The Judge, A Divorced Man's Anthem

Nothing to cheer for here!  Or is there?  Depends on your predicament. On the surface, this film is headed in directions that repulse us.  We seem forced to care about the plight of a slimy lawyer who fights the system to get killers off on technicalities. Yuck!  But is that really what is going on here?  Perhaps a seemingly straight forward story with some bad character development is what we're looking at here.  Then again, maybe director Elmer Clifton is a divorced man. Our feature today is 1949's "The Judge."

The opening scene is incredibly violent and heartbreaking.  The mentally unstable James Tilton (Norman Budd) is driven mad by the violin playing of a cute handicapped child in a neighboring apartment.  The boy loves playing the violin and his cute dog loves listening.  James bursts into the apartment, and blows the cute kid and his dog away. This psycho was in jail up until a year ago when defense attorney Martin Strang got him out.  Strang? Slimy defense lawyer relishing in getting killers out of jail. In his cases he converses with the cops, prosecutors, and even criminal psychiatrist Dr. Anderson (Stanley Waxman). Oh, Martin is onto Anderson. Anderson and Martin's wife, Lucille (Katherine DeMille) are having an affair. Lucille? A cold fish. No charm.  Always antagonizing Martin. Lucille is a liar and never there to provide encouragement and warmth to her husband.

Enter killer William Jackson (Paul Guilfoyle).  Pure psycho!  Jackson murders a cop in cold blood. Martin gets Jackson off on a technicality.  Now Jackson owes Martin and Martin tells Jackson how he will repay him.  A gun, straitjacket, and Russian Roulette are used to outline the plot for murder.  See, Martin does not intend to allow Lucille and Anderson to make a fool of him. This slimy lawyer comes up with a surefire plan to have both these two taken out without facing any punishment himself...and Jackson will be utilized. Yep...you see what's coming.  Or do you?  What looked like a pretty basic plot and an easy plot to understand suddenly has a couple of curve balls. What follows is hardly what you figured was coming and something far more devious and effective than just murdering a wife and her lover.  You'll see.

Is Martin really the bad guy in this film?  Will Lucille and Anderson get what they deserve?  Wait!  Are you going to come away from this film condoning murder?  Divorced guys will find this film a rallying cry.  Women who insist on being looked at as victims will hate this film. For a quirky and surprising Film Noir crime thriller, see "The Judge," and do not discuss this film with your spouse.