This film is a very good one as it shows the various nuances in our justice system that allows a bully, played wonderfully by Brian Dennehy, to circumvent the system and literally get away with harassment for years in Darby, Missouri. No, you're not watching "High Noon," or "Gunfight at the OK Corral," You're actually seeing a town of the 1980s victimized by a man and his family. The word vigilante shall become quite important by film's end.
There is a wonderful supporting cast led by Marcia Gay-Harden, one of Dennehy's several wives. The guy actually lives in concubine-like style. Cloris Leachman plays the wife of a shooting victim, shot by Dennehy to teach the old man a lesson. He literally goes berserk when a misunderstanding develops about his young son being accused of taking candy from Leachman and her husband's store.
Dennehy thumbs his nose at the legal system while vowing never to be imprisoned. This is really a fascinating look at how our criminal justice system fails us and how becoming a vigilante starts when we have no alternative. We see the economic, social and mental affects his harassment has on a beaten down town.
There is a wonderful supporting cast led by Marcia Gay-Harden, one of Dennehy's several wives. The guy actually lives in concubine-like style. Cloris Leachman plays the wife of a shooting victim, shot by Dennehy to teach the old man a lesson. He literally goes berserk when a misunderstanding develops about his young son being accused of taking candy from Leachman and her husband's store.
Dennehy thumbs his nose at the legal system while vowing never to be imprisoned. This is really a fascinating look at how our criminal justice system fails us and how becoming a vigilante starts when we have no alternative. We see the economic, social and mental affects his harassment has on a beaten down town.