MOVIE · 1995
Murder in the First
CrimeDramaThriller122 min
In 1930s San Francisco, a young public defender is handed the case of Henri Young, an Alcatraz inmate accused of murdering another prisoner behind bars. Christian Slater is the inexperienced lawyer forced to challenge not just the charge, but the prison that shaped it, while Kevin Bacon's Young arrives in court marked by abuse and isolation. As the trial unfolds, the case widens from a single killing to the conditions inside Alcatraz itself, with courtroom arguments pulling in prison officials, legal maneuvering, and the question of how much responsibility belongs to the man on trial and how much to the institution holding him.
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