I, the Jury (1982)

Directed by Richard T. Heffron. With Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera, Laurene Landon, Alan King. An old friend of a private detective is murdered. The detective, Mike Hammer, will make every effort to find out the killer. At each step he does, there is someone taking advantage of his progress.

I, the Jury is a 1982 film based on the best-selling detective novel of the same name by Mickey Spillane. The story was previously filmed in 3D in 1953. Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay and was hired to direct, but was replaced when the film's budget was already out of control af

"I, the Jury" is a violent private eye thriller, with a certain redeeming sense of style. Unlike most of the private eye movies of recent years, it isn't intended as camp, it's not supposed to be funny, and the characters don't talk like Damon Runyon. Also to be considered is the fact that this movie contains more breathtakingly beautiful women than any other movie in recent history.

Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay to this updating of Mickey Spillane's notorious 1947 novel. Cohen was originally engaged to direct the film as well but was pulled from the director's chair after a week's worth of shooting because he had already run up the budget by $100,000; he was replaced by television director Richard T. Heffron. In this 1982 I, the Jury, Mike Hammer (Armand Assante) is a Vietnam veteran who wears hip duds and drives around in a bronze Trans Am in much the same way as Robert Mitchum's Philip Marlowe was refurbished for Michael Winner's re-make of The Big Sleep. After a cheesy rip-off of a James Bond-style credit sequence, the story kicks in. One-armed detective Jack Williams (Frederick Downs) is murdered. Jack was Hammer's best friend, and Hammer decides that he will become a one-man vigilante squad and seek vengeance on the person responsible for his death. He enlists the aid of his vivacious secretary Velda (Laurene Landon) and is also helped and hindered by police-chief Pat Chambers (Paul Sorvino). Hammer latches on to the killer's trail, then the film veers in a radically different direction from the book, introducing government conspiracies and mind-control techniques by the CIA and the Mafia. Also introduced is Hammer's love interest Charlotte Bennett (Barbara Carrera), an administrator of a kinky sex clinic (depicted as a psychiatrist in the original novel). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Overview of I, the Jury, 1982, directed by Richard Heffron, with Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera, Laurene Landon, at Turner Classic Movies

Jack Williams was the best friend of Vietnam veteran and detective Mike Hammer. When Jack is murdered, Mike makes it his business to solve the crime. He is helped by his secretary Velda, and partly helped, partly hindered by the Chief of Police, Pat Chambers. On the trail of the killer, Mike discovers government conspiracies, and plots used by the CIA and the Mafia.

I, the Jury summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links.

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