What Is The Difference Between The Movie And Justice For All

The movie And Justice For All was released in June 1979 and stars Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe and Lee Strasberg and. A academy award nominated movie it takes place in Baltimore. Arthur Kirkland, played by Al Pacino is a defense attorney in Baltimore who is known as an incorruptible attorney who attempts to initiate reforms in the Maryland justice system. The movie starts with Kirkland in jail on contempt of court charges he received while arguing the case of an innocent defendant. Kirkland lives haunted by the outcomes of two former trials, one client who later committed suicide in jail; the other is still alive but is in jail on a trumped-up traffic charge. As the events in the movie play out it becomes painfully clear to Kirkland just how deep corruption has spread and brings to light how much money and power can derail or cloud people’s ability to make honest ethical decisions.
Kirkland becomes a member of ethical corruption within the legal and criminal systems after Kirkland is blackmailed by Judge Fleming into defending him after he is accused of rape.
Kirkland detests this judge, and faces a clash of conscience, which is a battle of ethics, to do his job or allow his personal feelings to cloud and affect his ability to defend him. Gail, an ethics committee member Kirkland is seeing, cautions him not to betray his client when he gets incriminating pictures that show the judge in compromising situations with a prostitute. The scene “You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order!...” is a well known scene that becomes the turning point in the movies battle between Kirkland’s ethical
dilemmas.

There are several examples of both unethical and ethical situations in this movie. An example of being treated unethically in the criminal system would be when the defendant was forced to be striped searched in front of the other inmates just to humiliate him. This is an example of psychological abuse which is a category discussed by Baker and Carter. (p 178) A second example is the relationship between Gail and Kirkland. Alone it is not unethical but because of conflicts of interest between their professions if he ever had to go before the committee would be. (p 260) An example of an ethical situation is Kirkland being disgusted by Fleming and his remarks made in court about wanting to rape the victim again Kirkland continues to defend his client. He appears to be setting the grounds for a strong case when to the surprise of everyone snaps, turns on his client, which flips it back to being an unethical example, and says the famous quote to the jury “My client, the honorable Fleming should go right to fucking jail! The son of a bitch is guilty!” This is a blatant disregard for the legal process and goes against the code of conduct he swore to uphold. It is considered unethical to betray client attorney privilege no matter how much the defense attorney dislikes his client. Our book cites “The rules require that attorneys zealously protect and pursue a client’s interest within the boundaries of the rules while maintaining a professional and civil demeanor toward everyone involved in the legal process.” (p 233) Kirkland trampled on every aspect of this rule by his actions. On the flip side of the unethical aspects of the movie Pacino's and Tambor's, Kirkland’s friend and partner, performances are meaningful in their convictions to defend the wrongfully convicted. They passionately defend and represent their clients and both take their jobs very seriously. When they win and set killers free the remorse they feel is evident and life altering. The movie ends with an exhausted Kirkland sitting on the courthouse steps knowing full well his actions will probably put the judge in jail but at the same time also cost him his practice and everything he worked for.