Heavens Fall

Movies such as HEAVENS FALL are poignant reminders of the cruel history of this country that still makes us bow our heads in shame. The story by writer/director Terry Green is a sensitive recreation of the re-trial of an African American man (one of nine) condemned to death in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931 for the supposed gang rape of two white women, a trial with an all-white seated jury who took only 20 minutes to deliberate and convict the young men. It is a study of racism in the South in the 1930s and while the viewer would hope that the ending is triumphant, the story quietly fades with a particle decency represented by a New York trial lawyer and a sympathetic judge who opened the door to the beginnings of seated African American jurists. It is powerful in content: it is magnificent movie making.

Samuel Leibowitz (Timothy Hutton) travels to Alabama form his offices in New York in 1933, to represent the nine condemned men after a Supreme Court ruling opened the door for a retrial. Leibowitz meets the prosecuting attorney Thomas Knight, Jr. (Bill Sage), more devoted to his potential career advancement than to his role as prosecutor, and the judge assigned to the case - James Horton (David Strathairn). Leibowitz interviews the nine condemned men and Haywood Patterson (B.J. Britt) is the first to be re-tried. Careful investigation uncovers the shaky case that convicted the men and Leibowitz, with the aid of the attorneys who pleaded the case before the Supreme Court, attempt to gain a racially mixed jury without success. Sent to cover the trial is a young reporter from Chicago (Anthony Mackie) who witnesses the racial hatred in the South first hand. His presence adds credibility to the proceedings. During the trial Leibowitz calls as witnesses the two women who made the false accusations - Victoria Price (LeeLee Sobieski) and Ruby Bates (Azura Skye) - and despite evidence clearing the nine men the trial ends in defeat. But that is only the beginning of a story that persists to this day. This is a true story about how racial hate tore the South apart in the 1930s, but it is also the story of how a few honest people tried to alter history.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with Strathairn, Hutton, Skye, and Sage giving potent performances. The climate of the times is well captured by the cinematography of Paul Sanchez, the costumes by Lisa Davis, the fine editing by Suzy Elmiger, and the simple but effective musical score by Tony Llorens. This is a film everyone should see, not only because of the need to re-examine this part of our history, but also because it is such a fine example of American cinema. Grady Harp

As a featured extra on the film, jury foreman, I very much enjoyed working on the film. Everyone was very very good to work with. I have done theater but this was my first film in front of the camera. EVERYONE was really great!!! Not only on camera but behind the scenes they were all wonderful people. The actors and crew were all very nice, helpful and understanding of the mistakes we made as non professionals. I have worked with other directors and Terry is one of the best.

We here in Monroeville would love to give them a very special thanks for all the things they did to help save the courthouse and the other work they did before and after hurricane Ivan.

There is much about this film that makes it a good film, the cast are all very good and seem perfect in their respective roles. There are many different emotions and ways of thinking being portrayed and this is all done really well. In many ways this film reminds me of 'A time to kill', but it is shocking to think that the events portrayed really happened, and not that far into the past either. The racism and segregation that existed in the southern states of the USA are in many ways worse than apartheid in South Africa. To think that otherwise intelligent, moral and well mannered people can have such idiotic views regarding people of a different colour is astounding and America should be deeply ashamed of this. I wonder what some of the real people as portrayed in this film now think of their Black President? I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoyed 'A time to kill' or 'To kill a mocking bird'.

This movie was good overall with excellent performances from the cast and the cinematography was excellent. The script however could have been better as I would have liked it to go into more details about the other defendants but it was well written otherwise.

I had the great pleasure of seeing the East Coast Premiere of "Heavens Fall" at the Stony Brook Film Festival, Long Island, NY on July 20, 2006.

Timothy Hutton gave a riveting performance as defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. In my opinion it was his best since his equally fine portrayal of Archie Goodwin in "Nero Wolfe." Bill Sage as prosecuting attorney Thomas Knight, Jr. and David Strathairn as Judge Horton were also excellent in their roles. Bill Smitrovich as co-defense attorney, Maury Chaykin in a cameo role as a bigoted insurance salesman, Francie Swift as Leibowitz' wife, Belle, and James Tolkan as Thomas Knight, Sr. (four other "Nero Wolfe" actors) were exceptional, too, as was B.J. Britt, Haywood Patterson, in his film debut. LeeLee Sobieski and Azura Skye as Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were marvelous in their extremely difficult roles.

The score by Tony Llorens was haunting - a perfect accompaniment for the plot and the beautiful cinematography by Paul Sanchez.

This fine movie with its superb acting, splendid score, and beautiful cinematography had only been seen in the US by festival audiences, but it is now available to a broader audience. (US DVD release, November 6, 2007) The DVD includes two "behind the scenes" documentaries by Charley Rivkin with additional footage by Adam Witt. The first, "Creating The Fall," includes interviews with Terry Green, Timothy Hutton, Bill Sage, David Strathairn, Anthony Mackie, LeeLee Sobieski, and Azura Skye with their thoughts on the movie and the subject matter. The second, "Surviving The Fall," is about the difficulties the cast and crew endured and heroics they performed when Hurricane Ivan interrupted the filming of "Heavens Fall."