I, the Jury

**I, the Jury** is a 1982 film starring Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera and Laurene Landon, directed by Richard T. Heffron, written by Larry Cohen and produced by Robert H. Solo.

## Plot

Detective Jack Williams, who lost his left arm in the Tet Offensive, is shot dead in his apartment. His estranged friend, detective Mike Hammer, is warned by police detective Pat Chambers to stay out of it but he nevertheless investigates the matter on his own. He speaks with Jack's widow Myrna, who says that they were attending a sex therapy clinic operated by Dr. Charlotte Bennett. Hammer visits the clinic and finds a Government Issue bugging device in the doctor's office.

Hammer's secretary Velma identifies Jack's receipts for gasoline near Bear Mountain close to a summer camp run by Hammer's old friend Joe Butler. Mike and Velma visit Joe, who tells them of a military project in Saigon involving the use of drugs to turn prisoners of war into friendly spies and how Captain Romero developed a technique for mind control. Two cars of CIA agents pursue the three on a car chase that ends when Hammer throws a Molotov cocktail at one car, causing it to drive off a cliff into the water, and blocks the road with his vehicle then shoots the second car, causing it to explode.

The FBI trace the gun that killed Jack to special effects artist Harry Lundee, who had reported the gun stolen. Hammer visits him on set, where Lundee is shot in the back by an unknown gunman and in his dying breath confesses that he laundered the gun to Charlie Kalecki, but Kalecki is reluctant to speak with Hammer about any ties to Romero.

The CIA, wishing to distance itself from Romero's experiments, plants a series of clues in an attempt to lead Mike Hammer to Romero in order to have Hammer eliminate Romero for them. Chambers is instructed by the CIA to plant a photo of Romero in Jack's apartment as bait for Hammer and Romero gives Dr. Bennett a fake file about Jack's activities, which Mike Hammer is upset to read at the Northridge Clinic.

Kendricks, a man conditioned by the mind control drugs, abducts Velda. Romero's goons pour alcohol on Hammer and intend to push him into traffic but he fights his way free and escapes. He runs to Kendricks' apartment and stops him from killing Velda, then pursues him through the streets and shoots him dead. Convinced that Kendricks was a puppet, Hammer tells Chambers that he will ruin his career. Chambers, being instructed by the CIA, tells Hammer that Kalecki supplied the gun that killed Jack and also owned the apartment building where Kendricks lived.

Kalecki drives Hammer back to the Northridge Clinic, where Romero has set up traps for him. Hammer jumps out of the car before Romero sets off a mine, killing Kalecki. Hammer kills Romero's goons then climbs over the wall and into the building to confront Romero. Romero wrestles Hammer's gun from him but Hammer has plugged it so when Romero fires the gun it explodes in his hand. Romero dies before Hammer can get answers about Jack, so Hammer breaks into the offices. He learns from a computer file that Dr. Bennett killed Jack, then confronts her at her home. She attempts to pull a gun on him but he shoots her first.