The Jordan Chance (1978 TV Movie) User Reviews (2)

A chance at redemption

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 20 April 2020]

Raymond Burr stars in The Jordan Chance, a made for TV film that looks like a failed pilot for another TV series. In this he's a lawyer who heads a foundation which offers wrongly convicted prisoners a chance at redemption.

Like in Ironside, Burr has a picked staff to assist that consists of Ted Shackleford, James Canning, and Jeanie Fitzsimmons. In this film they are helping Maria Elena Cordero who has been imprisoned for a murder she didn't commit. for four years.

Law enforcement is the person of George DiCenzo is downright hostile, in fact Burr's hotel room is bugged. He and his team get roughed up a bit. Who's behind it all is former sheriff John McIntire who has a vested interest in the coverup. There's another strong performance from Stella Stevens as the victim's widow who also has the town jumping.

This might have been an interesting series.

A nice surprise!

[yehma · 8/10 · 12 May 2020]

This movie is quite fast paced, with quite a few twists and turns. I got hooked at the very beginning, when the experienced sheriff arrives on the scene of a crime, just after the departure of the coroner (who went for breakfast - a detail that is very true to life!), moves the body, and finds evidence that had been ignored up to then. I've spoken to an undertaker who had a similar experience happen to him, when coming to pick up the corpse of a young man who had died in his home: the coroner had put the cause of death down as suicide... It was murder, all he needed to do was to move the body to find that out! It's small details like that which makes a plot more believable. The other reason I really liked watching this movie is that it discusses the issue of anti Mexican racism... and that movie was released in 1978. Already...