‘Marshall’ Review: Soundly Argued, Acutely Observed

A young Thurgood Marshall defends a black chauffeur accused of kidnapping and raping a wealthy white woman in Connecticut.

By Joe Morgenstern
Oct. 12, 2017 1:37 p.m. ET

Here’s something refreshing—a great-man biopic, simply titled “Marshall,” that’s more concerned with the man in his earlier years than with the greatness to come.

You get a hint from the opening music, a breezy jazz riff that might sound insufficiently serious for a full account of Thurgood Marshall, the civil-rights attorney who won a landmark victory in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. But “Marshall” doesn’t try to cover the glory days of a magnificent career.

Set in 1941, it’s focused on a real-life Connecticut trial in which the hero, a rising star for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, defended a black chauffeur accused of kidnapping and raping a wealthy white woman in Greenwich. And Marshall—a terrific performance by Chadwick Boseman —comes off at the outset as full of himself to overflowing. In other words, here’s an irreverent movie with a quirky ring of truth.

The film, which was directed by Reginald Hudlin, is adept at portraying the social and legal forces arrayed against the chauffeur, Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), in a trial that gains national attention as an example of racism in the North. Spell has already been convicted in Greenwich’s court of public opinion. Now the judge, played by James Cromwell, and the prosecutor, played by Dan Stevens, ooze patrician empathy for the alleged victim, Eleanor Strubing (fine work by Kate Hudson ).

Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad PHOTO: OPEN ROAD FILMS

To complicate Spell’s defense even further, bad blood boils up between Marshall and his local co-counsel, Sam Friedman ( Josh Gad, in another terrific performance), who is white, Jewish and innocent of experience in criminal trials. Dismayed by the need to have another lawyer on the case, Marshall is furious, and initially helpless, when the judge warns him that anything he has to say must be expressed through Friedman; coming, as he does, from out of state, the NAACP ace may not speak in open court.

An important part of the drama’s substance lies in the two men turning their fraught relationship into a partnership that foreshadows the national alliance between blacks and Jews in the emerging civil-rights movement. But that’s an abstract description of a prickly situation slowly blossoming into an affecting and funny bromance. Before this happens, it’s a case of role reversal in which Marshall treats Friedman like a white man might treat a Pullman porter. “Would you help me with that?” Marshall asks casually on his arrival at Bridgeport station, indicating a suitcase full of law books that Friedman promptly lugs to a waiting car. Once comity prevails, the co-counsels are co-equals in friendship and respect.

Kate Hudson in ’Marshall’ PHOTO: OPEN ROAD FILMS

Some of the writing on the fringes of the drama can be uneven. At Minton’s Playhouse, the legendary Harlem jazz club, Marshall runs into the poet Langston Hughes and the writer Zora Neale Hurston in a scene that plays like an over-earnest outtake from “Midnight in Paris.” But the trial sequences have a distinctive, authentic tone that clearly flows from one of the two writers, Michael Koskoff, having had a decades-long career as a civil-rights attorney with specific experience in racially charged cases. ( Jacob Koskoff, his co-writer and son, has prior experience writing scripts.) And the courtroom drama, exciting in its own right, is enhanced by re-creations—Newton Thomas Sigel did the elegant cinematography—of what the accuser and the accused say happened, of what might have happened and of what probably happened in this all but forgotten case that Thurgood Marshall tried long ago. “Marshall” is a movie that surprises at every turn.

REGGIE HUDLIN PROVES WHY THURGOOD MARSHALL IS HIP-HOP

BY NDSMITH OCTOBER 17, 2017

When we heard that Reggie Hudlin was directing a movie about Thurgood Marshall, starring the new Black Panther Chad Boseman, we did the happy dance: Shmoney Dance. Nae Nae. Hit Them Folks. We did them all.

Hudlin is as Hip-Hop as it gets in Hollywood.

Since the 90s, he and his brother have set the tone for the modern era of Black cinema. Exaggeration?  We think not. While Russell Simmons can brag about introducing Black comedians to the world through HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, Hudlin can pop his collar also! It was Hudlin that provided the iconic funnyman Robin Harris his first feature film, Bebé Kids and produced one of the best stand-up specials on the late comic. Hudlin introduced big screen films to the community through the House Party franchised starring Kid N’ Play, Queen Latifah, Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell and Full Force. This college-feel good classic not only captured the fun side of Hip-Hop but afforded rappers an opportunity to dip their toes in the Hollywood pond. But for this writer, what makes Hudlin so Hip-Hop is his film Boomerang starring a young Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, the fabulous Eartha Kitt and the gut-busting John Witherspoon. Or the Boondocks with Aaron McGruger? Or Django starring Jamie Foxx? Or the animated Black Panther movie (or the graphic novel series)? Or his title as the President of BET Networks during the great Reconstruction Era that shifted the quality of programming from videos that did not elevate the community to that which reflected a more rounded glimpse into the diverse mosaic of Black life. He gets that there are many stories of Black and Brown people that deserve to be told. And he tells them. Which brings us to Marshall— his most substantial and influential work yet.

Thurgood Marshall, our country’s first African American Supreme Court Justice, deserves to be immortalized on film. His legendary case Brown v. Board of Education etched him in the history book annals for eternity. But Hudlin chose not to lift that case. Hudlin lifted in this film (that hit the screens this past weekend debuting to $3 million in its first few days) a more obscure case: The State of Connecticut vs. Joseph Spell.

In this case a white and wealthy Greenwich socialite named Eleanor Strubing accused her chauffeur, Joseph Spell of raping her. This was in the 1940s and so you already know this was going to be a case of epic degrees of bias. This is when the NAACP gets a whiff of the trial and sends their superman of an attorney, Thurgood Marshall to the rescue. At the time, Marshall was one of the top lawyers for the organization and it was his job to travel the country and offer free counsel to people of color who were in need. In the movie, Marshall comes off more of a bad-assed action figure than a stiff-necked-suit-and-tie-wearing litigator. Imagine the swag of Big Daddy Kane, the confidence of JAY-Z and the intellect of former President Barack Obama,with a splash of Batman’s sarcasm.  Welp… that is Hudlin’s Marshall and we were all the way there for it.

Lastly, what was a definite Easter-egg for the Hip-Hop community were the special cameos of Jussie Smollet (as Langston Hughes), Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas (as Zora Neale Hurston), Trayvon Martin’s parents Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton and his attorney Benjamin Crumpto remind us that this was a generational effort without the heavy handed use of rap music. It also reminded us that the struggle is still real and the work that began with Marshall has to be continued by us and completed by the next generation.

Perhaps, Hudlin’s charge to the Hip-Hoppers is to get busy. Are you ready?

MARSHALL PREMIERES ACROSS THE COUNTRY!

LOS ANGELES

Jussie Smollett, moderator Will.I.Am, Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, me and Sterling K. Brown at Compton High School. We screened the film and had a discussion with students afterwards.

We were part of a larger anti-bullying initiative the school was having.

The kids blew us away with their own rendition of our closing theme song STAND UP FOR SOMETHING. Songwriter Diane Warren invited them to her studio later.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti attended the premiere of the film.

The Mayor gave a POWERFUL speech on violence in America and the need for heroes like Marshall.

Mayor Garcetti gives a plaque commemorating Oct 2^nd as Thurgood Marshall Day in Los Angeles!

I introduce Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown, Jussie Smollett, Keesha Sharp, Marina Squerciati, Sophia Bush, Anha O’Rielly, songwriter Diane Warren and Roger Guenover Smith at the premiere.

Me with Sabrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin.

Two great activists: Najee Ali and Van Jones!

Mr and Mrs. John Marshall with cast members Josh Gad and Dan Stevens and producer Laura Friedman.

Open Road owner Donald Tang, associate producer Lena Evans, me and Cate Park.

Me and Tommy Davison.

NEW YORK

Here are shots from the UrbanWorld debut of the film!

Interviews on the Red Carpet with Jocelyn R. Taylor.

Josh Gad, me and Sterling K. Brown with my sister in law Karen McMillian.

Me with my college roommate, musician and author Jacob Slichter with his wife Suzanne.

Jacob sent me these great pictures from the church where he was married, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. They have a lot of contemporary saints there, from jazz musicians….

…to Saint Thurgood!

WASHINGTON D.C.

After the screening for Congressional Black Caucus, we have a conversation with Sunny Hostin, DeRay Mckesson, myself, Chadwick Boseman and Janai Nelson from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Andra Day performs at the afterparty!

The next day, I talked to students at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University.

I loved talking with the students about art, careers and everything else. Smart and engaged group of students!

REGGIE HUDLIN ON MARSHALL