1996 Rewind: A Time to Kill

 


It's hard to believe, but 1996 was 30 years ago. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be looking at some stand out films from 1996 that are turning 30 in 2026. Today, it's my favorite film of all time.

Lucien Wilbanks: If you win this case, justice will prevail, and if you lose, justice will also prevail. Now that is a strange case.

A Time to Kill
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, and Donald Sutherland
Director: Joel Schumacher
About: No one has a stranger filmography in the 1990s than Schumacher. There are some true, all-time bombs. But then there's some solid films. This one, his second crack at a John Grisham adaptation, is my favorite film of all time. Full stop. In the 30 years since it's been released, I have probably seen it 25-30 times. It's a great legal thriller and a great moral drama. It's a courtroom film in the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, and I don't say that lightly. I love the performances and the sequences. I am also moved and challenged by the story. This is an incredible film.

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