Reviews:The Detroit Free Press:
"The suspense never lags... The best part of the film is the courtroom
action... It's like watching a superb table-tennis match... Coyote has a distinctive face
and a fresh approach to each new role, and Loggia, as he always does, creates something
new from the old."
Roger Ebert Gives it 3.5 Stars:
"Jagged Edge is supremely effective at what it sets
out to do - toy with the audience. It's another effective thriller from Richard Marquand,
who made Eye of the Needle. The performances are good and the plot is
watertight, as a whodunit must be."
Gene Siskel Gives it 3.5 Stars:
"Take your pick... works as a courtroom drama, as a mystery and as
a thriller, a rare triple play in the movies... Eszterhas has gone the extra mile to give
every principal player in his script a dimension beyond the trial's outcome."
Philadelphia Daily News:
"A sexy and truly mysterious murder mystery featuring Peter Coyote
in a bravura, scenery-chewing performance as a D.A. bent on prosecuting a golden-boy,
publisher-millionaire for his wife's mutilation murder."
Palm Beach Post:
"The action is absorbing and the dialogue is sprinkled with juicily adult innuendoes.
And the romantic conventions of Hollywood are deliciously twisted by the possibility that
the hero/leading man could be rotten through and through and a murderer... The cast is
deadly attractive (not only Close and Bridges, but also Coyote as an overambitious D.A.
and Loggia as an endearing but dirty-talking investigator.)"
Newsday:
"The acting is good: Close and Bridges play off one another well;
Coyote as the sleazy D.A. and Robert Loggia as a private eye are especially
effective."
Magill Movie Guide:
"Richard Marquand picks up Hitchcock's technique, gives it a
feminist twist and serves up an altogether entertaining, tension-packed film... Most of
the viewer's antagonism is centered on the D.A. Tom Krasny, played with villainous ease by
Peter Coyote."
Wichita Eagle:
"Both an intellectual and emotional roller coaster of impressive,
white-knuckle proportions. It is adult, sophisticated, literate and compelling... Smooth,
subtle performances by trio of leads - Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges and Peter Coyote - that
are cynical perfection."
Cineman Syndicate:
"There are plenty of thrilling twists and turns to chew on as the
intriguing melodrama unfolds at a steady pace... Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia stand out
in fine supporting roles."
James Berardinelli:
"Coyote is deliciously dislikable as the unethical,
politically-motivated D.A.."
DVD Verdict:
"Peter Coyote puts in what could be considered his best
performance ever as Thomas Krasny. He plays the perfect political
climbing villain here
Images
"I
think we succeeded in keeping the surface veneer in the courtroom without really giving
anything away. You have to keep the tension going. Somebody asked me the other day if it
wasn't immoral to be so manipulative. Come on, we're telling a story...Of course, it's
manipulative." ...Director Richard Marquand
"My own psychological
framework for Krasny was that there were three guys involved in a robbery of a
neighborhood grocery, and the grocer was killed so I fingered the Styles kid for the
trigger man - only to find out later he wasn't the trigger man. But he was there... He was
in on it, somehow. He's still a criminal. So, from Krasny's point of view, Glenn (Close)
is like a knee-jerking liberal, howling about the injustices of the system. But so far as
he's concerned, he got another criminal off the streets. And that was its own
justification for not admitting the mistake. Once you cop for that 'ends justifies the
means' deal , it's all over. That's the history of civilizations, the covert
lusting-after-power thing." ...Coyote
Did you know?
- The film is available on DVD and video.
- The studio took out an advertisement in Variety putting Coyote's name up for a
nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Krasny.
- Teddy's clothes change several times while giving her opening statement to the jury.
- Visible in David and Jenny Barnes' bedroom is a poster for Return of the Jedi (1983),
also directed by Richard Marquand.
- Coyote and Loggia both starred together two years later in the TV's mini-series, Echoes
in the Darkness, based on Joseph Wambaugh's novel.
- Some people say the plot was inspired by the von Bulow case. Others say it was the
Jeffrey MacDonald case.
- Jagged Edge may remind old-movie fans of The Paradine Case, a
1947 classic.
- Both Close and Bridges learned of their most recent nominations on the set of Jagged
Edge, and for only the second time in Oscar history did a film in production have
both its male and female leads nominated for Academy Awards.
Favorite
Lines:
Jack Forrester: How
can you defend me if you think I'm guilty?
Teddy Barnes: It happens all the time. It's
the way our legal system works.
D.A. Staff: You
really think he could have done that to his own wife?
Thomas Krasny: You murder your
wife... only you're real smart so you make it look like some f***ing Charlie Manson did
it. You want people to say "geez, do you think he could have done that to his own
wife?" If I was going to kill my wife, that's the way I'd do it.
Teddy Barnes: Did your mother
ever wash your mouth out with soap and water?
Sam Ransom: Yeah, but it didn't do any f***ing good.
[ The
Official Peter
Coyote Web Site ]
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