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Rating: 3.5 out of 5
American history is FILLED with amazing, great, legendary black people. Black people who help mold and create this country for the better. One such person is Thoroughgood “Thurgood” Marshall. Thurgood Marshall was the Supreme Court’s first African American justice. Before serving on the highest court in the land, he was a civil rights lawyer leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a legendary figure in ending racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court. His most prominent and nation-changing case was winning the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended the separate but equal doctrine and stated that segregation was unconstitutional. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Mashall to the Supreme Court.
The film Marshall is a film before Thurgood Marshall became a Supreme Court Justice but one who traveled around the country to defend those against racial discrimination. The film focuses on one of his first cases: the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell. The film is set in 1940. Thurgood Marshall (Boseman) is a young but highly intelligent lawyer for the NAACP who travels around the country defending innocent African Americans from discriminatory laws. Marshall’s next case is assigned in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An African American by the name of Joseph Spell (Brown) is accused of raping a wealthy white society woman by the name of Eleanor Strubing (Hudson). Marshall agrees to be Spell’s lawyer with the help of insurance lawyer Sam Friedman (Gad). At the first hearing, Marshall is met with resistance from the racist Judge Foster (Cromwell), who states that Marshall has no business defending in Connecticut. Friedman is reluctant to be the lead lawyer and speak for the team. The unlikely pair must find a way to free Spell and fight for justice.
Marshall is a nice legal drama film that shows one of the many cases in Marshall’s illustrious career. I was a little disappointed because I thought it would be a culmination of Marshall’s life, but instead, we got one of his cases. It was nice to see Marshall defend a black man in Connecticut, but I thought the Brown vs. Board of Education case would’ve been far more interesting. That case had a tidal wave effect on the country and changed the education system in the United States. I felt like this was another case; the film could’ve been any other case that Marshall had performed throughout his life.
The actual case was entertaining, but it was one where the ending might have been predictable a mile away. Sometimes, you think that the North was accepting, but it was still racist. You knew Marshall was going to face hardship for his race. The film showed that Friedman faced heavy criticism even though he knew everyone from the place. Now that I think of it, the case was almost secondary in the whole film. It was more about the characters getting along or getting jumped when not in court. If we focus on the case, the testimony by Eleanor and Spell was the most powerful part.
Strubing testimony was intense as it was a woman explaining what she went through with a rape. She ultimately had an affair with Spell but was afraid of her wife beating husband. She lied on the stand and should be arrested, but you could see what she was up against and probably was going to be beaten when she got home. The Spell testimony was the most powerful part of the whole film. Spell explains why he lied because he and everyone else knew that if he didn’t, they would’ve cut off his manhood, strung him up from a tree, and he would’ve died. When the State Prosecution asked for his remarks to be removed, Judge Foster stated that they would not be taken out because he knew that they were true, and homeboy would’ve been dead.
Regarding the acting, two people stood out the most. First was Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall. Boseman has shown throughout his short life that he can play any character with such force and appeal. He showed Marshall as a man who was up for any challenge and fought for the justice of the weak. Secondly was Josh Gad as Sam Friedman. Gad was fun to watch and entertaining when the moment came up. Gad showed Friedman’s growth as a character who went from a person who only did insurance law to one who wanted to defend people who the criminal justice let down. The scene where he cross-examined Strubing was excellent as he screamed through the gag.
Marshall is a good film that could’ve been better. The problem with this film is that the case it picked didn’t really impact you and made you think it was just another court case film. Boseman and Gad were strong in their respectable roles and tried to carry this film. Thurgood Marshall was a legendary figure, and the film only showed his toe of how great he was. Maybe another movie will come out and show even more of this great man.
