Respond to these rapid questions in our Marshall quiz and we will tell you which Marshall character you are. Play it now.
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This solid drama from the 1940s provides a glimpse into an alternate universe in which African-American actors could be treated as old-school movie stars, appearing in period pieces that are less concerned with providing audiences with a solemn, Oscar-baiting history lesson and more concerned with telling an entertaining story that happens to be based on real-life events.
Chadwick Boseman, who has established himself as Hollywood’s go-to guy for portraying important Black Americans, has added another icon to his collection: Defending Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), a black man accused of the rape and attempted murder of a white society woman, Eleanor Strubing, Thurgood Marshall (later Supreme Court justice) is dispatched to Bridgeport, Connecticut, by the NAACP and future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (Kate Hudson). Michael and Jacob Koskoff, a father-son screenwriting team who worked together on the film “House Party,” adapt a script that was based on a true story. Reginald Hudlin (“House Party,” “Boomerang”) directs the adaptation. Numerous twists and turns that appear to be out of left field are taken from the record.
In one instance, the sitting judge (James Cromwell), an imperious old white man who doesn’t appreciate having a confident black New Yorker in his court, decides to turn Marshall into a bystander by declaring that only attorneys licensed to practice law in Connecticut are permitted to argue before his court. There is a sense that Spell has been dealt an early checkmate with the intention of sending him to prison immediately: the NAACP only assigned Marshall to Bridgeport because the white majority had already made up its mind about Spell’s guilt and no local attorneys would take his case.
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The hero is forced to use his co-counsel, Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), an insurance lawyer who has never tried a criminal case, as a sock puppet in order to save his own skin in the process. He works out the specifics of their strategy behind the scenes, and then guides Friedman through the jury selection process and opening arguments with handwritten notes, facial reactions, and irritated sighs and grunts, among other things. From here, “Marshall” transforms into a mismatched buddy film of a kind that we haven’t seen before in the genre.
However, despite the fact that Boseman has complete credibility as a brilliant attorney, especially when Marshall and Friedman are trying to work around the judge’s restrictions, his performance as Thurgood Marshall does not feel like an imitation, nor does it seem overly concerned with giving us a true psychological portrait of Thurgood Marshall the man as it does in the film. It’s more of a classic Hollywood alpha male badass performance, in the vein of Humphrey Bogart, Paul Newman, and other 20th century white superstars who relished the opportunity to play sarcastic, sexy, domineering jerks but were so exciting to watch—whether orating, listening, smoking a cigarette in a jazz club, or simply wearing an impeccably tailored suit and walking from point A to point B—that you enjoyed He is so accomplished at such a young age—having already argued his first Supreme Court case and claiming Langston Hughes (Jussie Smollett) and Zora Neale Hurston (Chilli) as drinking buddies—that when he arrives in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he offhandedly orders Friedman to assist him with his bags, then pokes fun at him and plays mind games with him whenever the opportunity presents itself. (It appears that the latter characteristic is a genuine Thurgood Marshall characteristic: he was twice expelled from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University for pranks and hazing.) He can be a bit of a jerk from time to time.
Marshall Quiz
In the meantime, just as you begin to worry that “Marshall” is about to become a tired formula, with an arrogant hero solving the problems of an ignorant villager, the full weight of the town’s majority begins to bear down on the duo, infusing their work with paranoia and fear of violence. What follows is a humbling experience for both of these young gentlemen. “Marshall” is not a straight-forward biography of one of the most important figures in American legal history, but rather a legal thriller that relies on collaboration to succeed. Despite the fact that it draws attention to issues of racial, religious, and gender discrimination, it does not stray from its primary goal of providing us with an entertaining film about a couple of guys who find themselves in way over their heads.
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One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the way it depicts how power and respect differ depending on the room you’re in and who else is in it with you. However, whether by his own choice or against his will, Marshall is diminished in court and the city jail as well as at home with his wife Buster (Keesha Sharp) and in Harlem nightclubs with cultural icons. We perceive Marshall in different ways, and Marshall perceives himself in different ways as well; we perceive him differently, and he perceives himself differently. When Marshall comes face to face with a group of macho white men who despise him on sight, the film serves as a stark reminder that college degrees aren’t always worth the paper they’re printed on. On the other hand, Marshall is speaking to a black lawyer in Bridgeport who has passed the bar but has been denied a license to practice law because of his race. This is a less frightening but equally demoralizing scene.
Friedman, like many other people, appears to be a different person depending on the environment in which he is. Marshall’s swagger and impressive legal track record intimidate him, but his own younger brother and law partner idolizes and defers to him, and it’s clear that he’s a man of influence in Bridgeport’s Jewish community, respected in large part because he has the courage to take on challenges that others would shy away from. “I’m a man of influence in Bridgeport’s Jewish community,” Marshall says. During one of Friedman’s visits to the synagogue men’s room, a member of the congregation appears to be about to insult Friedman for representing an accused “schwarze” rapist, but instead slips some cash into Friedman’s jacket pocket. It is a wonderful moment.
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Both Boseman and Gad do an excellent job of modulating their characters’ physical confidence up and down by degrees, depending on the situation they find themselves in. This provides a more vivid sense of time and place in the film than you might have expected from the trailer. It also draws parallels between the experiences of Jews and African-Americans in 1940s America, which are brought to fruition in the film’s final conclusion.
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Hudlin and his writers are guilty of a little pandering at times. Some of the twists are too predictable, and the film’s final third, in particular, may leave you with the impression that it is bending the truth in order to tell a more superficially exciting story. (Though I was aware of Thurgood Marshall’s ability to write a dissenting opinion that would last forever, I was unaware of his street-fighting abilities.)
The film’s missteps and overreaches, on the other hand, are all part of the same package. It becomes increasingly apparent that “Marshall” is a detective thriller with subtle Western film elements the further we get away from the courtroom: the terse, one-word title establishes its hero as a tough, intelligent sheriff trying to clean up a corrupt town. Certain sections have a B-movie feel to them, with a hint of “Shaft” about them, and I mean that as a compliment. One of the things I admire most about Marshall the man and “Marshall” the film is their easy-going confidence in their roles. It acts as if we’ve already seen a lot of projects like this one—as if there are new comedic, exciting period pieces about a brilliant, two-fisted black lawyer opening in theaters every week, and this is just the latest in a long line of similar projects. I’m hoping that the filmmakers are already hard at work on “Marshall Returns” sequel.
The film “Marshall” is currently available for streaming on Amazon.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Beguiled Quiz.
