True Believer (1989)

Eddie Dodd (James Woods) is a former '60s radical lawyer who now spends his time cynically defending drug dealers for the big bucks. But an idealistic young protégé (Robert Downey Jr.) convinces him to take one case from the heart: a young Korean immigrant unjustly accused in a gang slaying. Woods (complete with add-on ponytail) fairly hums with energy once he gets cooking here. Playing the been-there-done-that mentor--not to mention legal gadfly--gives Woods plenty of opportunity to run off at the mouth with spicy one-liners and zingers. But it also allows him to do some real acting, capturing Eddie's denial and sense of disappointment in himself. Plus his vehicle is a not-too-shabby mystery by thrillmeister director Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy). --Marshall Fine Amazon.com

One of My Favorites Ever!

Keeping this short..."True Believer" is a film that my husband and I watch at least twice a year, and never get tired of! It's a superb combination of murder mystery, courtroom drama, and redemption story. Clever, quick-moving, superbly acted (with a dazzling performance from James Woods at the center), and full of delicious witty surprises, like the wonderful character of "Cecil (He likes it pronounced See-Sill) Skell", the much-needed witness who can re-open an old murder case, but who resides in a mental institution, and is convinced that the Telephone Company killed President Kennedy. A wonderful movie! November 27, 2007

Contrived but excellent

James Woods is a top-notch lawyer, a former civil-rights watchdog now getting rich businessmen off on cocaine charges.

Then one day a Korean woman walks into his office and asks him to free her son, an innocent man who has spent 8 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Does he take the case?

You tell me.

It's all pretty boilerplate stuff, but Woods, Robert Downey, Jr and Kurtwood Smith elevate this tale, based on a true story, to art. July 15, 2007

Great Legal Thriller!

This movie is by far among the greatest legal thrillers I've seen, not only because the writing and directing are superb, but James Woods' acting performance is nothing short of spectacular. The variations he projects in his character expressions--with so many subtle nuances--make him 100% believable and fetching as that character. And when his sense of right is piqued, he explodes in the most compelling, absorbing, credible way--one which just pulls you another foot deeper into the story, kind of the way quicksand pulls you in: you just can't get out, nor do you want to.

In this story, the Woods character is fighting not only for an innocent man's life, a prisoner doing time, but even more important, he's fighting for his own life--his sense of self-respect, honor, and decency, none of which he feels in his earlier law practice while defending and acquitting sleazeballs whom he knows should be in prison instead wrecking society with their crimes.

I watched this movie a second time the night after I watched it the first time and got even more out of it. Buy it and keep it. It's far batter than most of the John Grisham legal thriller movies.

No question about it: James Woods is one of the most underrated actors today. He performed almost equally as well in "Indightment" the McMartin child abuse case.

I've omitted talking about the plot because you can obtain that from many of the below reviewers. April 12, 2007

i loved it

it takes all kinds, as I noticed someone thought this was boring. Wow! Clever dialogue, sharp acting, scary violence, moving innocence trodden under the heel of official corruption and cynicism, if this is boring I have no idea what to suggest.

There are more good one liners in this movie than in a Fred Allen retrospective. At the very beginning the young idealistic apprentice lawyer who has come to work with the great Eddie Dodd, mistakes the pony tailed defense lawyer for the cocaine dealer he is defending! Boy is he embarrassed.

Later, when Dodd confronts the neo nazi brotherhood about whether they were behind his street attack, the guy with the rifle standing in the house decorated with swastikas says: "if we were behind it, you wouldn't be here now".

When the dirty cop points a gun at him, fires a round past his temple and sugests he back off, he slows briefly but says, scared but resolute, "sorry guys, can't do it, I've gotta be in court."

You may not enjoy it, but i am a cheapskate with over 100 copied vhs tapes from the tube, and I am about to plunk down hard cash to buy this one. Along with Witness, Fugitive, Don Juan de Marco, One Eyed Jacks, The Sting, True Lies, and a few others, this goes in my collection of movies to watch more than once.


The unappreciated reference above was to a scene where the mother of the innocent convict says: "We asked everywhere for a lawyer to help us, and everywhere they mentioned your name." Oh? says Eddie Dodd, genuinely flattered, "What did they say?". She replies, "They all say, you work cheap."

And the brilliant bad guy DA is one of the classic hateable guys in film, the more than cold father of the kid who shoots hiimself in "Dead Poets Society". i hope this is enough, not to persuade you, but to let you decide for yourself, whether to try it.

And I hope the bored guy above donates his copy to the library. It is at least 4 stars but i gave it 5 to balance off the absurd 1 star review just mentioned. March 20, 2007

Best Legal Drama Out There

My wife had been fed up with all of the legal dramas I was maknig her watch. Being a third year law student she always netpicks the details. But the story in this fil overrides the legal fallacies, making True Believer a great drama that centers around a lawsuit. February 17, 2006

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