William Friedkin was one of the most influential and greatest directors in American cinema. With ‘French Connection’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Breathless with Fear’ he has delivered several classics that repeatedly explore boundaries and, not least, are groundbreaking, which still generate a lot of enthusiasm today. William Friedkin passed away on August 7, 2023 at the age of 87 – a sad day for all film lovers.
Fans can still look forward to another film from the master director: “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” The star-studded courtroom drama, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Caine Was Her Fate, will not be shown in cinemas in this country, but will be released as a subscription to Paramount+ – on February 23, 2024!
That’s what “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” is about
Naval officer Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (Jake Lacy) faces a US Navy court-martial. He is accused of one of the most serious charges possible: mutiny! In December 2022, in the middle of a storm, he dismissed his captain, Lieutenant Commander Phillip Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland), from command of the minesweeper Caine – citing the fact that his superior was mentally ill.
Marky’s attorney, Lieutenant Barney Greenwald (Jason Clarke), tells his client before the trial that he would much rather represent the prosecutor. He also asks prosecutor’s first witness Katherine Challee (Monica Raymund) so few questions that even Judge Captain Luther Blakely (Lance Reddick) feels compelled to intervene. But the longer the trial goes on, the clearer it becomes that Greenwald has a defense strategy – one he may not even like…
Gripping cinema with great actors
Last year we were able to watch “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” at the Venice Film Festival – and were quite impressed with the legal thriller. The conclusion in the official FILMSTARTS review (3.5 out of 5 stars) by our author Björn Becher is as follows:
“Fans of dialogue-heavy courtroom games can look forward to the streaming start of William Friedkin’s latest film. Because apart from a few Kiefer Sutherland exaggerations, this is a staging-reduced, but otherwise first-class and exciting drama cinema.
William Friedkin doesn’t break new ground with “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” In 1997 he directed the highly watchable new edition of “The Twelve Jurors”. Friedkin was familiar with chamber play-like, dialogue-driven courtroom thrillers.