Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

A Major Disappointment

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Caryl Chessman, in 1960, was one of the last Americans executed for crimes other than murder. While on death row, he wrote a celebrated book and became the face of the anti-death penalty movement.Alan Alda strikes a convincing note as the cocky Caryl Chessman, convicted and sentenced to death in a string of crimes known as the Red Light Bandit attacks. The movie's creators, however, cheat a bit by making Chessman a little too sympathetic. Alda throws a chair across a room to show his frustration in one scene, but the film stops short of showing just how confrontational and difficult to like Chessman was in real life. Chessman was a brilliant writer, but anyone carefully reading his books sees a fundamentally dishonest and manipulative sociopath behind the clever prose. He proclaims his innocence of the crimes, yet never bothers to account for why their pattern so closely matches his own descriptions of his earlier exploits that landed him in Folsom Penitentiary. Had the film gone in for more of a warts and all approach to the character, it would have succeeded at being at least less dishonest than its subject.That said, the film accurately captures its period and brings out the many details in Chessman's trial that seemed to indicate that it was something less than fair. The film tiptoes around the central issue of Chessman's guilt, portraying the Red Light Bandit crimes in flashback without showing the identity of the perpetrator. But his fight for fair treatment by the justice system, guilty or not, makes for strong cinema. This movie is definitely worth a watch, however one might view its protagonist's guilt.

I have read some drivel in my time but the comment of this movie and the header page is full of absolute crap! Obviously this person has no idea about this story at all! HE WAS INNOCENT! Yes this is a true story and the reason its great, apart from the acting, is because of the complete unjustness of the whole "Capital Punishment System" IT DOESN'T WORK! How the hell are you going to pay restitution to someone who is dead.....god you make me bloody angry. Get a grip, get your facts right, and let this be a lesson, 12 years on death row...????? if your innocent is ridiculous, you want to know what else is ridiculous. Your suppose to proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt. If there is no reasonable doubt then he should have been there one day whilst they set the damn electric chair up then did the deed....SEEMS TO ME 12 YEARS MEANS THERE IS A HELL OF A lot OF REASONABLE DOUBT. He should never have been given the death penalty at all.....No one should you bloody red neck!

This film is just as bad as "The Birdman of Alcatraz". I do not refer to the acting but rather the premise of both films, which try to portray psychopathic criminals as heroic figures. Moreover it disturbs me when well respected, revered actors like Alan Alda (and Burt Lancaster) play such roles, because their status tends to lend credibility to the director's intent to elevate the film's subject, a societal outcast.I was in junior high school during the last years of Caryl Chessman's life and his death penalty appeals and books were very much in the news. I remember the groundswell of opinion that the death penalty was wrong and Chessman was the victim.Get a grip people. Read the history. Chessman was a criminal and sexual predator. He drove around the LA streets at night with a stolen police light in his vehicle. He stopped cars with attractive women inside under the ruse of making a traffic arrest; then abducted and raped the women. Rape is the worst trauma a woman can experience and many victims say they would prefer death to its horror and humiliation.Chessman got exactly what he deserved, it just took a decade too long. No sympathy for the devil here.

I arrived at my destination (a commune) and was told to wait in a sitting room for them to process my application. The sitting room had a TV, and it was showing this movie. This movie was as awful as a movie can be, and by the time it was over I again truly understood how much it is a shame to waste precious time. For any reader of this post, do not see this piece of junk.Sometimes I have got to tell it like it is!