Movie: Marshall

Marshall:  a courtroom drama based on a real case.  The year is 1941.  The place is Bridgeport, Connecticut.  The lead lawyer is Thurgood Marshall.  The movie is about the criminal trial against Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), a chauffeur/butler employed by Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), a wealthy white woman, whom Spell is accused of having raped and thrown off a bridge.  Chadwick Boseman, who is making a career playing famous Black men (Jackie Robinson, James Brown), is outstanding as a young Marshall.  The excellent script by Michael and Jacob Koskoff draws its courtroom scenes from newspaper accounts as no trial transcript exists.   The Spell case was reported in the mainstream press, including the New York Times.  It was a major case for the NAACP because, unlike most of Marshall’s cases, this one took place in the North.  The movie opens and closes with Marshall traveling by train from one town to another to defend black men.  Most of this 118 minute film focuses on how Marshall manages to defend an individual who would otherwise not have had any counsel.  The first step in the process is finding a licensed Connecticut attorney willing to take the case.  That attorney turns about to be a young insurance defense counsel named Sam Friedman (Joseph Gad).  A major reason why the film works is the interplay between Friedman and Marshall.   Despite the seriousness of the story, there are some delightful comedic scenes.  In the courtroom, the presiding judge (James Cromwell) is presented as being every bit as racist as one would expect a Southern judge to be in the 1940’s.  The movie also includes scenes showing the community’s reaction to Friedman defending a black man accused of rape.  An additional twist to this case arises from the fact that the Judge would not allow Marshall to speak in the courtroom.  This results in an unexpected courtroom dynamic because, as it happens, this  is Friedman’s first criminal jury trial.  The only scene that does not work is when Marshall and his wife are out at a Harlem nightclub with Langston Hughes, and particularly the short scene where Zora Hurston appears.  Showing Marshall having a life independent of his NAACP work is a good idea but limiting it to the interaction with Hughes would have been sufficient.  This, however is a minor shortcoming.  The film, directed by Reginald Hudlin, is excellent.  The characters come across as authentic and the dynamic between Joseph Spell and Eleanor Strubing make for a story worth telling.  In these interesting times, it’s good to be reminded while simultaneously being entertained just how overt the racism in this country was a mere 75 years ago.