True Believer (1989 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

True Believer

Directed by	Joseph Ruben
Produced by	Lawrence Lasker Walter F. Parkes
Written by	Wesley Strick
Starring	James Woods Robert Downey Jr. Margaret Colin Yuji Okumoto Kurtwood Smith Tom Bower
Music by	Brad Fiedel
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	1989
Running time	108 min
IMDb profile

True Believer is a 1989 courtroom drama directed by Joseph Ruben and released by Columbia Pictures.

1 Synopsis
2 Real life background
3 Controversy
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The film stars James Woods as burnt-out attorney Eddie Dodd, who has left behind civil rights work to defend drug dealers. Robert Downey Jr. plays Roger Baron, an idealistic young legal clerk fresh out of law school who encourages Dodd to take on the case of Shu Kai Kim, a young Korean man, played by Yuji Okumoto, who has been imprisoned for a gang-related murder. Kim's mother believes her son was wrongfully accused.

[edit] Real life background

The film is loosely based on an investigative series of articles written by Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist K. W. Lee on the conviction of immigrant Chol Soo Lee for a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gangland murder. The news coverage led to a new trial, eventual acquittal and release of the prisoner from San Quentin's Death Row. Screenwriter Wesley Strick based the character of Eddie Dodd on real-life Bay Area defense attorney Tony Serra.

Strick's screenplay was nominated for a 1990 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Motion Picture.\

[edit] Controversy

True believer was mentioned as one of the films that 'whitewashed' Asian American history. Phillip Chung writes, "True Believer is about a young Korean American wrongly accused of a gangland murder and the man who helps free him. And who played the heroic crusader? James Woods, playing an attorney who works tirelessly to free the innocent Shu Kai Kim (Karate Kid 2 baddie Yuji Okumoto).

The contributions of K.W. Lee are completely brushed aside, as are those of the other Asian Americans who worked tirelessly on the case, including Jay Yoo, Grace Kim, Ranko Yamada, Tom Kim, Warren Furutani and Luke Kim." ^[1]