... but because of the actor he was at the time. Hamil plays Joe Celi, a teenage boy who borrows his uncle's sporty new car without that uncle's permission. The uncle decides to teach Joe a lesson and have him arrested like any common criminal. The problem is he ISN'T a common criminal, but he's put in a county jail full of them. So a tough guy decides to pay a debt by trading Joe's sexual favors for the debt. When Joe won't go on the prearranged "date" he is forced to defend himself ending in the death of the demanding inmate. Now a lesson in consequences has just turned into a homicide charge.
Raymond Burr plays defense attorney Mallory who is employed, ironically, by the uncle who set these tragic circumstances into motion in the first place. Don't think that Burr doesn't point that out to the uncle either. I remember this film because it was one of the first to deal realistically with prison rape and what happens when a middle class young man is housed with hardened predators. And, of course, I remember it for being a part Mark Hamil played just a year before he became Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Recommended if you can ever find it.
Raymond Burr plays defense attorney Mallory who is employed, ironically, by the uncle who set these tragic circumstances into motion in the first place. Don't think that Burr doesn't point that out to the uncle either. I remember this film because it was one of the first to deal realistically with prison rape and what happens when a middle class young man is housed with hardened predators. And, of course, I remember it for being a part Mark Hamil played just a year before he became Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Recommended if you can ever find it.
