Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. He discovers that this is the third incident in the area in the recent past with victims young, blonde, pretty, and small for their ages. Jerry slowly becomes a father figure to her daughter and on one night as he is reading bedtime stories to Chrissy, Lori overhears them and goes to her room to cry, presumably realizing how badly she and her daughter needed a good man like this in their life. Official Sites (2001). Has Jerry neglected something that may prove to be fatal? The mom showed up and said, "How could you do this?," which is what the other cops would have said. Jerry is adamant about his pledge to find the killer, and does not go on the fishing trip. Jerry sees a picture Ginny drew of "The Giant", but it does not resemble Wadenah, and includes a black station wagon and not a red truck drove by Wadenah. Company Credits Jay Electronica Releases Long-Awaited Project ‘Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)’, Q&a: Aaron Dalla Villa Discusses Immortal, Pledge, Trick, Dream Roles, Directing, and Making New Music, Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo Just Received A Very Big Honor, The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing, What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast, Resort Owner The film features an ensemble cast, starring Jack Nicholson, Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Mickey Rourke, Lois Smith and Benicio del Toro. "[8] The film also has a score of 71 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 33 critics indicating "Generally favorable reviews. Joe Depczynski), assistant craft service / assistant first aid, production legal: Cohen & Reder LLP (as Ben Reder), production financing: Imperial Entertainment Group, personal assistant: Mickey Rourke (uncredited), dog coordinator (uncredited) / dog trainer (uncredited), in memory of: our brother in arms (as Michael Haller). Jerry's solitary life gives way to friendship with a woman and her small, blonde daughter. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. "[9], James Berardinelli gave The Pledge three stars, calling it "clever in the way that it gradually reveals things, but never gives us too much information at one time. A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery. Looking for something to watch? Freddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl. The film ultimately earned $19,733,089 domestically and $9,686,202 internationally for a total of $29,419,291, below its $35 million production budget. The Pledge is a 2001 American neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Sean Penn. (as Wendy Morrow Donaldson). Jerry's investigations reveal three unsolved and similar cases that Wadenah could not have committed. Instead, he visits the victim's grandmother, who tells him of the many stories that Ginny told. (as Wendy Morrow Donaldson), Detective at Retirement Party (Interaction) Jerry delivers the bad news to the child's parents, and the mother Margaret Larsen (Patricia Clarkson) makes Jerry swear on a cross that he will find the killer. Dürrenmatt wrote The Pledge to refine the theme he originally developed in the screenplay for the 1958 German film It Happened in Broad Daylight with Heinz Rühmann. After hours of waiting, Stan and the other police leave. Some reviews saw the cop's journey as a "descent into madness", which is about as good as you can do with it, I guess, but it just makes the cop crazy instead of evil. Written by The material is sadly timeless and provides one with an abstract medium to ruminate about war and, hopefully, peace. A Vietnam vet comes home to his small town and finds himself in conflict with rules that his brother has vowed to uphold. Jerry doesn't believe the Police arrested the right man. He discovers that this is the third incident in the area in the recent past with victims young, blonde, pretty, and small for their ages. The film opened in 1,275 theaters and grossed $5,765,347, with an average of $4,521 per theater and ranking #11 at the box office. He discovers that this is the third incident in the area in the recent past with victims young, blonde, pretty, and small for their ages. The film was in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The police inspector in the novel, according to the review in "Sight and Sound," simply wanted to catch the big fish and showed little feeling for the child he used as bait. The party is interrupted by the discovery of a murdered child, Ginny Larsen. Chrissy explains to Jerry that she met a 'wizard' who gave her porcupine candies and told her not to tell her parents they had met. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, Resort Owner She figured it was OK to tell Jerry, since he is not her father. Jerry is uncomfortable about this and begins to think Jackson is the killer. During the interview, the man eventually confesses but steals a gun from one of the deputies and commits suicide. Jerry suggests for her and her daughter's safety that they move in with him temporarily and she agrees. Such a character is too repellent to make a movie about, so the movie version "humanizes" the character by making him become attached to the mother and child, and indicates that he is concerned that the monster will kill another child. They tell Lori what happened, and she confronts Jerry angrily about putting her daughter in danger. Directed by Ann Steuernagel. Inner conflict is not shown and his behavior is not explained. His evidence would have to be very strong to compel him to use the little girl as bait, and the other cops would never have joined his crazy scheme, for at least three reasons: first, they didn't accept his suspicions; secondly, no one with children would consider putting a child at risk; and thirdly, if the trap had resulted in harm to the little girl, they would all have had to move to another planet. It is based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1958 novella The Pledge: Requiem for the Detective Novel. Some time later, reprising the first images shown at the beginning, Jerry sits alone on a bench in front of the ruined gas station. Publisher Will Randall becomes a werewolf and has to fight to keep his job. The critical consensus states "Though its subject matter is grim and may make viewers queasy, The Pledge features an excellent, subtle performance by Jack Nicholson. A corrupt border Agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market. Ex-lawman Matt Austin (Luke Perry) accidentally kills an innocent man (Alex Paez) while hunting an outlaw who killed his family. Title: Stan goes in to interview the suspect, Toby Jay Wadenah (Benicio del Toro), a Native American man with mental retardation. So he buys an old gas station in the mountains near the crimes in order to search for a tall man who drives a black station wagon, gives toy porcupines as gifts, and calls himself "the wizard", all clues from a drawing by the dead girl. On the night he retires as a Reno, Nevada detective, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) pledges to the mother of a murdered girl that he will find the killer. On the night he retires as a Reno, Nevada detective, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) pledges to the mother of a murdered girl that he will find the killer. "[10] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four and later added it to his "Great Movies" list, writing: "The last third of the movie is where most police stories go on autopilot, with obligatory chases, stalkings and confrontations. The film features an ensemble cast, starring Jack Nicholson, Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Mickey Rourke, Lois Smith and Benicio del Toro. October is packed with great movies and several new and returning TV series. On the night he retires as a Reno, Nevada detective, Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) pledges to the mother of a murdered girl that he will find the killer. The Pledge (2001) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.