The Star Chamber
by Peter Hyams
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Actor: Hal Holbrook, James Sikking, Michael Douglas, Sharon Gless, Yaphet KottoDirector: Peter Hyams
Brand: N/A
Cinematographer: Richard N. Hannah
Writer: Peter Hyams
Editor: James Mitchell
Producer: Frank Yablans
Producer: Jonathan A. Zimbert
Producer: Kurt Neumann
Writer: Roderick Taylor
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Star Chamber
DVD Review: "Our Own Court Of Last Resort"
Summary: 5 Stars
Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook star in 1983's "The Star Chamber", an excellent drama which has Douglas portraying Superior Court Judge "Steven R. Hardin", who, time and time again, is forced to return criminals to the streets due to legal technicalities. Eventually, he can take it no more -- and resorts to joining an exclusive nine-member organization composed of fellow judges -- The "court of last resort" (as Holbrook puts it during the film).
Hardin's internal struggle in dealing with his newly-acquired (and ultra-secretive) "power" is dealt with nicely in the film, with Michael Douglas giving an outstanding performance in this reviewer's opinion.
In fact, everyone in this cast is letter-perfect in their parts here. From Douglas (who was 38 years old when he made this movie) .... to Holbrook .... to Sharon Gless (who plays Michael's wife) .... to Yaphet Kotto (who gives a very good and restrained performance as a police detective).
And the actors that the filmmakers got to play the killers and assorted crooks in this movie will give you the willies by just glancing at them. The two main bad guys in the film are played by Don Calfa and Joe Regalbuto, and both are wholly convincing as all get out, especially Calfa as "Lawrence Monk". This guy's "look" just screams "shady character". He'll give you the creeps right from the get-go. Great casting, IMO.
I also very much like the way members of the police are portrayed in "The Star Chamber". They seem like "real" cops to me in this picture; not phony in any manner -- another first-rate job of casting and characterization.
For baseball fans, there are even a few brief "cameos" made by some major-league baseball players (circa 1982 or very early 1983) when the filmmakers took their cameras to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to film a scene. The two judges (Douglas and Holbrook) take their wives to a ball game between the hometown Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. During the course of this scene, several different Dodgers' and Braves' players appear on screen -- such as veteran Atlanta knuckleballer Phil Niekro (who was pitching against Los Angeles that night), first baseman Chris Chambliss and catcher Bruce Benedict of the Braves, and then-L.A. stars Dusty Baker and Steve Sax.
About the only humor in the movie comes during this Dodger Stadium scene, with several funny lines of dialogue being spoken, such as Holbrook's character repeatedly referring to various Dodger players as "class acts" ("Baker's a class act"; "That Sax is a class act"; "Come on Guerrero! A class act, that guy").
Holbrook gets in another witticism when he looks around at the crowd in bewilderment and utters: "Why does everybody here bring radios? As if they won't believe what they see until Vin Scully tells them HE saw it too." (LOL.)
Sharon Gless gets in a good line too (after discovering that Dusty Baker is making $800,000 a year, which is, of course, a mere pittance when compared to today's ridiculous sports salaries) -- "Eight hundred thousand DOLLARS? That's four times more than the President of the United States makes."
To which Holbrook's character chimes in with -- "Baker's a better hitter." :-)
This "20th Century Fox" DVD sports a very good Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) version of "The Star Chamber"; plus there's a Full Frame/Pan-and-Scan (1.33:1) edition of the movie on the other side of this dual-sided disc.
The Widescreen version is (naturally, IMO) by far the best way to watch this motion picture -- or any other movie that was originally filmed in a Widescreen format.
A good example of the drastic difference between the far-inferior Pan-and-Scan (1.33:1) format and the intended Widescreen (2.35:1) version of this movie comes in DVD Chapter #13. There's a scene which has Hal Holbrook's character (at his home) getting up to get a drink, while Michael Douglas stands on the far right side of the frame. This nicely-photographed scene, via the proper aspect ratio of 2.35:1 Widescreen, shows Holbrook on the far left side of the screen, while Douglas remains in the shot on the far right.
But if you watch the horrid Pan-&-Scan version of this disc, you'll see only Mr. Holbrook during the above-mentioned portion of the film; while Michael Douglas is completely cut out of the shot (due, of course, to the zooming in and "re-formatting" that is required to blow up a 2.35:1 image to fill up a 1.33:1 TV frame.
There are several well-composed shots in "The Star Chamber" that benefit nicely from the w-i-d-e 2.35:1 composition. Lighting and shadows are also used quite effectively here, with "shafts" of light accentuating the visuals in several parts of the movie. The film is in Color, and the colors are well-rendered and natural-looking on this DVD.
Let's take a look at some more information regarding this DVD-Video
>> AUDIO -- Three separate Dolby Digital soundtracks are provided -- English 5.1 Surround; Spanish 2.0 Stereo; and French 2.0 Stereo.
>> SUBTITLES -- In English and in Spanish.
>> MENUS -- Static, non-animated variety of Menus. ... Sub-Menus for "Languages", "Scene Selections", and "Special Features". ... No music utilized.
>> CHAPTER STOPS -- 28 total chapter breaks included.
>> BONUS MATERIAL -- The only supplements are two Trailers. One is a full-length Original Theatrical Trailer for "The Star Chamber"; the other is a shorter "Teaser Trailer" for the film.
>> PAPER ENCLOSURE? -- Yes. There is a two-sided, one-page color insert (with Chapter Index). The front side of this insert, btw, features a different photo than that of the cover art on the DVD's Keep Case. Nice job on the DVD photos, IMO.
>> THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE FOR THE FILM -- August 5, 1983.
>> DVD RELEASE DATE -- February 1, 2005.
>> MPAA FILM RATING -- "R" (For Language and Violent Content).
>> FEATURE RUNNING TIME -- 1 hour, 48 minutes.
This 1983 "sleeper" has awakened on an excellently-presented DVD edition from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment!
If you currently own the Pan-&-Scan-only VHS version of "The Star Chamber", then toss it out immediately and upgrade to this superior DVD version.
Description of The Star Chamber
No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 1-FEB-2005
Media Type: DVD
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