Murder in the First (film)

Murder in the First is a 1995 American legal drama film, directed by Marc Rocco, written by Dan Gordon, and starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Embeth Davidtz, Brad Dourif, William H. Macy, and R. Lee Ermey. It tells the alternate history of a petty criminal named Henri Young who is sent to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary and later put on trial for murder in the first degree. This film was described on the poster as "the case that took down Alcatraz".

Murder in the First
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMarc Rocco
Written byDan Gordon
Produced byMarc Frydman
Mark Wolper
Starring
CinematographyFred Murphy
Edited byRussell Livingstone
Music byChristopher Young
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
January 20, 1995
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$23 million
Box office$29.5 million[1]

The film received mixed reviews.

Plot

As a 17-year-old orphan, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) steals $5.00 from a grocery store to feed himself and his little sister Rosetta (Amanda Borden), both of whom are destitute. He is apprehended by the shopkeeper (Wally Rose) and Rosetta is sent to an orphanage. Because that grocery store also housed a U.S. Post Office, his crime is upgraded to a federal offense. Young never sees Rosetta again and is sentenced to Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas.

After later being transferred to Alcatraz where he gets oppressed by associate prison warden Milton Glenn (Gary Oldman), he participates in an escape attempt with two other prisoners Rufus McCain (David Michael Sterling) and Arthur Barker (Michael Melvin).

The escape plan fails due to the betrayal of McCain. Arthur Barker is killed by the guards and Glenn punishes Young by having him sent to "the hole" which is in Alcatraz's dungeons where Glenn also had him tortured. Except for 30 minutes on Christmas Day in 1940, he is left in there for three years. The solitary confinement causes Young to lose his sanity.

On release back to the general population, he experiences a psychotic episode in the prison cafeteria and attacks McCain, stabbing him to death with a spoon in full view of the prison staff and the other convicts.

Young is put on trial in San Francisco for first degree murder in what district attorney William McNeil (William H. Macy) and the public-defender's office run by Mr. Henkin (Stephen Tobolowsky) believe is an open-and-shut case. Public defender James Stamphill (Christian Slater), a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, is given the case. After discovering the facts of Young's case, Stamphill attempts to put Alcatraz on trial by alleging that its harsh conditions drove him insane.

The trial overseen by Judge Clawson (R. Lee Ermey) becomes highly politicized and contentious. While Glenn denied any mistreatment of Young, Stamphill also held Warden James Humson (Stefan Gierasch) accountable for not being present during Glenn's actions towards Young.

Young tells Stamphill that he wants to change the plea to guilty as he'd rather be dead than be sent back to Alcatraz. Young is convicted of involuntary manslaughter and not first degree murder. He is returned to Alcatraz and put in "the hole" on Glenn's orders with Young claiming that he still won either way. Young was found dead in his confinement prior to his appeal where he has "victory" written on the walls. Stamphill's narration stated that Young didn't die in vain and thanked him for making him a baseball fan.

The film concludes with an investigation into Alcatraz. Glenn was convicted for mistreatment and banned from working in the US penal system.

Cast

Production notes

Because the producers wanted authenticity, co-stars Bacon, Slater, and Oldman spent some of their free time locked in jail cells while the movie was being filmed. Bacon lost twenty pounds for his role as Henri Young.

Principal photography began on December 13, 1993. Production took place in San Francisco, California, and Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay. The courtroom sequences were filmed first, at Triscenic Production Services Inc. in Los Angeles, California. On January 17, 1994, during filming one of the courtroom scenes, filming was interrupted by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Bacon, who was handcuffed to a large table, took refuge by hiding underneath the table, while an enormous crystal chandelier began to swing overhead (later, the studio was condemned). A week and a half after the quake, filming resumed again. In February, they moved to Alcatraz. Filming there had to be done at night, because the National Park Service did not want to disrupt daily tourism in the daytime. More than 300 crew members had to be crammed in the prison cells. Production wrapped on March 12, 1994.

Historical accuracy

The film makes numerous changes to historical events. The real Henri Young was not convicted of stealing $5 to save his sister from destitution. He had been a hardened bank robber who had taken a hostage on at least one occasion and had committed a murder in 1933. Young was also no stranger to the penal system. Before being incarcerated at Alcatraz in 1936, he had already served time in two state prisons in Montana and Washington. In 1935 he spent his first year in federal correctional facilities at McNeil Island, Washington before being transferred to Alcatraz.

The film ends with the fictional Henri Young being returned to the dungeons of Alcatraz in the early 1940s where he supposedly dies. In reality the real Young remained on Alcatraz until 1948 before he was moved to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri where he stayed until 1954. While on Alcatraz he remained in the main cell block. Young was not kept in any dungeon as they had been closed almost a decade earlier. In 1954, Young was transferred to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla to begin a life sentence for the murder conviction in 1933.

In 1972, after Young was released from Washington State Penitentiary at age 61, he jumped parole. According to Washington State authorities his whereabouts remain unknown. Young was born in 1911; if still alive as of 2022, he would be about 110–111 years old.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, April 16, 1941, the Defense stated in court that Henri Young was locked up in solitary confinement for over three years. This is taken directly from the paper, "Emphasis which they repeatedly laid on the fact that Young was in isolation or solitary confinement for more than three years—and that he drove his knife into McCain’s abdomen just eleven days after release from such confinement, made it clear that the defense hopes to show not only that Young was “punch-drunk” but that the punches were administered by the Alcatraz "system".

Four other prisoners attempted to escape Alcatraz with Young, not just two. One of the men omitted from the film (Dale Stamphill) has the same name as Young's lawyer.

Many of the ideas in the movie were taken directly from newspaper articles of the trials, including the ending scene where the jury only convicts Young of manslaughter, and requests that Alcatraz be investigated.[2]

Release

The film was released in theatres on January 20, 1995 in 1,237 theatres in the U.S. and Canada and grossed $4,719,188 in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $17,381,942 in the U.S. and Canada and $29.5 million worldwide[1] against a $23 million budget.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave the film a score of 51% based on reviews from 37 critics. The site's consensus states: "Despite a strong cast and story inspired by incredible real-life events, Murder in the First is strictly second rate."[3]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, and criticizes Slater as being too young for his role and not confident enough to dial down his performance.[4]

References
  1. Klady, Leonard (February 19, 1996). "B.O. with a vengeance: $9.1 billion worldwide". Variety. p. 1.
  2. Read the document here: http://www.notfrisco2.com/alcatraz/bios/hyoung/hyoung4.html
  3. "Murder in the First". Fandango Media.
  4. Ebert, Roger. "Murder In The First Movie Review (1995) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
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