A TIME TO KILL HD - BEST CLOSING ARGUMENT EVER - CLOSE YOUR EYES I'M GOING TO TELL A STORY OF A GIRL
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2020
- From the John Grisham film adaptation of the courtroom drama "A Time to Kill." Carl Lee Hailey is on trial for the killing of two men who savagely raped his little daughter. No other defense lawyer in town will take up the politically charged case except young attorney, Jake Tyler Brigance. Sensing his own moment in the national spotlight, local DA Rufus Buckley gleefully tells his staff that "this is the moment we've been waiting for" because he wants to make a run for the governor seat. Things aren't going so well for Brigance - his star expert witness was found to have been convicted of a felony and Buckley trapped Harris on cross-examination. Seeing that the only way to convince the all-white jury of Hailey's innocence by plea of temporary insanity is to get them to empathize with Harris - what would they have done or felt if the little girl in Brigance's horrific recount was white?
Jake Tyler Brigance's Closing Argument:
"I set out to prove a black man could receive a fair trial in the south, that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. That's not the truth, because the eyes of the law are human eyes -- yours and mine -- and until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be evenhanded. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices, so until that day we have a duty under God to seek the truth, not with our eyes and not with our minds where fear and hate turn commonality into prejudice, but with our hearts -- where we don't know better.
Now I wanna tell you a story. I'm gonna ask ya'all to close your eyes while I tell you this story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves.
This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl.
Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up, and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on, first one then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure -- vicious thrusts -- in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to bear children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. So they start throwing full beer cans at her. They throw 'em so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones -- and they urinate on her.
Now comes the hanging. They have a rope; they tie a noose. Imagine the noose pulling tight around her neck and a sudden blinding jerk. She's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking and they don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck, and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge and pitch her over the edge. And she drops some 30 feet down to the creek bottom below.
Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body, soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood -- left to die.
Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl.
Now imagine she's white.
The defense rests, Your Honor." - Zábava
After everything she’d been through, the first thing she said to her father was........
“I’m sorry for dropping the groceries.”
Lies again? This land is mine
That struck me hard too!
I died 😭😭😭
That broke my heart. I've never had a movie make me cry like this.
So realistically written, studies show Self blame is a survival response.
As a father of of a 9 yr old daughter, this shit crushed me & had me in tears.
As you are a father you are capable of empathy whereas other men who aren't fathers are incapable of that emotion, right?
@@amazingusername8925 you could be correct, my mother raised me & my older brother & that probably is why I have such strong emotional reactions to things like this, I want to help people just to help. My nephew has no such empathy or emotion like I do and I firmly believe he has no such empathy or compassion for others, not because he was born bad but rather given zero consequences for his actions. But we taught him to care so maybe he is just plain defective.
@@amazingusername8925 You won’t understand until you raise a child
@@irishx302 I don't have a child but i can still understand
i dont have kids but i am raising my nice and i can say if it was her,i would have went crazy
I know Mathew won an Oscar years later for Dallas Buyers Club, but THIS was his true golden performance right here.
He wasn't going to get the Oscar for this because it hits too close to home with what America was/is.
But I agree with you about this being his golden performance!!
What’s sad is that he had to make them imagine she’s another color just for them to understand.
That’s what I’ keep saying
I believe the teaching here was.. that the jury no doubt imagined the girl black.
His lesson was to teach them about their own thinking and see how things are.
I was molested as a little girl and I am trying to get pregnant with my husband who is very loving and caring and we both agree anyone rapes our little girl we will gladly murder them no apologies
No, what really sad is that this art imitating life.
This is a film. IRL it takes no imagination
Even this very story lol
Grisham has described the book as "very autobiographical" in that the novel's "young attorney is basically me" and the drama is based on a case he witnessed.[2] In 1984 Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi.[3] Two sisters, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, had both been raped, brutally beaten, and nearly murdered by Willie James Harris.[4] Unlike Grisham's depiction, however, the Scotts were white and their assailant was black.[5]
This is the best closing argument ever - A Time to Kill was a heartbreaking look into the injustices in the legal system, especially in the South
The sadder part is how little we've progressed. www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/some-hunger-games-fans-upset-character-rue-black-flna560267
@@joelzuniga6235 Yes because we haven't progressed at all since this time
You are insane if you think this was a good closing argument
In the real story this was inspired by the victims were two little white girls assaulted by a black guy
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_to_Kill_(Grisham_novel)
Look into how Grisham got the idea for this story.
🤡
I bawl my eyes out every time I watch this. Truly amazing performance and my favorite part of the movie!!
That's not just "a movie".
Very
he did such a awesome job! 😢
"Can you see her?"
Ik the "now imagine shes white" is the main hitter but the couple times he asks if you can see her breaks me forreal 😭
If we all could just see a child, absent of color...or woman or man. We are all people made in God's image.
This movie is an absolute masterpiece. It's personally in my top 10 favourite movies. And I'm willing to bet, that every single father, would do EXACTLY what Carl Lee Hailey did, if it happened to them
I stand with Deputy Loony.
Amen
I know that MY Dad would have done that. I've seen ALL of the film adaptations of John Grisham's works, and this one is THE BEST!!! I saw this on the big screen, and this scene had the audience SILENT.
I don't know how anyone involved with this scene didn't scream during this monolog and I have no idea how Matthew was able to recite the sickening details of this case without having a nervous breakdown. Yes, it's amazing acting, but it's wrenching to know people still inflict this kind of misery on others.
This is the best, most emotional closing argument in cinematic history - A Time to Kill will resonate throughout the ages as long as racial injustice is present.
Grisham has described the book as "very autobiographical" in that the novel's "young attorney is basically me" and the drama is based on a case he witnessed.[2] In 1984 Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi.[3] Two sisters, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, had both been raped, brutally beaten, and nearly murdered by Willie James Harris.[4] Unlike Grisham's depiction, however, the Scotts were white and their assailant was black.[5]
True. This scene and the movie always get to me no matter how many times I watch it.
The victim WAS white. The criminal es black.
In reality the case the rapists were black and victims were white. His question with that knowledge shows how hollow you are in your thinking. We know what would have happened they would have made a movie with the races reversed if she was white.
Excellent observation Cammila
If this scene doesn’t just rip your heart out...question if something was there in the first place!
Yeah but you have Regan as your profile pic one of the most racist presidents in modern history
My heart crumbles every time...
@@CEO_Of_Racism-fk3qv Based Ronald Reagan.
@@CEO_Of_Racism-fk3qv how was Reagan racist
Still makes me cry. It's heartbreaking to know it's a reality hitting at our young boys and girls out there. Our babies should never have to suffer.
No one should.
Creating a paradigm shift is a brilliant and skillful process. This worked because most people are self-absorbed rather than other-directed.... so until the “shift”, they can not imagine a situation that would resonate with them. Magnificent close!
Brigance's wife thought he was doing the case because of the publicity - no, Brigance took it up because no one else would and he would've done the same thing to those monsters had it been his little girl, Hannah
The way he looked at it is that Carl Lee's daughter was an innocent child like his own daughter. He would of done the same thing like any other loving father skin colour doesn't matter it's the fact she was an innocent child.
this is literally explicitly said in the movie...
@@dynahvelvixin.8615 bro you watched the whole movie and still missed the point ..
@@whitneyx5770 Really how?
I'm late to these comments but his closing argument had me crying like a baby and then my breath caught at the end. This scene started my love of watching opening and closing statements and trials. Yet I've never seen one real life closing statement that matches this.
This is a nice edit for A Time to Kill -= thanks for doing this
I sobbed through the last 45 mins of this movie and I’m a 26 year old man
One of the most POWERFUL SCENE IN MOVIE HISTORY
This was such a powerful scene. The lawyer was also coming to terms with his thinking as well.
I read somewhere that the tears Matthew McConaughey sheds at the end of his closing argument were real tears. He couldn't keep his emotions in check.
Les Grossman should've done the closing arguments!!!
I watched this movie a long long time ago and that scene still stick in my memory.
I was 16 yrs old when this came out and yes it broke my heart and I teared up.a lil, but I didn't get all overly emotional and didn't know why it was such a huge deal because stuff like this happens everyday,and I was conditioned to not dwell on stuff like this. But when I saw this again after having my baby girl in 2003... OMFG...there are no words to describe the gut wrenching agony, the bawling, overflow of emotions you feel that is true 💯 heartbreak because now I feel it as a parent. And I finally understood what the big deal was. Only until a person becomes a parent can comprehend it,It hits you in a way that knocks the air out of you. Amazing book and amazing movie. Truly a classic ❤️
You don't have to be a parent to comprehend it! As i woman, i comprehend it quite well if it had happened to my own body. I can't imagine being torn asunder by not 1 but 2 men why bigger and older than me, being lynched by them, having full beer cans thrown at me till the flesh from my skin rips off, having my jaw broken, being pee'd on and soaked in semen and then tossed over a creek.
I’m not even a parent and a balled hard I just hard not pictures if I had to go threw that. At all if I ever become a parent. Some day it may be even worse but I already ball really really hard at it. When I saw this never seen the movie I don’t think I can handle seeing the movie but I saw this scene on Facebook and bald my eyes out really really hard
Exactly. Same here i’m not a parent yet but my motherly instincts came in like imagine if I was a mother or if it was a sister that went through it or myself and it’s just hard not to ball eyes out
and get really emotional
You don't have to be a parent to understand. It's just that each of us matures at a different rate, and you hadn't gotten to the point where it would 'hit home' yet. But you're there now, and hopefully will be able to pass on the wisdom that you have gained, to your children.
The best closing argument in cinema... how else was Brigance gonna get an all-white jury to see that Hailey’s state of mind was not normal given the circumstances ?
Except this closing doesn't follow the book at all. This is my favorite book of all time and this honestly is a huge butchering of it. His telling the story of the rape and asking everyone to imagine she's white--in the book it's one of the jurors who does this during deliberations, not Jake. Jake's genius as a lawyer in the book is that he refuses to make it about race. He's baited to do so on many occasions and he won't. He doesn't believe in it for one thing. The book version of Jake is actually not exactly a liberal other than by virtue of not being a racist. But every other political view Jake expresses in the book is actually fairly right-wing, and he even says he's a Republican. But he gets an unfavorable jury whom he knows will not respond well to race-baiting so he leaves that out of his arguments. He argues basically as a father who would have done the same thing if it had been his daughter.
@@ADEAL918 This is true... I guess what would be more compelling as a movie? To have the defense counsel do the "I'm gonna tell you a story of a little girl..." or to have a juror do it...? So much of courtroom drama is played out in the courtroom (think A Few Good Men) as opposed to inside the jury deliberation room (12 Angry Men).
ikr his whole argument was BuT wHaT iF iT wAs a wHiTe GirL
@@avanigore1499 because that was the only way tp get them to see the facts. They were racists and only saw black instead of justice.
taken at face value, it was a good strategy, but could have been made stronger than it was. It's not enough to end with "imagine she's white". "White" is too abstract a concept, in fact it is a concept, period. Better he'd said "she is your daughter", and "she's calling for you, begging you to help her...". In other words, personalize it. Most viewers are already doing this, as are many characters. Making it personal is the all the difference. Furthermore, all the previous talk about seeking truth with the heart and not the head - that's weak. He doesn't have to say all this, and it seems too hokey, Hallmark card sentimentality. I would expect plenty of people are simply not going to react well to being asked to judge with the heart (unless you are already a bleeding heart liberal). So, to get past all that, better to go straight into the exercise of imagining your own daughter raped and abused... and how that would play upon your sanity...
Just watched this film today, so brutal and hard to contemplate the reality of our justice system. Incredible performances all around, definitely worth watching I cried at the end!
Grisham has described the book as "very autobiographical" in that the novel's "young attorney is basically me" and the drama is based on a case he witnessed.[2] In 1984 Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi.[3] Two sisters, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, had both been raped, brutally beaten, and nearly murdered by Willie James Harris.[4] Unlike Grisham's depiction, however, the Scotts were white and their assailant was black.[5]
@@MrBobkilla you are doing God's work getting the truth out. We all gotta do our little part.
@@MrBobkilla it's going to be a difficult task to break people of their brainwashing. Hollywood continues to do its worst even to this day, but many are waking up.
The scene demonstrated to me how beautiful acting can be.
One of my all time favorite movies and movie scenes
Now this scene made me cry.
My fav part of the movie. I also liked the part when he shot those two guys
The best part is when he shot those two guys,I was a little bit angry becouse he did not shot the third one!
Lit them up
@@cilimara Except the third one supported him and testified on his behalf. On my list of people I can't stand, right under "racists" are the people that are angry and violent just to be angry and violent but have no true purpose.
@@cilimara That guy was just doing his job and it was later revealed also a childhood friend of Carl Lee
So many great scenes “Yes they deserve to die and I hope they burn in Hell,” was a great scene
Masterpiece
I saw this on Facebook and I just balled my eyes out I never seen this movie but they show the scene what they did to a little girl and I just like got so sick that I don’t think I can watch the movie I love Matthew McConaughey but I just don’t think I can’t handle it I’ll get to emotional and I just I can’t handle movies like that sometimes. It can be very overwhelming for me with my adhd that’s why I couldn’t watch the show Tiger king when my sisters were watching it. I just don’t have the heart to be strong Watch things like that I can’t even watch the news.
one of my favorite movies of all time! If only real life was like this. SO SAD
Matthew (however you spell his last name), dude really brought me to tears when I heard him say this.
Matthew McConaughey
THIS IS THE BEST CLOSING ARGUMENT IVE EVER SEEN I WAS IN TEARS. MATHEW. SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED AND “”OSCAR “” FOR THIS PERFORMANCE IT WAS INCREDIBLE MATHEW IS A GREAT ACTOR ANYWAY OMG SAD
Camila Araujo “” omg I love your comment it is so correct terrible closing argument
Saw this film, it was incredible acting
Matthew McConaghey is a better actor--and person--than he gets credit for being.
I can remember nearly crying when Jake made that closing statement at that trial!
That last sentence was like a knife through the heart.
As I recall, when they did the movie, Jackson wasn't too happy about the portrayal of Hailey as being sort of utterly dependent on Brigance. The closing argument here by Brigance was not actually done in the book by defense counsel... it was done by a juror in deliberations. Still, this scene is so compelling in its own right. I was not a big fan of McConaughy as an actor because I thought he was always too wooden and stiff. Here, however, he shows a different side of his abilities. This is well before his Academy-Award winning role in Dallas Buyers Club
Read his book, Greenlights.
Agreed, his acting was off the richter scale. Sucks he got caught in the romcom vortex for a decade, and true detective got him out of it.
Matthew McConaughey broke character in this scene 😢 them lines there were too deep when he said "imagine she was white"
Oh yes u can totally tell
In the real life case that this movie is based on the girls were white. The rapist was black
This scene is just epic!
A powerful scene
Great movie!
A must see movie ! Another movie that people should watch is , To Kill a Mockingbird !
For my beloved sister,now deceased….💙🦋❤️🌈🌹
I always thought the reason he did this was because even though the victim is black, as soon as he said “Picture a little girl”, he knew the jury would instinctively picture a little white girl. Ending the monologue with “Now imagine she’s white” was his way of forcing them to confront their own personal biases, because they already HAD been imagining a white girl the whole time. It’s likely the only reason that some of them got so emotional in the first place, and then why they looked so “Oh shit…” at the end.
To me this makes the most sense
I think the point isn't that the victim _is definitely_ black, but that he specifically doesn't tell them to imagine the girl's race or her attackers' race until the very last sentence and yet he knows and they know that they've all been imagining a white girl attacked by black men up to that point even though he has not specified her race before that point at all and she could've been any race, but their own prejudice already made them imagine her to be a specific race despite that.
THANKYOU!!! THIS was ALWAYS my interpretation. Tht most of the people listening would NATURALLY think of a white girl, and so when he says “imagine she’s white” is to make them realize the bias even within their own thoughts
"now imagine she was white"...eff me what a mike drop
Now imagine e the irl story this was based on.
The father never got his revenge either.
Grisham has described the book as "very autobiographical" in that the novel's "young attorney is basically me" and the drama is based on a case he witnessed.[2] In 1984 Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim at the DeSoto County courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi.[3] Two sisters, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, had both been raped, brutally beaten, and nearly murdered by Willie James Harris.[4] Unlike Grisham's depiction, however, the Scotts were white and their assailant was black.[5]
@@MrBobkilla John Grisham is a coward with a white savior complex.
Thanks for info Capt. Obviously. Who cares if a rapist is black or white, or the victim is black or white...Your comment only fuels the racists and bigots of the,world..Shame on you!!!!
This was mcconaughys big break. Finally!!! Such a good performance - him and Kevin spacey, Keifer Sutherland . Gah so many people are in this movie !!
I cried
This concept applies today
If y’all think the scene was amazing, the book was even better. Not quite as shock. But still good
Also worth noting that the book was inspired by "To Kill a Mockingbird" from 1960. They are both great books and excellent movies. The 1960 movie was even more crushing. Gregory Peck absolutely crushed it in that role.
Matthew has become one of the top.actors. He's good looking and he can play a bunch of parts. Most importantly he gives his all!
My favourite part of this movie.
Best scene.
Hi Elsa Anna. Is there any way I can use a small clip of your clip to use on Tk Tok? I want to use the end line to make a point about protecting our little girls.
sure
I knew Mathew would win an oscar soon enough; the man is a powerhouse
Living in the south Charlotte NC is the same as having an ex wife they are a liability and waiting to get sued. To start for misrepresentation, discrimination, alienation of affection. Enforce 40,000 of child support and no court order visitation enforcement! Charlotte NC
Yeah amen
In the book one of the jurors in the the jury room told them to do this.
Same thing with attorneys and judges. MY TRUTH SHALL BE KNOWN!
How is it that Tom Armstrong who lives on Philadelphia chruch road in locust NC ( who is partners with Armstrong and Eshailmen dentistry in Charlotte NC can own a AK-47 and I can't get Mecklenburg county courthouse to enforce court order visitation
Worst closing argument ever.
Insulting as hell.
I'm surprised no one in the audience interrupted Brigance during his closing argument in A Time to Kill
In reality the other council for sure would have objected or something cause they would have know what he was doing. But movies gotta movie
I guess even boy molester Spacey had some decency.
@@LudaChez i think counsel has lot more leeway in closing arguments to just ramble if they so wish. there's nothing to object to really
yeah, not really realistic, but it's a movie and I think we can forgive this little venture into fantasy land
He taught them empathy, imagine if you were in his shoes and that happened to your daughter...
Sad it has to be said that way... Nothing has changed in 96' or 20'
And it never will in USA
The movie takes place in the 80s the film came out in 96. It’s based on a case in the 80s. In the real life case the victims were 2 white girls and the rapist was black
This closing argument... its so heartbreaking. I'm glad Carl was declared innocent for getting justice for what those two wastes of oxygen did to his daughter. Honestly, I would do the same exact thing if it had been my daughter.
John Grisham is so damn good!!!
Greenlights
I'm reading it, now, and can't put it down! (This comment section should make it obvious as to where I am in the book.) Matthew and I are from the same stomping grounds- the Piney Woods of East Texas. (Longview) I've always had a heart on for him, as he is my people, but this book gives such insight to who he is- why, and how. I love it! And, I want to find that 30 story tree-house!
@@LoveRupee such a great book. I couldn't put it down either.
Allstate is a joke to work for as far as a insurance company
Best Closing behind noisy appears wiithin MichaelNordan
He's A Good Lawyer!
'Now imagine she's white' the fact this had to be said and he had to make them see this poor victim as a white girl and not a black girl so they could truly understand the horrifying and traumatic actions that was inflicted upon her says everything, when someone is assaulted like this they should be given justice and their attackers should be sentenced to the fullest extent regardless of the colour of the victim or perpetrators skin, the fact this shit actually happens makes me sick, POC deserve better, SMDH!!
4:36 i think that, in that point, the reason why he seemed too uncomfortable to say that was because he thought about his own daughter.
exactly how does this tear jerking story make carl lee innocent, even insane? yw for the comment
Hey I’m trying to find information on the real life case that inspired this film but I can’t find anything
Check your local library friend..and ask for books authored by John Grissom..
Best of luck Dave from Canada 🇨🇦
😭
Any further interaction with my in-laws will result in a criminal act!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Real life sad acting honest loweyer save court 🙄🙄
The sad reality is the fact that this little girl was minding her own business. And all of what was said happened to her.
My son was only six month when i went to see that movie, any father would kill for their kids.
Best closing argue and best closing sentence ever ---Now imagine she is white
The new Disney roller coaster attraction the wu-tang ( that teamed up with transformers) roller coaster called the bumble bee coaster.
Im unsure of what year this movie came out, I was surprised that there were no Oscars for it, hope the other movies were worthy because this is one of Jackson/ McConaughey's best movies.
1996.
Usual Suspects, Braveheart, Apollo 13, American President, Sense and Sensibility, Toy Story, Waterworld, and Babe were popular films that year.
Staten island and a family business?
Does Matthew look like Marlon Brando here?
Has the criminal justice system changed in the South in the past 20 years? A Time to Kill could've been a story that took place in the 1960's
Yes, it has. See my reply above.
I thought it was placed in the 60's until they mentioned 1985 I was like wtf
to be honest eh not really i don’t really think dennis has a say in this seeing he isn’t a person of color so it wouldn’t really have no effect on him . so from an actual poc point of view no we could do so much better
The story was based in the 80s. But anyway in the story it was based on the girls were white and the rapist was black
Has the criminal justice system changed in Chicago in the past 20 years? Chicago has had over 40 shootings so far this weekend. Seven of them were fatal.
How can I see the full move can someone help
i watched it on 123movies i just finished watching it a couple of minutes ago it’s amazing 😍 and very underrated!
Read the book. It's good
How can I watch the whole movie?
Netflix
We don't need no stinking laws. We got Carl Lee Hailey and his big gun.
Words closing there eyes kidnapping conspiracy to commit kidnapping from clarendon memorial hospital stressed too many
Bodies invaded
No wonder why this movie should never be made. This is exactly how it is when you go to court in Albemarle NC. Where does Puerto Rico and Spain and New York fits in all this? The lawyer talks like this looks like this and the same thing for the judge. No wander the south gets a label. The first song that comes to mind is reunited by WU-TANG after watching this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!!!!!!
Equal huh wo so what was the knee about with the other name that was in the statements yes I was there (Chiquita Hardin) I never went too court on it so y’all tell me what’s real in courts…..
In a way he was the prosecutor…
Imagine not living in a racist state like Charlotte NC
imagine if she is white
OSCAR......JUST FOR THE CLOSING ARGUMENT ALONE!!!!
Player used tarsha ragin born
Imagine she's white.smh
Can't see the forest because of the trees.
Close your eyes is brina fludd