the film and unceremoniously in a mid September release where it opened in fourth place behind some Summer holdovers (one of which was Noyce's Clear and Present Danger) with the film disappearing from theaters within two weeks. What critical reception there was tended to skew negative with many critics criticizing the dialogue and performances of the cast. While some of the critical derision of the film has been overblown, Trial by Jury is a mostly unengaging potboiler drama that harkens back to the B-movie noirs of RKO.
On the surface you seemingly have all the elements in place for a pulpy and engaging courtroom thriller with a ripped from the headlines premise inspired by a notirous case of Jury Tampering by the mafia and a high concept hook of a single mother terrorizing into voting to acquit a violent, manipulative, and sadistic murderer, but it's all the little pieces that make the film unravel with the biggest issue undeniably being in the casting. Having spoken to people involved in the production it's clear this was originally intended to be a bigger film than it with attempts at trying to court the likes of Nicole Kidamn, Jodie Foster and Demi Moore for the role of Valerie or James Woods and John Travolta for Rusty, and you get the sense that the casting is made up of the second, third, or even fourth choice on the list because the others either weren't available, unaffordable, or turned them down.
Joanne Whally-Kilmer (as she's credited in the movie) was in a number of films throughout the 80s and 90s typically in a supporting capacity but was most known for her work on British TV such as the serial Edge of Darkness. While Joanne Whally-Kilmer has been fine in some prior work, she's really not capable of doing lead roles and it really shows just how unequipped she was to take on a role that was written in mind with some of the most notable actresses of the 90s and she just doesn't sell it here especially in one scene where she gives an unconvincing emotional collapse that feels forced and unnatural. As for the rest of the cast they're all working with what they have. Rusty Pirone isn't all that interesting as a gangster, Gabriel Byrne isn't all that interesting as the DA (in fact Byrne was a late in the game last minute addition), and while Hurt is clearly trying his all in the role the character of Vesey isn't all that clearly defined and his heel turn and infatuation with Valerie feel really underdeveloped.
Trial by Jury is what it is, movie of the week material that's given just enough spit and polish so that it technically works on the silver screen. Maybe if the material had the actors the production team wanted maybe I'd be saying something different, but with the movie built around an actress like Joanne Whally-Kilmer who just isn't suited to a role of this magnitude and filled with uninteresting archetypes it's the kind of movie that's in one ear and out the other. I don't think I agree with the assessments that put this on their year's worst list (for my money Silent Fall is way worse as a thriller) and aside from some very "90s" takes on homosexuality it's a very typical thriller that just happens to be built around an unqualified lead.
