While a very good film, the picture falls into the trap of trying to depict the horrors of capital punishment. This has been shown so much in the past and present.
Don Murray's performance, while good, could make you easily forget that he was a priest. To say that he was sympathetic to convicts is to put it mildly. This was definitely his calling. The first scene of the film, he appears to be a gangster himself; especially, when he is offered a 1/3 in a proposed heist.
Keir Dulleas was excellent here and was robbed of a best supporting Oscar nomination here. His death-row scene with his girlfriend was so reminiscent of Monty Clift with Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun," 10 years before. Are the Dullea character and others victims of society, rather than perpetrators of crime?
Don Murray's performance, while good, could make you easily forget that he was a priest. To say that he was sympathetic to convicts is to put it mildly. This was definitely his calling. The first scene of the film, he appears to be a gangster himself; especially, when he is offered a 1/3 in a proposed heist.
Keir Dulleas was excellent here and was robbed of a best supporting Oscar nomination here. His death-row scene with his girlfriend was so reminiscent of Monty Clift with Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun," 10 years before. Are the Dullea character and others victims of society, rather than perpetrators of crime?