Tom Seleck did a pretty good job playing the straight man Jimmy Rainwood who was an honest married man with a career of working maintenance on commercial aircrafts, who was then unfairly railroaded by two dirty cops (Officer Parnell and Danny) who framed him for being a drug dealer who shot at them when invading his house. Truth was that Rainwood was drying his hair after a shower, holding the hair dryer which in the half lit hallway looked like a gun being raised. Also, they mistakened Rainwood and his house for a drug dealer's house and operation. The latter mistake came from Parnell's impatient arrogance, which was basically the one move which started the whole chain of events, when one of the guys Parnell and Danny did business with told Parnell the address of the real drug dealer, and Parnell arrogantly shut him up and hung the phone up before the guy tried to make sure Parnell copied the address correctly, thus him copying it wrong and going to the wrong house. If Parnell hadn't arrogantly shut him up, he would have gone to the drug dealer's house on Oak Way instead of Rainwood's on Oak Lane (and both houses happened to have the same house number).
Once Parnell realized the error was when his crooked framing game began (because he wouldn't ever let anyone know that they make mistakes), and we learn later how Rainwood was not the first victim of Parnell's shady corruption. F Murray Abraham, the guy Rainwood became friends with in the slammer, revealed that he got screwed over by Parnell and Danny also, and him having that in common with Rainwood got him to have a soft spot for him. F Murray told Rainwood how Parnell framed him for armed robbery, but unlike Rainwood, F Murray got even with the cops and made a move that got him in prison for life. The movie never made clear what he actually did to get even with them.
The other characters along the way were pretty standard for this type of story, there was Detective Fitzgerald who had already suspected Parnell and Danny of foul play but couldn't do anything about it without solid proof. Then, there was the prosecutor who offered Rainwood a plea bargain which would've cut his punishment time down alot and in a minimum security jail instead of state prison, but Rainwood refused to take it by mistakenly insisting that he could clear his name in court altogether. But he couldn't, and Parnell won due to, as Fitzgerald says, there not being enough proof of Rainwood being innocent. He is sent to the big house for 6 years, but gets out after 3 for good behavior, which I was curious about because Rainwood was suspected of murdering another convict in there, gangster Jingles. Jingles and his gang harassed Rainwood pretty bad, stole his stuff, beaten him up severely, and then made him watch another inmate getting raped while telling him he was next. Then Rainwood, who seriously at first didn't want to do it, with F Murray's help stabbed Jingles with a piece of glass. I'm assuming Rainwood stabbing him didn't hurt him being able to get parole because he threw the piece of glass down a drain and there then wasn't enough evidence to officially call it murder. But the warden clearly said he knew it was him and gave him 90 days in the hole. I guess he would've gotten worse than that and not have gotten parole if there was hard evidence. Also, how it was said to work in prison was once you kill the guy who's harassing you, nobody will ever mess with you again. I would've guessed that if someone killed a gang member in prison, then the other members of his gang would be wanting his blood, and he would definitely not be free from anyone coming after him like Rainwood was after killing Jingles.
Rainwood and F Murray bonded well while in prison. The big Butcher guy was an interesting character too, and also gave Rainwood similar advice on how to stand up. Then there was Robbie, the first guy Rainwood met in prison, who acted like he knew everything but then met a horrible death by being lit on fire for, as F Murray told Rainwood, he ripped some guys off for something, but he didn't make it clear what.
Parnell and Danny were the reason Rainwood's entire ordeal happened, from the minute they framed him to after he got out on parole, when they visit him right after he gets out. Tension rises, and Parnell tells Rainwood "You are now an ex-covict on parole! The state will always believe us over you! Always! From now on, you do exactly what we say, if we yell s***, you squat! Remember that, and it 'might' keep you from going back to prison.".
It was a pretty good, interesting movie overall. And I liked Rainwood's wife Layla Robbins who stuck by him throughout the whole ordeal, crusading to try to get him out of prison, her getting harassed by Parnell and Danny for it, and then her helping Rainwood when he got out to fight for justice (with Fitzgerald's help too) for everything those dirty cops had done to him.
Once Parnell realized the error was when his crooked framing game began (because he wouldn't ever let anyone know that they make mistakes), and we learn later how Rainwood was not the first victim of Parnell's shady corruption. F Murray Abraham, the guy Rainwood became friends with in the slammer, revealed that he got screwed over by Parnell and Danny also, and him having that in common with Rainwood got him to have a soft spot for him. F Murray told Rainwood how Parnell framed him for armed robbery, but unlike Rainwood, F Murray got even with the cops and made a move that got him in prison for life. The movie never made clear what he actually did to get even with them.
The other characters along the way were pretty standard for this type of story, there was Detective Fitzgerald who had already suspected Parnell and Danny of foul play but couldn't do anything about it without solid proof. Then, there was the prosecutor who offered Rainwood a plea bargain which would've cut his punishment time down alot and in a minimum security jail instead of state prison, but Rainwood refused to take it by mistakenly insisting that he could clear his name in court altogether. But he couldn't, and Parnell won due to, as Fitzgerald says, there not being enough proof of Rainwood being innocent. He is sent to the big house for 6 years, but gets out after 3 for good behavior, which I was curious about because Rainwood was suspected of murdering another convict in there, gangster Jingles. Jingles and his gang harassed Rainwood pretty bad, stole his stuff, beaten him up severely, and then made him watch another inmate getting raped while telling him he was next. Then Rainwood, who seriously at first didn't want to do it, with F Murray's help stabbed Jingles with a piece of glass. I'm assuming Rainwood stabbing him didn't hurt him being able to get parole because he threw the piece of glass down a drain and there then wasn't enough evidence to officially call it murder. But the warden clearly said he knew it was him and gave him 90 days in the hole. I guess he would've gotten worse than that and not have gotten parole if there was hard evidence. Also, how it was said to work in prison was once you kill the guy who's harassing you, nobody will ever mess with you again. I would've guessed that if someone killed a gang member in prison, then the other members of his gang would be wanting his blood, and he would definitely not be free from anyone coming after him like Rainwood was after killing Jingles.
Rainwood and F Murray bonded well while in prison. The big Butcher guy was an interesting character too, and also gave Rainwood similar advice on how to stand up. Then there was Robbie, the first guy Rainwood met in prison, who acted like he knew everything but then met a horrible death by being lit on fire for, as F Murray told Rainwood, he ripped some guys off for something, but he didn't make it clear what.
Parnell and Danny were the reason Rainwood's entire ordeal happened, from the minute they framed him to after he got out on parole, when they visit him right after he gets out. Tension rises, and Parnell tells Rainwood "You are now an ex-covict on parole! The state will always believe us over you! Always! From now on, you do exactly what we say, if we yell s***, you squat! Remember that, and it 'might' keep you from going back to prison.".
It was a pretty good, interesting movie overall. And I liked Rainwood's wife Layla Robbins who stuck by him throughout the whole ordeal, crusading to try to get him out of prison, her getting harassed by Parnell and Danny for it, and then her helping Rainwood when he got out to fight for justice (with Fitzgerald's help too) for everything those dirty cops had done to him.