For the most part, Friedkin has made a film that crackles. Directors of photography William Fraker and Nicola Pecorini manage to make even the most wide open spaces seem claustrophobic, while Mark Isham's music is filled with immediacy. It touches on all of the bases that make popular entertainment popular. It also taps into deep rooted fears of prejudice to advance its story. If the answers it comes up with were as compelling as the questions, that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Blacks are strong, while whites and grays benefit from a pristine negative.
Saturation is okay but not vivid. Depth of field and attention to detail is fine but not definitive. It's a nice presentation, with realistic flesh tones and no real compression artifacts to speak of. 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround French Surround soundtrack gets a sporadic workout in the film, which mainly consists of dialogue driven courtroom scenes. The dialogue mix is strong and front and center.