''True Believer'' (also released as ''Fighting Justice'') is a 1989 American

courtroom drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

written by Wesley Strick, directed by Joseph Ruben, and starring James Woods,

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

, Yuji Okumoto,

Margaret Colin Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Margo Hughes on ''As the World Turns'' and as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on ''Gossip Girl''. Early life Margaret Colin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and w ...

, and Kurtwood Smith. The film is loosely based on an investigative series of articles written by

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-nominated journalist

K. W. Lee Kyung Won "K.W." Lee (Korean: 이경원; born June 1, 1928) is a Korean-American journalist who worked for mainstream daily publications in the continental United States. Lee is also the founding president of the Korean American Journalists Associ ...

on the wrongful conviction of immigrant Chol Soo Lee for a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gangland murder. The news coverage led to a new trial, eventual acquittal and release of the prisoner from

San Quentin San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the o ...

Death Row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

. Screenwriter Wesley Strick based the character of Eddie Dodd on real-life Bay Area defense attorney

Tony Serra Joseph Tony Serra (born December 30, 1934) is an American civil rights attorney, activist and tax resister from San Francisco. Early life and education A San Francisco native, Serra was raised in the Outer Sunset district. His father, Anthon ...

Plot summary

Eddie Dodd is a burnt-out attorney who has left behind civil rights work to defend drug dealers. Roger Baron is an idealistic young legal clerk, fresh out of law school, who encourages Dodd to take on the case of Shu Kai Kim, a young Korean man who was imprisoned for a gang-related murder committed in New York's Chinatown and has now killed a fellow inmate in

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...

. Kim's mother believes her son was wrongfully accused in the gang-related murder. Dodd and Baron's investigation leads to a conspiracy among the district attorney, a police informant, and several police officers.

Cast

* James Woods as Eddie Dodd *

as Roger Baron * Yuji Okumoto as Shu Kai Kim *

as Kitty Greer * Kurtwood Smith as Robert Reynard *

Tom Bower Thomas Michael Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer and former BBC journalist and television producer. He is known for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorised biographies, often of business tycoons and newspaper pr ...

as Cecil Skell *

Gerry Bamman Gerald G. Bamman (born September 18, 1941) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for playing Uncle Frank in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992), and has also guest starred in several tel ...

as Brian Nevins * Charles Hallahan as Vincent Dennehy * Miguel Fernandes (See Miguel Fernandes on IMDb) as Art Esparza * Sully Diaz as Maraquilla Esparza *

Luis Guzman Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

as Ortega *

Joel Polis Joel Polis (born October 3, 1951) is an American television, film and stage actor. Polis has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career. Career Polis' first film role was the character Fuchs in the 1982 scienc ...

as Dean Rabin *

Kurt Fuller Kurt Fuller (born September 16, 1953) is an American character actor. He has appeared in a number of television, film, and stage projects. He is best known for his roles in the films ''No Holds Barred'' and ''Ghostbusters II'' (both 1989), ''Way ...

as George Ballistics *

Graham Beckel Graham Stuart Beckel (born December 22, 1949) is an American character actor. He is known for his guest appearances on television but has had roles in several major films as well. He is known for his roles as Franklin Ford in the drama film '' Th ...

as Sklaroff * John Snyder as Chuckie Loeder

Home Media

The film was released on Blu-ray in the United States by Mill Creek Entertainment on August 13, 2019.

Reception

Strick's screenplay was nominated for a 1990

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best Mystery Motion Picture. Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

commended Woods's performance for being "hypnotically watchable." At the time of ''True Believer''s release,

told the '' Charleston Gazette'' he enjoyed the film "as fiction...but it was not a true picture. They have completely preempted the struggle of Asians." ''True Believer'' inspired a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

television series, ''

Eddie Dodd ''Eddie Dodd'' is an American drama television series created by Lawrence Lasker, Walter Parkes and Wesley Strick. It is based on the 1989 film '' True Believer''. The series stars Treat Williams, Annabelle Gurwitch, Corey Parker and Sydney Walsh ...

'', starring Treat Williams in the title role.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:True Believer (1989 Film) 1989 films 1989 crime drama films 1980s legal films American crime drama films American legal films Films directed by Joseph Ruben American courtroom films Films about race and ethnicity Films shot in New York City 1980s prison films Columbia Pictures films Films scored by Brad Fiedel Asian-American drama films Korean-American films Chinatown, Manhattan Films produced by Walter F. Parkes Films set in San Quentin State Prison 1980s English-language films 1980s American films