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Law on Film
Law on Film explores the rich connections between law and film. Law is critical to many films, even to those that are not obviously about the legal world. Film, meanwhile, tells us a lot about the law, especially how it is perceived and portrayed. The podcast is created and hosted by Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer, legal scholar, and film buff. Each episode, Jonathan and a guest expert will examine a film that is noteworthy from a legal perspective. What does the film get right about the law and what does it get wrong? Why is law important to understanding the film? And what does the film teach about law's relationship to the larger society and culture that surrounds it. Whether you're interested in law, film, or an entertaining discussion, there will be something here for you.
Law on Film
Juror #2 (2024) (Guest: Frank Wohl) (episode 50)
This episode examines Juror #2, Clint Eastwood’s most recent—and perhaps final—film. Juror #2 centers around the trial of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend after a fight at a bar, leaving her in a ditch by the side of a road. The twist comes early: Justin Kemp a/k/a Juror #2 (played by Nicholas Hoult) soon realizes that the wrong man is on trial—as he hears the evidence, Kemp figures out that he, and not the defendant, killed the victim. Kemp realizes that he accidentally hit the defendant’s girlfriend with his car while she was walking along the side of a road on a dark and rainy night—thinking at the time, that he had hit a deer. Kemp, otherwise portrayed as a good man—a loving husband with a baby on the way—must navigate the moral dilemma as he serves on a jury that seems prepared to condemn an innocent man. Eastwood’s first courtroom drama in a long and legendary career, Juror #2 explores themes of justice, morality, and the imperfections of the legal system.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:46 A flawed process
7:05 The ex-police detective on the jury and the motion for a mistrial
15:40 The lawyer’s problematic advice
23:16 A prosecutor who eventually does the right thing
27:17 The public defender
31:28 A good person caught in terrible circumstances?
40:40 Missing scenes in the legal narrative
44:46 A dark picture of the U.S. criminal justice system
Further reading:
“A Forensic Review of ‘Juror #2,’” J. American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, vol. 53(1) (2025)
Banner, Adam, “Honesty in jury pool examined in ‘Juror #2,’” ABA Bar Journal (Jan. 28, 2025)
Brody, Richard, “In ‘Juror #2,’ Clint Eastwood Judges the System Harshly,” New Yorker (Oct 30, 2024)
Melonic, Emina, “The Storytelling of Clint Eastwood,” Law & Liberty (Jan. 10, 2025)
Upendra, Chidella, “The Ethical Vision of Clint Eastwood,” Journal of Religion & Film, vol. 17(2) (Oct. 2013)
Zagha, Muriel, “Clint Eastwood’s Puritan Morality Tale,” Engelsberg Ideas (Dec. 2, 2024)
Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember.
For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html
You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com
You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz
You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm
You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast