The Chair

4 Reviews

"Robert Drew assigned production for THE CHAIR on the basis of a 10-minute phone call. Producer Gregory Shuker was shouting from a phone booth in Chicago: “The condemned man asked his best friend, warden Jack Johnson, to throw the switch on the electric chair!” Paul Crump was going to be electrocuted for murders he committed 19 years before, unless a parole board produced a last-minute reprieve. The film interweaves candid filming of multiple characters into a tense, real-life drama." - Jill Drew, daughter-in-law of Robert Drew and General Manager of Drew Associates

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Release Date:	Nov 12, 1962
Running Time:	79 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English

synopsis

This enthralling fly-on-the-wall film dives into the complexities of a death penalty case in Illinois, following lawyers Donald Moore and Louis Nizer as they fight to save convicted murderer Paul Crump from the electric chair. Filmmakers Robert Drew, Gregory Shuker, Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker allow viewers to experience the high-pressure chain of events leading to a pivotal parole board hearing along with Crump, his prosecutors and his defenders, in a film that created a sensation at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.