Gideon's Trumpet

Gideon's Trumpet

Anyone who's ever been arrested--or maybe just watched a cop show--knows that the right to representation by counsel is guaranteed by the Constitution, codified in the Miranda warning. But it wasn't until the early 1960s, when the events chronicled in Gideon's Trumpet unfolded, that this fundamental prerogative became law. As portrayed by Henry Fonda in this Emmy-nominated 1980 TV movie, Clarence Earl Gideon was neither a hero nor a crusader out to re-write history. He was in fact, a criminal recidivist, a poor drifter with four broken marriages and multiple prison terms in his past. Busted for breaking and entering and petty larceny in Panama City, Florida in 1961, Gideon proclaimed his innocence; but when his demand for a lawyer was rejected at trial (only defendants in capital cases were given court-appointed attorneys in Florida), he was forced to defend himself, resulting in a conviction and a five-year jail sentence. What followed was a matter of luck as well as persistence, as his appeal became one of the few that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear. Chief Justice Earl Warren (John Houseman, who also executive-produced) assigned Abe Fortas (Jose Ferrer), himself a future Supreme Court justice, to handle the case, and Fortas' skillful work led to the overturning of Betts v. Brady, a 1942 decision in which the high court had ruled that even indigent defendants weren't entitled to counsel when prosecuted by a state; Gideon's second trial (his claim that double jeopardy applied was rejected), this time with proper representation, is depicted in the final sequences of the film. As befitting the decidedly un-glamorous details of the story, Fonda, who was 75 at the time (the real Gideon was 51) and nearing the end of his storied career, delivers a laconic, low-key performance, effectively depicting a crusty, world-weary, but dignified man who got a raw deal, saw a flaw in the legal system, and fought to correct it. The film, too, is remarkably matter-of-fact: no melodrama, no music to manipulate the viewer's emotions at key moments, just a top-notch cast and a straightforward depiction of the case as described in Anthony Lewis' book of the same name. --Sam Graham

NR (Not Rated)
Year:
1980
104
1,052 Views

We couldn't find any quotes for the movie Gideon's Trumpet.

You can add a new quote for this movie by clicking on this link



Share your thoughts on Gideon's Trumpet's quotes with the community:

0 Comments

    Quote of the Day Today's Quote | Archive

    Would you like us to send you a FREE inspiring quote delivered to your inbox daily?

    Please enter your email address:

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this movie page to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Gideon's Trumpet Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.quotes.net/movies/gideon's_trumpet_quotes_4490>.

    Know another quote from Gideon's Trumpet?

    Don't let people miss on a great quote from the "Gideon's Trumpet" movie - add it here!

    Browse Quotes.net

    Quiz

    Are you a quotes master?

    »
    Who said: "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."?
    A John F. Kennedy
    B Gerald Ford
    C Lyndon B. Johnson
    D Jimmy Carter