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Created Oct 30, 2017 07:36PM PST • Edited Jun 02, 2019 06:42PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   The American hero who almost single-handedly defeated institutional racism personified his unique first name. Lots of Marshalls, just one Thurgood, which is why Marshall is a poor title for this stirring biopic. OTOH, Thurgood sounds like a thoroughly good historical drama about Thurgood Marshall’s early days, when black America, indeed all America, needed someone of his profound gifts and indomitable courage.

   Marshall gives us young Thurgood, thereby resetting the fixed image of an elderly Supreme Court justice. It’s not just Thurgood, but The Young Thurgood, a la The Young Victoria. It also brings Spielberg’s Lincoln to mind, as both biopics narrowly focus on a single chapter of their subjects’ capacious careers.

   Chadwick Boseman cuts a cool-cat vibe as a young, tough and virile Thurgood Marshall. Boseman is now a top moviestar of the first order, playing American icons most of all. First, Jackie Robinson in 42, then James Brown in Get On Up, now the man who won Brown vs. Board of Education, before becoming the first black man to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s quite a run for one actor, ¾ of a Mt. Blackmore.

   Jewish-Americans were side-by-side with African-Americans in the fight for civil rights, including in this movie’s 1941 rape trial of a black chauffeur. Sam Friedman was the Connecticut insurance lawyer – blackballed from all the WASP clubs, no doubt – who got drafted to ride second-chair for Marshall, and paid the price. Josh Gad’s gift for comedy finds the humor in this brave character, in what is basically a stock role. The scenes of him taking his family to shul hit close to home for me.

   Thurgood Marshall moved me, educated me and entertained me. You can’t ask for much more than that.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Chadwick Boseman inhabits another American icon in his Thurgood Marshall. Boseman combines quicksilver verbal acquity with uncommon physical grace. Call him Swaggy Grey Matter.

   Next up for this incipient superstar: Marvel Studio’s Black Panther. Not that that will be big or anything…

   Josh Gad is portly, whereas the real Sam Friedman was slim and athletic, per an AP article. Who knows if the real insurance lawyer who teamed with Marshall had such a pugnacious relationship with the crusading NAACP lawyer, but it makes for a solid buddy movie vibe, with the deftly talented Gad pulling it off well.

   Strong Supporting Cast

   • Kate Hudson is all of sudden middle-aged as Eleanor Strubing, the real life socialite who claimed rape and attempted murder.
   • James Cromwell brings his patented gravitas as the trial judge who embodied the institutional bias against African-Americans.
   • Sterling K. Brown is affecting as Joseph Spell, the defendant.
   • Keesha Sharp jumps offscreen as Mrs. Marshall.
   • Jussie Smollett is smooth and believable as the legendary author Langston Hughes, shown here as more than a bit bisexual.
   • Chilli flashes through a scene as Zora Neale Hurston.
   • Roger Guenveur Smith barks out a few scenes as the appropriately named Walter White, the stalwart leader of the early NAACP.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Marshall was written by the father-son team of Michael & Jacob Koskoff. The father, Mike Koskoff, “is a Connecticut lawyer with a background in criminal and civil jury trials and civil rights cases”, per IMDb. Koskoff clearly knew the lore of Thurgood Marshall coming to town and drafting Sam Friedman.

    Reginald Hudlin has come a long way from House Party. The last movie he directed before Marshall was Serving Sara in 2002, starring Matthew Perry & Elizabeth Hurley.

    Their film was financed by money from China, through China Wit Media, a name that reeks of ChinaCo control. One citation: 8 Questions for HOU XIAOQIANG, Founder of China Wit Media & Duyao APP

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Fierce 2.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

    Thurgood Marshall crusaded around the country in the 30s, 40s and 50s, representing black defendants from the predations of the then-prevalent institutional racism, which was initially weakened on a case-by-case basis, with those cases argued by Marshall. The movie doesn’t mess with that actual reality too much.

    Here’s some interesting backstory material:

    • History vs. Hollywood on Marshall
    • Time: Marshall movie true story
    • Legal Affairs magazine on the case in ‘Marshall’, published in 2005.
    • AP on Thurgood Marshall movie faithful to the facts, and the man

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0