The Pledge (film)
| The Pledge | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Sean Penn |
| Produced by | Andrew Stevens |
| Screenplay by | Jerzy Kromolowski Mary Olson-Kromolowski |
| Based on |
The Pledge by Friedrich Dürrenmatt |
| Starring |
Jack Nicholson Aaron Eckhart Helen Mirren Robin Wright Penn Vanessa Redgrave Sam Shepard |
| Music by |
Klaus Badelt Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Edited by | Jay Lash Cassidy |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $29.4 million |
The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery drama film directed by Sean Penn. The film features an ensemble cast, starring Jack Nicholson, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Mickey Rourke, and Benicio del Toro.
It is based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1958 novella The Pledge: Requiem for the Detective Novel. 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.
Retired police detective Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) is seen mumbling to himself, apparently drunk, sitting on a bench outside a disused gas station. The scene then shifts to events in the recent past. The Department has thrown him a retirement party, and the police captain gives Jerry a fishing trip in Mexico as a gift. The party is interrupted by the discovery of a murdered child, Ginny. Jerry decides to go with another detective, Stan Krolak, to the scene of the crime.
Jerry delivers the bad news to the child's parents, and the mother makes Jerry swear on a cross that he will find the killer. A suspect is found the next day. Stan goes in to interview the suspect, Toby Jay Wadenah, a Native American man with mental retardation. During the interview, the man eventually confesses but steals a gun from one of the deputies and commits suicide. To the other detectives, the case is over, but Jerry does not think that Wadenah was the killer. Jerry is adamant about his pledge to find the killer, and does not go on the fishing trip. Instead, he visits the victim's grandmother, who tells him of the many stories that Ginny told. A later visit to one of her friends reveals that Ginny had a friend she called "The Giant". Jerry sees a picture Ginny drew of "The Giant", but it does not resemble Wadenah, and includes a black station wagon. He takes the drawing with him.
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