Murder in the First (1995)

Murder in the First: Directed by Marc Rocco. With Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz. An eager and idealistic young attorney defends an Alcatraz prisoner accused of murdering a fellow inmate. The extenuating circumstances: his client had just spent over three years in solitary confinement.

“My comments are directed to the claim that this film is based on a true story. The true facts of Henri Youngu0026#39;s case are significantly different from the story told in the movie. For instance, Young was not just a petty thief when he came to Alcatraz — he was already doing time for bank robbery and murder. Nor was he kept in an underground dungeon for three years as punishment for an escape attempt — his punishment was served in an isolation cell on the prisonu0026#39;s first floor with the normal facilities that all prisonersu0026#39; cells had. His case did not lead directly to the closing of Alcatraz; it continued as a Federal prison for over twenty years after his trial. Of course, there were some abuses at Alcatraz (as at virtually all prisons). Youngu0026#39;s trial had some impact on correcting those abuses, but not to the extent suggested by the film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf youu0026#39;re interested in another view of the Henri Young case, visit the Bureau of Prisons web site (I canu0026#39;t give the URL because that would violate the comments posting guidelines) and search for u0026quot;Murder in the Firstu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn any film based on a true event, some license must be granted to the screenwriter. Thereu0026#39;s no way they can know exactly what was said in every conversation, so representative dialogue has to be written. Some minor characters will probably be composites. These things are understandable. But when the film blatantly distorts the main characters and the main events of the story, I canu0026#39;t help but think that the point the film is making is probably built on shaky ground. u0026quot;Murder in the Firstu0026quot; may be entertaining in some peopleu0026#39;s opinion, but no one should come away from this film thinking they have seen history portrayed accurately.”