if the title and the chamber and be mean to be a pun and it a pretty good one . there the judge chamber where decision be make and and and at the other end and the gas chamber where those plan be execute along with the inmate to whom those judgment be pass down . in some way and the title be the nifty part of the movie . for john gresham and whose intention be always benign and it a pretty weak story . ( it shouldn not be and with william goldman do the adaptation . ) it gresham most pedantic . condemn be both racist violence and the death penalty and the former more so than the latter . that the bothersome part of the plot . okay and gene hackman do his best with the role of the lifetime kkk bomber who take the rap for the real killer of the two jewish child . but he miscast . hackman be not an unreflective and defiant and redneck racist and murderer . james wood be that character . hackman be absolutely first rate ( without be a bravura actor ) when he get the right role and whether it villainous or heroic and but he never be good with accent and and man and do this role call for one . at that and he give the strong performance in the film and with support from a couple of seasoned player like harve presnell . gresham relatively innocent young idealist and chris odonnell and do not convince . he look the part alright but his voice and gesture suggest a weakness that the character shouldn not have . and he the main man . some of the support player and like bo jackson a sergeant packer and can not seem to act at all . the climax involve one of those detailed execution scene i have come to loathe . i do not understand why theyre there . in a short cinematic exercise in the early 1940s and orson welles use the first person camera to guide the viewer into a gas chamber . then and in the mid 50 and there be a detailed execution of susan hayward in i want to live . then there be a hiatus for another twenty year or so before these tasteless scene come back with a vengeance . here we get to see gene hackman gas to death and the foamy spittle drip from his mouth a he expire . but what do this tell u . that execution be horrify and painful . what else be new . so what do these scene tell u that we do not already know . i understand some tv channel be negotiate with texas to film execution for broadcast . ( how long before the opportunity to pull the switch be auction on ebay . ) what kind of audience do the writer and director think theyre address . the musical score be by carter burwell and it fairly conventional and full of deep and ominous chord . he a talented composer who have do quirkier work in good film like fargo and the spanish prisoner . judging from the movie that be base on his novel and john gresham be in the not uncommon position of be at odds with the value of the society he grow up in . a lot of other marginalized writer have also be prompt to explain the sin of their culture past to the rest of u and begin maybe with nathaniel hawthorne and run through the southern giant of american literature and playwriting tennessee williams and faulkner and and the rest . gresham fit the mold and his work be interesting and but this be a failed effort . the legal aspect be confuse and the character a bit muddled and and the story itself either too simple or too complex and depend on how you look at it .