The Juror is a 1996 film directed by Brian Gibson and starring Demi Moore as Annie Laird, a single mother, picked for jury duty on a Mafia trial. She is forced to persuade her fellow jurors to vote "not guilty" by "the Teacher," who threatens to kill her son. When the trial is over, however, he cannot seem to let her go. The film was released on February 2, 1996.
Plot
Annie Laird (Demi Moore) is a sculptor who lives in New York, and she has a son named Oliver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Annie works a day job as a data-entry clerk. Oliver has a crush on Annie's friend Juliet (Ann Heche), who has a son named Jesse (Brett Barsky).
Annie is selected to be one of the jurors in the trial of mob boss Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco). Louie is accused of ordering the murders of Salvador Riggio and Salvador's grandson Thomas Riggio (Joseph Perrino).
Annie soon meets a man named Mark Cordell (Alec Baldwin). After Mark buys some of Annie's artwork, he wines and dines her, and then Annie discovers that Mark is better known as "The Teacher" -- he's Louie's enforcer, and the material perpetrator of the hit job for which Louie is being prosecuted. Mark tells Annie to convince the jury to acquit Louie, or Oliver, Juliet, and Jesse will all die.
An extremely frightened Annie does convince the jury to acquit Louie. After the trial, Louie wonders if maybe Annie should disappear, because Louie sees Annie as a loose end. But Mark has a problem with that. He seems to have developed feelings for Annie, or perhaps an obsession. In order to exert further pressure on her, Mark goes after Juliet, who we discover is his unwitting lover. After the two have sex, and much to her horror, Mark reveals himself to Juliet as Annie's stalker, immobilizes her and forces her to swallow pills one by one to the point of overdose or poisoning. Mark later boasts, implicitly, of Juliet's murder when speaking to his partner Eddie (James Gandolfini), whose immediate understanding and slightly unsettled reaction leave the audience to assume that this behavior is not at all unusual in Mark. Eddie we learn later on, is disgusted with Mark's behavior and helps Annie midway through the film, particularly when he tells Annie that he also has a child and understands her willingness to protect her son.
Meanwhile, Annie hides Oliver in T'ui Cuch, Guatemala with her friend Boone (Matt Craven). At the same time, the DA is trying to convince Annie to turn state's witness so they can go after Mark, who plans to take over Louie's empire with the help of South American drug dealers. When the DA's office has Annie wear a wire, Annie gets Mark to incriminate himself by inducing an ambitious rant from his part as they speak. She then uses the tape to tip off Louie to Mark's plans, and the latter plans a meeting between the two.
The meeting, announced to Mark by Eddie and obviously intended to be an execution, provides further evidence qualifying Mark as an intelligent psychopath; he escapes unharmed, killing Louie and Louie's son Joseph (Michael Rispoli), whom earlier in the film, has a problem with Mark and even more so when he discovers that Mark has absolutely no problem with endangering the life of a child for his amusement. An unlucky Joseph is killed along with all henchmen present at the scene. Furious at Annie for setting him up, he slashes Eddie's throat and calls her from Eddie's house, revealing his knowledge of her son's whereabouts and his intention to travel to Guatemala and kill him.
When Mark follows them, there is a showdown between Annie and Mark as he threatens to kill Oliver. A native arrives with a rifle and shoots Mark. Annie reluctantly kills the wounded Mark to ensure the safety of her son.
Similar Film Basis
A nearly identical circumstance befalls juror Joanna Whalley in the Heywood Gould film "Trial by Jury" (1994), based on a book by novelist Jordan Katz. But here Alec Baldwin's character is the focus, whereas "Trial By Jury" divides the role between ex-cop William Hurt and gangster Armand Assante. Both books and both films use the basic premise of the jury process in a much earlier film, 12 Angry Men (1957).
Cast
External links
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