A different way of telling a story

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Although I had seen Michael Douglas in "The China Syndrome", I think it was this film -- "The Star Chamber" -- where I really first took note of him. And this may be the film that set the stage for the type of movie he often appeared in later in his career.However, I remember REALLY liking this film back in 1983...but not liking it quite so much now in 2016. My main criticism is that the "bad guys" in the film seemed way too stereotypical, although it kinda worked back in the late-70's to early 80's. Now it seems very dated.The premise here was excellent. A group of judges get fed up with thugs getting off on technicalities, so they form their own justice league to deal with such scum...on a permanent basis. Of course, it wasn't hard to figure out that either they were going to get caught OR "convict" an innocent person OR both.Michael Douglas is excellent here...he sort of plays a "common man" (though not quite so common as Jimmy Stewart used to) who gets caught up in a surreal experience. One of my favorite supporting actors -- Hal Holbrook -- is here as another judge, but somehow this particular performance didn't satisfy me as much as most of his performances. Yaphet Kotto -- one of those supporting actors who was very popular for a while -- is here as a police detective, and does a rather nice job. Sharon Gless plays Douglas' wife...nothing to rave about, but she does "okay". Joe Regalbuto and Don Calfa play the two primary bad guys here, but I would have to say they were both guilty,,,of overacting.A good '70-ish (even though it was in the '80s) suspense film, but nothing to brag about. It won't end up on my DVD shelf.

Do you know how much injustice there is in this world, and even here in the good 'ole USA? It is endless my friend. Enter any defense attorney. No matter what the crime committed, a defense attorney is there to figure out any way possible to free the criminal or get him/her off with the least bit of punishment - no matter what it takes. Twist the law, bend the evidence, lie like crazy - anything will do. Deny deny deny. So the movie already sets the mood for 'that's just not fair!' for the audience. When Michael Douglas, a judge in this movie, gets completely fed up with the 'in'justice within his own courtroom, he just can't take it anymore. He joins a secret club, a club of other judges who are fed up with criminals who get off free. Only this secret club is illegal. And Michael finds himself in his own life and death trap when trying to warn the very criminals he requested to be vigilante-killed. Watch it! You know how good Michael Douglas is!

The Star Chamber is a film that operates under the premise that the legal system has gone awry and it's up to the judges to apply corrective action to the decisions they officially make in court. Interestingly enough Hal Holbrook who came to that conclusion as Lieutenant Briggs in the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force, is now taking a similar position as a judge.Michael Douglas as a young Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles has reached the same crossroads. After a couple of decisions on procedure that resulted in criminals being cut loose, he starts to question whether the whole criminal justice system is out of whack. That's when Hal Holbrook tells him about a most secret society.A panel of nine judges have taken it upon themselves to overrule their own rulings. Douglas eagerly joins them, but certain things to go off course for him and he questions whether he's made the right career move.The cases that Douglas came a cropper on is stuff straight out of the Law and Order episode file. In that series sometimes I think the judge's rulings are somewhat bizarre. Of course in that series it just makes Jack McCoy and his successor try all the harder to win.It's a nice film, but I do get the feeling that Star Chamber is a Law and Order episode stretched out for a feature film.

Although the ending of the film is stupid, frustrating and illogical, the rest of this film is in fact pretty good, though it should be mentioned that some of the scenes are difficult to take. Whereas in Europe, justice systems seem more preoccupied with the rights of the criminal and couldn't care less about those of the victim, it seems to me that in the USA they have a more correct sense of right and wrong and probably apportion blame more justly, though of course, no system in the world is perfect. That said, as the film demonstrates, there would appear to be slip-ups even in the American system, and what better than the star chamber to right the wrongs committed by the justice system, murderers let off on technicalities etc etc. This gives the viewer a feeling of satisfaction .... that there is at least one continent in the world where criminals are really made to pay for their crimes. It's all the more surprising then, that a film which gives the impression of supporting this method, as I do, should suddenly at the last minute, want to take the bleeding-heart-liberal defense of the criminal ? What sane person could actually wish that scum such as Monk and Coom continue living instead of being eliminated ? To the film's credit they are actually assassinated by the hit man, but one get's the feeling, rightly or wrongly, that the film's director would have us believe that this is not the way of dealing with criminals, but without proposing a viable alternative solution. So much for the liberal politics of the film, which I find totally obnoxious, but on a cinematic level, it's pretty good and exciting stuff. I found the DVD here recently in Europe, and have watched it several times - although the ending is a real pain in the neck, the rest of the film is definitely worth watching.