Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I cannot better the review of this TV film given earlier by 'Michael Elliott' but I want to add my thoughts on how this film left me feeling. It is sad that there are so many persons in the 'Deep South' who seem to be so full of hate that their sense of decency is so completely destroyed. The man was found guilty for many reasons but evidence was certainly not one of them. Racial prejudice, Social prejudice ( he was rich and from the north ), Desire for Political advancement, Desire for fame ( name in the paper etc ) or just plain hatred for no other reason than you are thick as two planks were among the reasons this man was murdered and the real murderer allowed to get away. OK he was found guilty by a jury but they were not shown all the evidence and they had listened to a convincing ambitious prosecutor who seems to have coached many of his so called witnesses and even made up evidence and ignored any that proved 'Franks' innocence. But what is more disturbing is the lynching of this man after it had started to become clear that someone else had done this. In a court today ( we hope ) this would never have happened. The guy who wrote the note and changed his story many times would be a prime suspect but in this case it appeared not to be so? I cannot understand why the hatred for 'Frank' was more than the south's usual hatred for blacks? Or was it just that having made a massive mistake their pride wouldn't allow them to back down? One thing that this film does omit is the fact that many of those baying for Franks blood were Ku Klux Klan members or sympathisers. This film left me feeling angry and bewildered at the ignorance and lack of intelligence, morals and decency of so many people and not that many years ago.

I can't believe I don't know anything about this event in US History, but then there are so many examples of southern racist idiocy and violence in US history, it's kind of hard to keep up with them all.I've never even heard of this movie despite it including major actors like Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey because it makes Georgians and Southerners look, well, not too good is putting it mildly.Rural racists wrongly accuse a Jewish factory manager of murder, and railroad him using testimony from the actual murderer, a criminal with a long record, then hound a governor who commutes his sentence out of the state, and then they lynch the man after his sentence has been commuted. See the sequel to more of the lovely legacy of this wondrous part of the nation in Mississippi Burning. Makes you shudder to think of what it would be like to get railroaded by a gang of low-IQ violent morons. Read up on the real event online - its horrifying. The movie is not just based on a true story, it is the true story, sorted out 70 years after the fact.Technically a great movie. All the leads deliver great performances, and I always enjoy watching Jack Lemmon speak for good and justice. The movie is a lot fairer to the lynchers than it had to be. There isn't a conservative network or major channel out there that wants this film broadcast again, but thank the THIS channel for being a great venue of alternative (once mainstream) films of the past. I really appreciate that channel. Too much in fact, it's distracting me regularly.

This movie involved one of my ancestors on my father's side of the family, Mary Phagan. Back in the 70's my uncle, Leo Phagan, had been researching our family tree and had learned about what happened to Mary Phagan. He shared the information with me and I thought it was a bizarre, yet fascinating story and was pleasantly surprised to see that they actually made a movie about it. Unfortunately, our family has no other claim to fame. It is a great movie with excellent acting and I would recommend it to anyone. I also agree with the previous reviewer that it would be an excellent movie to show in school to a history or sociology class. Hope you enjoy it.

I had the chance to watch much of this film being made, as it was shot around Richmond and in the State Capitol. It holds up very well. But the real fun is remembering that Kevin Spacey and Peter Gallagher made a movie together before American Beauty -- back when they were little known. It's also another example of the Jack Lemmon/Kevin Spacey relationship.