A Time to Kill (1996)

This is a solid movie. Two drunken racists grab a 10-year-old black girl, rape her, and try to kill her through hanging, but she survives. Her father Carl (Samuel L. Jackson) thinks the men will not be punished and so he shoots and kills both of them inside the courthouse and also injures a police officer. Previously, he had asked lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) to defend him if he got into trouble. Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock) is a liberal law student who feels really passionate about this case. Brigance is reluctant to add her to his team, but she proves worthy through the research she uncovers. The racial tension in the case encourages the Ku Klux Klan to organize again.

The film is based on the first novel written by John Grisham and published in 1989. The movie was filmed in Canton, Mississippi. This film was the second to feature both Donald Sutherland and his son Kiefer. The first was Max Dugan Returns, which was Kiefer's film debut.