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Marshall | 2017 | PG-13 | - 6.5.5

Based on the true story of the early legal career of Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) who became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. Also with Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Sterling K. Brown, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Keesha Sharp and Roger Guenveur Smith. Directed by Reginald Hudlin. A man says something that could have been in Hebrew with English subtitles. [1:58]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man and a woman talk, the man kisses the woman's shoulder and they have sex (we see the man thrusting from behind the woman and they are then shown lying on a sofa together). A woman describes being raped by a man and we see a reenactment of the events: a man grabs the woman and throws her on a bed, holds a knife to her throat and we see her face as she cries and tries to free herself and she says, "He penetrated me."
 A woman kisses a man, they kiss passionately and he picks her up and places her on a bed; the man removes his shirt (we see his bare chest and abdomen) and sex is implied. A husband and his wife hug and sex is implied.
 A husband and his wife lie in bed together (he is wearing a tank T-shirt and she is wearing a low-cut night gown that reveals cleavage) and they kiss. A wife kisses her husband. A woman kisses a man on the cheek. A woman speaks to a man at a bar and appears to be flirting with him until they are interrupted (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details) and she later wraps the man's wounded hand.
 A man in a courtroom says that a woman "took a lover" and "engaged in vigorous intercourse." A woman testifies that a man raped her and we see a reenactment with the man thrusting on top of her. A man describes the accident that caused him to lose a testicle (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
 A woman wears a low-cut and sheer nightgown that reveals cleavage and we see the outline of her nipples through the fabric. A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. A woman is shown wearing a wet dress that clings to her body as she flags down a car on a dark road. A man is shown from the back while wearing a tank T-shirt (we see his upper back). Bare-chested Native Americas are shown in a painting (bare chests and abdomens are shown).

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A woman describes being raped by a man and we see a reenactment of the events: a man grabs the woman and throws her on a bed, holds a knife to her throat and we see her face as she cries and tries to free herself and she says, "He penetrated me"; she says that he did it again, then tore her dress and gagged her with the fabric, bound her hands and threw her over a bridge into water and then threw rocks at her from the bridge below hoping to kill her.
 Three men approach and surround a man on the street and kick and punch him while he is on the ground (we see him with very bloody facial wounds later). Two men sit on either side of a man in a bar and one nudges a woman speaking to the man and puts his cigarette out in the man's drink; the two men attack the seated man and punch him until the barman cocks a gun and tells them to leave (we see blood on one of the attacker's faces and the seated man's knuckles). A woman is shown with a trickle of blood on her lip and it is implied that her husband struck her. A woman tries to get out of a car and a man grabs her arm; she scratches his arm and gets out, climbs on the railing of a bridge and jumps into water below (we see her unharmed later).
 Three men (one with a shotgun) approach another man on a train platform and quiz him threateningly about why he is there; the man gets on a train and as it pulls away from the station, and the gunman fires a round into the air. A man bumps into another man and tells him to watch where he is standing. A man picks up a kitchen knife when he goes to answer the door and his wife hands him a larger knife. A man throws a pebble at another man's head hitting him (no injury is seen).
 A man pounds a club on a table in a court room where a man is seated and appears frightened while saying that police had tied a man into a chair and pounded him in the head while questioning him. Two men argue in a few scenes. A woman panics and yells for a man to get out of her house and drive her somewhere when she fears being pregnant by him. A man in a courtroom describes that bodies had been burned. We hear that a man was coerced into confessing to a crime that he did not commit. A flag waves outside a building and it reads, "A man was lynched yesterday." A man describes being chased by bigots and that he jumped on the back of a truck and that his scrotum was snagged on a shard of metal that caused him to lose one of his testicles.
 A woman in a hospital bed tells her husband over the phone that she miscarried and says, "The bleeding was so much worse," implying that she had miscarried before. A woman tells her husband that her aunt and cousin were taken in Krakow and the man asks, "And the children too?" as the woman cries.
 A man questions another man and says, "She said you raped her. Did you rape her?" A man tells another man that he is accused of raping a woman, driving her to a reservoir and throwing her over a bridge into water to kill her. People are interviewed for potential positions on a jury and they discuss potential racial bias. We hear that records were altered and official testimony had been changed. A man is described as having stolen from an employer, having been dishonorably discharged from the army and as being unfaithful to his wife. A man describes fearing that people would, "Cut off my manhood and you'd find me swinging from a branch." A man asks another man what he has in his bags and the man says, "Guns," then quickly says, "Books."
 A Jewish man and an African-American man enter a private men's club and are told that they are not allowed in; they speak to another man seated at a table who tells them to get out. Protesters outside a courthouse have placards that read, "Hang 'em," and "Rapist," and have drawings of men hanging. A black and white drawing in a newspaper is shown depicting an accused attacker as a gorilla. We read a newspaper headline about a rape accusation. A man talks about the University of Maryland not accepting him because of his race and that he later sued them and won. A man says that a state would not give him a license to practice law, but that they gave him a driver's license instead. A man says, "The only way through a bigot's door is to break it down."
 We see a bruise on a woman's shoulder and she says that her husband did it. A man urinates in a urinal (we hear the trickle) and another man talks to him and touches his shoulder, then leaves.

LANGUAGE 5 - About 2 F-words, 2 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, 22 derogatory terms for African-Americans, 3derogatory terms for Jewish people, name-calling (boy, bastard, absolute idiot, stupid), 6 religious profanities (GD), 3 religious exclamations (In God We Trust, Oh God, God).

SUBSTANCE USE - Men drink glasses of whiskey in a club, a man drinks whiskey in a bar and other people around him have beers and other beverages, a woman drinks from a glass of whiskey, a man and a woman drink whiskey, two men smoke and drink alcohol in an office (one smokes a cigar and the other a cigarette), and a man asks a woman how many glasses of wine she had one evening and if she was "tipsy." A man smokes a cigarette in an office, men smoke cigarettes in a club.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Racism, NAACP, fear, rape, classism, spousal abuse, reputations, publicity, old money, control, Langston Hughes, proof, lying, infidelity, martyrdom, communism, bigotry, equal protection under the law, bigotry, tyranny, loneliness.

MESSAGE - Thurgood Marshall was a brave and influential man.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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