The Pledge
Tags: insanity, mystery, murder, sentimental

Plot synopsis:
Retired police detective Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) is seen mumbling to himself, apparently drunk, sitting on a bench outside a disused gas station. The scene then shifts to events in the recent past. The Department has thrown him a retirement party, and the police captain gives Jerry a fishing trip in Mexico as a gift. The party is interrupted by the discovery of a murdered child, Ginny. Jerry decides to go with another detective, Stan Krolak, to the scene of the crime.
Jerry delivers the bad news to the child's parents, and the mother makes Jerry swear on a cross that he will find the killer. A suspect is found the next day. Stan goes in to interview the suspect, Toby Jay Wadenah, a Native American man with mental retardation. During the interview, the man eventually confesses but steals a gun from one of the deputies and commits suicide. To the other detectives, the case is over, but Jerry does not think that Wadenah was the killer. Jerry is adamant about his pledge to find the killer, and does not go on the fishing trip. Instead, he visits the victim's grandmother, who tells him of the many stories that Ginny told. A later visit to one of her friends reveals that Ginny had a friend she called "The Giant". Jerry sees a picture Ginny drew of "The Giant", but it does not resemble Wadenah, and includes a black station wagon. He takes the drawing with him.
Jerry goes to Stan and asks him to reopen the case. Stan refuses but gets Jerry more information about similar cases in the area. Jerry's investigations reveal three unsolved and similar cases that Wadenah could not have committed. Jerry presents his research and Ginny's drawing to Captain Pollack and Stan, who are doubtful.
While fishing, Jerry notices a gas station that is located near the center of the similar cases. After buying the gas station, Jerry moves into the house behind it, meets local bartender Lori, and slowly becomes a father figure to her daughter Chrissy.
Soon, Chrissy becomes friends with a local pastor, Gary Jackson. Jerry is uncomfortable about this and begins to think Jackson is the killer. Chrissy is shown meeting a man driving a black car with a toy hedgehog hanging on the rear mirror, hedgehogs being another aspect of Ginny's drawing that Jerry believes to be a clue. Chrissy explains to Jerry that she met a wizard who gave her hedgehog candies and told her not to tell her parents they met. She figured it was OK to tell Jerry, since he is not her father. Jerry realizes this is the killer and, using Chrissy as bait, stages an operation, with Stan's help, to catch him.
A car is shown driving with a toy hedgehog hanging from the rear-view mirror. The woman who owned the chocolate shop is shown searching for "Oliver", implying that he is the killer. After hours of waiting, Stan and the other police leave. They tell Lori what happened, and she confronts Jerry angrily about putting her daughter in danger. The car that was shown approaching is seen destroyed in a fiery collision with a freight truck.
In the final scene, reprising the first, Jerry sits on a bench in front of the ruined gas station, apparently drunk, mumbling to himself that the killer is still out there.

Review: But if you're into seeing an intense character study bolstered by impressive acting and clever directing (kudos, Sean Penn), you've come to the right place.I read one IMDB review calling this film Nicholson's worst ever.
I had rather low expectations for The Pledge - even though I've admired Penn as an actor (Dead Man Walking, Racing With The Moon, etc.) I really didn't care much for his writing/directing attempts (Indian Runner and The Crossing Guard) so I finally got around to watching this on cable and I was not prepared for how intriguing, intelligent and emotionally powerful the movie was.
People need to turn off their brains and escape every now and then (Unfortunately for big budget movies - its more NOW and very rarely THEN)> So that is why I really enjoyed the slow pace and the ambiguity of the plot - it left things out there for you to find, to discover, to ponder.
And what a supporting cast - in addition to Nicholson (at his most subtle, something he doesn't always do), there's Harry Dean Stanton, Benecio Del Toro, Tom Noonan, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Wright Penn, the list goes on and on with the best charactor actors around.
In 1998, Penn Portrayed a Sergeant in Terrence Malick's acclaimed war drama "The Thin Red Line," and a drug addicted Hollywood casting agent in "Hurlyburly." In 1997, he portrayed Michael Douglas' estranged brother in David Fincher's mystery thriller "The Game," and a down-on-his-luck drifter in Oliver Stone's gritty film noir "U-Turn." He delivered his most powerful performance in 1995 as a man on death row in "Dead Man Walking." Now, with "The Pledge" he is harrowing and intense, even though the script is often slow moving and monotonous.
I personally desired more material involving the investigation instead of the development of the relationship between him and Robin Wright Penn's character, but that is not what the movie intended for us to watch.
I'd rather feel good at the end of the film, but I really liked this movie in a strange kind of way.
A key character - a minister - is made to look evil (typical film-world bias).The rest of the film has a lot to offer: a great performance by Jack Nicholson; a very nice music score; good cinematography; interesting characters and a different, almost-shocking twist at the end.The best part of the film is Nicholson.
On the second viewing, I appreciated the music even more - a great soundtrack!If you are looking for a crime film that is different, check this out, but don't blame me if you don't like the ending..
Acting was good throughout the movie, Jack Nicholson did a good job, I especially liked Benicio Del Toro's part, even though it was not too long.
Yes, the murder is the base of the film, however, it is Nicholson's character and the reality of the human mind's willingness to go to extensive lengths to find answers and closure that this movie really pursues.
Jack Nicholson gives a tired, tortured performance as burnt out police detective Jerry Black, who gets a murder case of the worst kind in his last week before retirement.
Now retired police detective Jerry Black lives completely within the law.In splendid character he very successfully uncovers the illegal acts of a deeply dark child killer.
I was thinking to myself "Any time now, the real meat of the plot's going to kick in."  Eventually, things looked like they were going to get interesting, a great story was about to come together by the looks of it.
This was nothing special, and a poor follow-up to his Oscar-winning performance in "As Good As It Gets" which is one of his best roles in years.The only consolation I can get is that I didn't waste any money on this:  I got it free with "The Shining":  truly a fantastic Jack Nicholson movie..
The ¨Pledge¨ is an awesome movie with tension , thriller , chills and extraordinary performances with special mention to starring Jack Nicholson who does a superb acting .
This haunting movie based on a Fredrich Durrenmatt novel concerns about a detective ( an obstinate Jack Nicholson in similar role played by Heinz Ruhmann ) who on the day of his retirement becomes involved in the case of a little girl's killing .
In order to search the killer , the police buys a gas station to Floyd ( Harry Dean Stanton ) and takes employee a separated woman ( a sweet Robin Wright who married Sean Penn ) with a daughter, being his intention of use them as bait for the cruel murderous .
Jack Nicholson is the main character of this movie and I thought is acting was top notch.
someone wrote:"The first hour was excellently paced, but then the film changed tack and meandered around Nicholson's confusing character, steering right away from the plot.
By the end I was well and truly bewildered as to the identity of the killer and the whole point of this film."The point, I believe, was Nicholson's character's descent into madness....
Sean Penn must have an enormous emotional depth to have come up with this deceptively simple tale of retiring detective Nicholson who in his last few hours on the force, is assigned to a brutal murder/sex assault case involving a little girl.
There's such a preponderance of pre-juvenile crap that is churned out as if on an assembly line that a thoughtful, intelligent movie should be positively revered.The scene at the end of the film, wherein Jack is seen scratching his ankle and then talking/emoting to himself, struck me as being familiar upon first viewing.
the question of the morality in placing another little girl in potential jeopardy, and you have a film reminiscent of the depth of the Nicholson/Rafelson collaborations of the 1970s.Those who don't wish to be so challenged by following a fully realized character and his motivations can always choose to sit back and receive the usual pablum.
Sean Penntakes what could have been one of Jack Nicholson's best performances and screws it up with the worst ending to a movie...
In my opinion, it's both.On the day of his retirement, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) makes a promise to a grieving mother (Patricia Clarkson): he will find the person who brutally raped and murdered her young daughter.
Jerry isn't convinced, and as much as he tries, he can't let go of the case.The trailer makes "The Pledge" seem like a generic murder mystery/thriller, but that assumption does the film a great disservice.
Director Sean Penn takes the film at a slow, deliberate pace; there's really not much action (despite what the ratings say, this isn't a particularly violent movie).
Present in every scene, Jack Nicholson dominates the film with another great performance.
It sets the scene well, and while Jerry Black isn't the most interesting character, Nicholson's performance is spot-on, and he's a delight to watch."The Pledge" is a good film, but don't expect a lot of action with this one.
If you love stories where young people learn from old people, you may prefer other kind of films rather than this one.I watched the original version of this movie when I was a child ("Es geschah am hellichten Tag" -- 1958), and I remember it as a very nice experience.
Jerry makes a point of getting fingerprints from the girl's jacket, but yet there's no mention of trying to match this to Del Toro's character, surely that would have been an easy way to see if he was the real killer?
There are too many other things to mention.For someone that enjoys slow paced, character built films this is a long way down my list and I'm amazed so many people liked it..
There is never a moment where this lacks, and in my honest opinion it makes the film all the more captivating.In some ways there are different stories tied into this one motion picture; There is Jerry, a retired cop working on a case, then there is Jerry, an overwhelmed man adopted into a beautiful family of which he feels is his responsibility to protect.
Jack Nicholson makes one of his best performances - and he is not playing his usual routine character.There is a harsh moral to the story, which cannot be spoken more of, unless the movie gets spoiled.Sean Penn is not only a great actor, he is as we can see here a fabulous director.
A modern-day retired police chief (Jack Nicholson) cannot let go of an unsolved serial murder case...and the pledge he made to a victim's mother that he would find the killer no matter what.
Sean Penn may be a good director, I don't know, but he certainly hasn't shown me anything with this film.Jack plays Detective Jerry Black who is retiring and is at a retirement party thrown by the department.
I watched it because of Jack Nicholson, who did in fact provide the movie's only redeeming trait of a riveting performance, but nonetheless I felt like I had wasted 2 hours when it was over.
In fact, we have got in front of us the rare case of an American version whose spirit is more European than the original.And yet it seems at first as if everything might amount to a positive, Hollywood-like ending including a special message for the American soul, one which could even be applied to current world events and which could read like this: "We must defeat and destroy the devil at all costs, even if innocent blood has to be spilled!"The devil as a symbolization of all evil is indeed mentioned in the film, and therefore script and camera work are at pains not to show any picture of the human who committed the abominable murders of the little girls.
He is like an abstract undeterminable force hidden away somewhere in our world, but which can burst out at any time and at any possible location in order to pursue his destructive purposes.At the end of the film, however, it is not the retired police inspector Jerry Black who catches the devil, but pure coincidence: When he is driving to a meeting with the little girl that has been set up as a lure, the murderer has a fatal accident, being gruesomely burnt to death after colliding with an oncoming truck-trailer.
It almost held me despite these, but in the end I wondered if I might have wasted my energies.I did have some fun thinking about what Jack Nicholson might really do while trying to tell a child a bedtime story.
He is just so perfect at all times, one totally forgets that it's him acting, that it's not really the story of a cop going into retirement.filming: pretty good quality, some beautiful images.
IF I KNEW SEAN PENN, and NICHOLSON, personally, and if I had lots of money, I'd ask them to please IMMEDIATELY start the filming of another story by Duerrenmatt with an ageing cop: SUSPICION.
Sean Penn and Jack Nicolson are reunited for the first time since the terribly boring `The Crossing Guard', yet even though I really didn't like the aforementioned I had heard that this film was very good so decided to watch anyway.Attention to detail gets an `A' and in some parts it is very suspenseful, although after 2 hours of building the conclusion left me cheated, I really wanted to see more and the end left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.Nicholson is good as the tired ex cop, who made a pledge to the mother of a murdered little girl, Aaron Eckhardt does well as the detective in charge of the case, while Robin Wright Penn, even made to look plain and unattractive, still has something quite sexual about her.Bottom line:- Watchable and a darn site better than `The Crossing Guard'.
"The Pledge" starring Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright Penn and directed by her husband Sean Penn, is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
The weak storyline is as follows: an aging cop named Jerry Black (Nicholson, in one of his worst movies) is retiring from the force.
A really splendid cast with the likes of Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave, Harry Dean Stanton, Aaron Eckhart, Benicio Del Toro (whose all-too-brief performance saved the film from utter bombdom) and others whose talent and on-screen power should of enhanced this movie in some way instead came on screen and left without contributing.
The first hour was excellently paced, but then the film changed tack and meandered around Nicholson's confusing character, steering right away from the plot.
The story is a really good one, the direction and production by Sean Penn is fantastic the acting is outstanding (it's Jack Nicholson for heavens sakes!) but it just does nothing.
I truly underrated this film when I first watched it years ago, Nicholson has had duch a career is reknowned for the many memorable performances, but I feel this is one that has been been missed from his great ones.
*For anybody interested that's seen the movie*Nicholson has been in a few great films with low-key endings.
Spot the odd one out..........there isnt one, each film is a masterpiece.Sean Penn has surpassed himself with this slow paced, thoughtful study of a man and his mind.
This movie is very good, I fail to understand why Jack Nicholson is uncredited and officially he is only a supporting actor in The Pledge but he is the main attraction.
In the first half hour or so, it seems to be a cool and exciting thriller police drama like it has been seen lots of times before but still well made so it makes you want to see more.But then focus shifts and the movie is all of a sudden about the retirement crisis of Jack Nicholsons character.
It's truly apalling to see images of murdered little girls used gratuitously as a suspense-creating device - it's this sort of film school-like technique which can never substitute for more usual (and, I suppose for Mr. Penn, mundane) methods, such as decent screenwriting and visual storytelling.Cut to a flock of birds flying across a lake.Cut to a nine-year old girl's face covered in blood, her red dress torn from sexual violence.Cut to Jack Nicholson, alone, casting his fishing line...Who lets Sean Penn make films anyway?
When brash cop Stan Krolak (Aaron Eckhart) gets a mentally weak Indian (Benicio Del Toro) to confess, Jerry isn't so sure and continues to investigate despite nobody believes him.It's obvious that director Sean Penn called in a lot of people.
Every character is played by great actors no matter how small the roles.This movie takes its time.
He is absolutely fantastic in his roles.This movie has a usual intrigue, but there are some "details" that make it unique: the actors, the image and the end.Keeping a promise (that he will find the killer of a girl) means for the old policeman to give up on his job and his life.
The beautifully rustic countryside near Reno, Nevada is the setting for "The Pledge", a modern day story about a just-retired policeman, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson), who makes a solemn promise to a child's parents that he will find the killer of their little girl.
But getting to that clever ending is mighty slow going."The Pledge" is a good film to watch for its attention to detail both in character development and in production design.
Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors and the previews for this movie looked really great.
I won't write it here, but when the movie was over I was feeling cheated and unsatisfied.Sean Penn's direction is good (in some parts great, especially in the scene in which Detective Black told the murdered girl's parents the bad news), but at times it seemed like he over-directed.
Jack Nicholson was good, but the subtley he used in playing that character would've worked better if the movie wasn't so BORING in the first place.
Believing that a vicious child killer is still on the loose, a retiring police detective takes residence in the area where he suspects the murderer lives and conducts his own private investigations in this Sean Penn directed crime thriller starring Jack Nicholson.
A little girl is viciously murdered, and Jack Nicholson makes a pledge to her mother to find the killer.
Nicholson, an ageing cop on his retirement day, brings what you would expect to such a role in an averagely written and directed film, that does go on more than a bit.If you want to see just an acting performance, do make an effort to watch it.
Sean Penn's direction, Jack Nicholson's wonderful,weary performance and the great Nevada locations would be enough on their own to lift this detective yarn into the higher echelons of the genre.
It's a great film, genuinely disturbing.It looks good, it's acted well and perfectly cast.Nicholson in a 'senior' role is terrific.
A beautifully shot film that featured an excellent performance from Jack Nicholson, but otherwise was poorly written, a little too long, and had a very very slow pace.
Generally, I see nothing wrong with that, but he deserved a better fate.An exceptional movie, a fine character study by Sean Penn, and a tremendous performance by Jack Nicholson..
All I can speculate is that there are two different kinds of people...those that look a little deeper & appreciate a good story with wonderful acting and those that need a lot of special effects or the "happy ending" that you get with most mainstream movies.
This film is Jack Nicholson at his very best.
If you're into loose ends and/or can't pass up a Jack Nicholson film, you'll get your money's worth..
into loose ends and/or can't pass up a Jack Nicholson film, you'll get your
This great cast of actors is lead by Jack Nicholson, a Sean Penn veteran.