Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0783722274002
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Allumination
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Allumination
MPN: ARDD27400D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Allumination
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-11-06
Running Time: 90
Studio: Allumination
Theatrical Release Date: 2005

A tragic true story that began in the spring of 1931 when nine black men were pulled off an Alabama freight train and accused of raping two young white women. The nine young men were quickly tried and sentenced to the electric chair. News of their convictions spread, forcing an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. New York attorney Sam Leibowitz (Timothy Hutton) traveled to Alabama in 1933 during segregation to defend the nine young men - setting in motion a legal battle that ultimately changed the lives of everyone involved as well as the course of American jurisprudence.

*A Well-Crafted Historical Drama!
*In The Vein Of To Kill A Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men and The Shawshank Redemption
One of the most shameful chapters in America's ugly racial history is dramatized in writer-director Terry Green's Heavens Fall, an account of Alabama's infamous "Scottsboro Boys" trials in the 1930s. As the film opens (in '33), nine young black men have already been convicted and sentenced to death for the rape of two white girls, based almost entirely on the girls' dubious testimony. When an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court results in a new trial, New York defense lawyer Sam Leibowitz (Timothy Hutton, sporting a thick NY accent) agrees to represent the boys. While he's an unqualified success on his own turf, having never lost a capital case, Leibowitz faces enormous, if not insurmountable, odds once he arrives in Alabama. Not only is he a Northerner among Southerners and a liberal Jew among conservative Christians; the bigger issue, of course, is the South's culture of racism, an ethos so endemic, so matter of fact, that it's almost banal. As the trial of defendant Haywood Patterson proceeds, it's pretty obvious how it will turn out; despite the transparent perjury of accuser Victoria Price (an effectively nasty Leelee Sobieski), the recanting of the testimony of the other "victim," Ruby Bates (Azura Skye), and Leibowitz's skillful dismantling of the prosecution's case (not to mention the almost total lack of actual incriminating evidence), another conviction is as inevitable as the sunrise. Still, there is some occasional shading here amidst all the black and white extremes: the presiding judge, James Horton (a low-key David Strathairn), appears to have a conscience, as does Leibowitz's court adversary, Alabama Attorney General Thomas Knight, Jr. (Bill Sage), who knows his case is weak but is hamstrung by the region's racist "traditions." As it happened, the trial depicted in Heavens Fall (the title comes from the saying "Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall") wasn't the last for the Scottsboro Boys. But this movie, with its period feel enhanced by its excellent cinematography (by Paul Sanchez), costumes, sets, and bluesy musical score (by Tony Llorens), is a compelling slice of a very big but not very tasty pie. Bonus features include two mini-documentaries, one a standard "making of" and the other depicting the filmmakers' struggle to withstand the onslaught of Hurricane Ivan while filming on location in 2004. --Sam Graham

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great courtroom scenes! Would injustice ever be reconciled?
Comment: I had never heard of this film. Indeed, it received very little publicity or theater time when it was released in 2006. But it was on cable TV last night and I was intrigued by its theme - an historical drama of the second trial of 9 young black men (aged 12 to 19) accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama. They were sentenced to death in 1931 but, in a case brought by the International Labor Defense organization to the Supreme Court, the sentence was overturned and a new trial was granted. A New York lawyer, Samuel Liebowitz, joined the Labor Defense team and went down South for the retrial in 1933. This film was about that trial.

I must say I had to refrain myself from running to my computer to research the case because I wanted my experience of the film to be fresh. I'm glad I did that because it added to the tension as I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. The director did a good job of setting the time and the place. The historical detail seemed perfect and the New York attorney reminded me a lot of photos of my own father in the early 1930s. For example, all the men wore hats and shirts and ties.

Most of the film took place at the trial but there was one recurring scene at a diner which showed a young black girl waiting patiently at the back door for an order of food while she is being ignored by the waitress.

The Southerners are not all depicted as bad. In this film the prosecuting attorney and the New York lawyer are staying at the same hotel. The southern lawyer is on track to someday become Governor. He is intrigued by the New Yorker and they sort of bond. But then the trial begins and its no holds barred.

There is also a young black newspaper reporter from Chicago who has come down South for the trial. He has to create a petition to be permitted to sit in the courtroom. Through his eyes we see some serious discrimination although we never really get to know any of the Scotsboro boys on trial.

I loved the courtroom scenes. I was at the edge of my seat. What was going to happen? Was this injustice ever going to be reconciled? I finally found out at the end and it was only then that I researched it more deeply on my computer.

This was a good film, low budget and well made. I wish it was more widely distributed especially because it is a piece of history.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 1933 versus 1948
Comment: The only quibble I have with this movie is Judge Horton should have dismissed the case against the nine men in 1933. Patterson escaped in 1948 from hard labor on a chain gang (just like in O Brother). The others were incarcerated, beaten up, shot in the head, etc., for at least six years. The movie makers wanted the audience to have some heroes but even though it ended Judge Horton's career, which was a waste because if you read his opinion in granting the motion to set aside the jury's decision, he was extremely erudite, he still should have been even braver and dismissed the case. The corroborating eyewitness testimony of Ruby Bates was gone and Leibowitz had pointed out that the other eyewitnesses in the first case had not been able to see the train. There was no evidence whatsoever. The actress who played Victoria Price should have made herself even uglier and more belligerent, like Charlize Theron in Monster. They should have made it plain that Victoria Price had been a prostitute for white and black men for years and had been transporting Ruby Bates, a minor, across state lines for the purposes of making money as prostitutes and had been in prison for fornication. (Something I read said some of the hobos were glad to go to jail to get something to eat so I am not sure how hard her jail sentence was.) Update: I have been doing some more reading and the person who started all this trouble, Victoria Price, was 27. She lied and said she was 21. She was afraid she was going to get into trouble for transporting a minor across state lines to make money as prostitutes. Ruby Bates was 17. It's called the Mann Act. She must have been a prostitute for over a decade. Nobody in that tiny cotton mill town could survive on what they made at the mill. The Aileen Wuornos story also shows how hardened someone becomes after years of being a prostitute. So I don't think LeeLee Sobieski should have been cast because she looked so fresh and innocent. Her acting was fine. The sheriff and the deputy from that tiny town were called in as character witnesses by Mr. Leibowitz and both said Victoria Price was a complete liar. Update: The code of the South required the lynch mob to be at the train stop just because the black boys threw the white boys off the train. No black person was allowed to get away with raising a hand to a white person, not only that if a white woman cried rape, the black man was lynched or legally lynched. Aren't they doing the same thing in the Congo now, where they say the woman was murdered because she put up some resistance while they were raping her, and the police show solidarity with the soldiers? Reign of terror. So when Victoria Price called "Rape!" she was essentially saying, "I'll show you how to put these [word omitted] in their place -- I'll say they raped me." This is in addition to her wanting to keep them from investigating her hobo-ing, which is punishable as vagrancy, and pimping for Ruby Bates. If the boys who had a fistfight had been white and the ones who got thrown off the train had walked to the nearest sheriff's office and said they wanted to file a charge of assault, the sheriff probably would have said they'll get away before we catch them and I'm liable to charge all of you with vagrancy, so go away and quit bothering me.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent remake of an excellent movie
Comment: This is an excellent remake of the excellent original entitled "Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys" with Arthur Hill as the Judge with a conscience. In my opinion, both movies rate five stars in being well-written and acted. Both kept the story true to course. I won't rehash the content, for it's been quite-well done already

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Particle of Decency Shines Through the Years
Comment: 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, November 07

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Acting, Cinematography
Comment: Great acting-- Timoty Hutton is intriguing, always looks like he's thinking. David Strathairn played the part of a judge to perfection-- forceul yet reserved. Azura Skye completely won me over. Beautiful cinematography, captured the feel of the deep south. Shot on a relatively low budget (less than two million), this is a brilliant work. I wish it had been longer. There was so much more I wanted to know about the characters. The DVD has some great features, including two documentaries.

Be sure to check out The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told

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