Murder in the First

Based on a true story, Murder in the First follows Henri Young, a small-time offender sent to the federal prison on Alcatraz in the 1930s. Caught during an escape attempt, he is punished with long-term isolation in the island's dark solitary cells; the isolation far exceeds its permitted limit and leaves him deeply damaged. Released from confinement, Young kills a fellow inmate he believes informed on him, and is put on trial for murder with a possible death sentence hanging over him. His case falls to James Stamphill, a young and inexperienced public defender, who builds a defence arguing that the prison's brutal conditions, rather than the man himself, produced the killing.

Marc Rocco directed the 1995 film from a screenplay by Dan Gordon, with Christian Slater as Stamphill, Kevin Bacon as Young and Gary Oldman as Associate Warden Milton Glenn. Embeth Davidtz, William H. Macy and Stephen Tobolowsky round out the principal cast, which numbers 25 credited performers. The production, a United States and France co-production mounted by Warner Bros. and Le Studio Canal+, cost about 20 million dollars and returned roughly 30 million worldwide.

On IMDb and TMDB, audience scores sit around 7.1 out of 10 from 632 votes, noticeably warmer than the film critics' rating of 5.5 out of 10 from 39 reviews. The film runs 122 minutes.