The Gingerbread Man movie storyline. Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) is a divorced lawyer with a reputation for underhanded dealings and protecting criminals. After another successful trial, Magruder celebrates at a party hosted by his firm, becoming increasingly drunk.
As he stumbles out of the party, he has a chance meeting with a woman named Mallory Doss (Embeth Davidtz), a waitress at the party who seems to have lost her car. Rick drives the woman to her home, where her car has been already parked, seemingly by her father, Dixon Doss (Robert Duvall). Rick and Mallory walk into the house arguing about her abusive father. Mallory carelessly undresses in front of him, after which they spend the night together.
The next day, Mallory asks him to file suit against her father because of his dangerous behavior. Having started a relationship with Mallory, Rick agrees and is successful in having Dixon put on trial thanks to favors from his staff, including his investigator, Clyde Pell (Robert Downey, Jr.). Mallory’s ex-husband, Pete Randle (Tom Berenger) also takes the stand, to testify about his former father-in-law’s erratic behavior. Dixon appeals to the judge, claiming that the charges against him are fabricated and exaggerated, but the judge sentences him to a mental institution.
Upon being taken away, Dixon attempts to attack Magruder, vowing revenge. With her father institutionalized, Magruder and Mallory continue their relationship, but not long after, Dixon is able to escape from the institution. Scared of retaliation, Magruder assigns Pell to guard Mallory while he attempts to gain support from the police to apprehend Dixon. The police are unhelpful, even after Dixon and his friends set Mallory’s car on fire, due to the many cases Magruder has won against them.
A short time later, Magruder receives an unmarked letter containing pictures of his children with their faces cut out of them. Worried for his children, he decides to take them out of school, despite not having full custody of his children and needing his wife’s permission to take them. Over the objections of the teachers, Magruder escapes with his children, after assaulting a school employee.
Magruder calls Pell, impelling him to find Dixon Doss. Pell informs Magruder there is now a warrant out for his arrest. Magruder takes the children to a motel. He goes outside the room to call his wife (Famke Janssen) to assure her that he has done what he has for their safety, but during the call, Magruder’s children are apparently taken by Dixon’s crew, and he is forced to rendezvous with Mallory so that she can lead him to her father’s house.
After they arrive, Magruder forces Dixon into a standoff where the older man is killed with a shot through the throat. Mallory then yells that Dixon’s men are escaping with Magruder’s children, and he is forced to give chase. However, upon catching them, his children are not with them, having been turned into the police office hours earlier. Magruder is arrested by the police and Mallory is picked up back at her father’s house, which is now in flames.
The Gingerbread Man is a 1998 American legal thriller film directed by Robert Altman and based on a discarded John Grisham manuscript. The film stars Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey, Jr., Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, Famke Janssen, and Robert Duvall.
The film was based on an original story by John Grisham that was subsequently adapted into screenplay form. Kenneth Branagh liked the story and agreed to do the film but only if a highly regarded director signed on as well. Robert Altman wanted to work with the British actor but only, as he told him, “If we can fool the audience by not making you the hero, by making you flawed.”
Once Altman came on board, he heavily re-worked the script, giving credit to the pseudonymous Al Hayes. Altman said in an interview, “I just wanted to change the elements of these kinds of stories as much as I could and then I wanted to stay out of the courtroom.”[1] Altman changed the setting to Savannah, Georgia, and added the threat of a hurricane throughout the movie.
The Gingerbread Man (1998)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Downey Jr., Daryl Hannah, Tom Berenger, Robert Duvall, Famke Janssen, Mae Whitman, Jesse James, Julia Ryder Perce
Screenplay by: Al Hayes
Production Design by: Stephen Altman
Cinematography by: Changwei Gu
Film Editing by: Geraldine Peroni
Costume Design by: Dona Granata
Set Decoration by: Brian Kasch
Art Direction by: Jack Ballance
Music by: Mark Isham
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality, violence and language.
Distributed by: Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Release Date: January 23, 1998
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