A tough-talking, clever courtroom thriller of the kind that Hollywood seems to produce every two or three years.

Just whether any lawyer would get as involved romantically with her client as Glenn Close does with Jeff Bridges during this messy murder trial is open to conjecture.

No matter, such indelicacies never used to bother us when we were cheering on Perry Mason as he closed in on the killer at the end, and neither should they here.

Despite the fashionable sex, violence and bad language, this is a satisfyingly old-fashioned sort of film, although avid fans of the genre should guess the solution to its ingenious plot at least a reel before the end.

None of the characters are very sympathetic, but all of them are well drawn (which is more important here) - especially by Close, Peter Coyote as the shady DA, Robert Loggia (Oscar-nominated) as a foul-mouthed investigator and Marshall Colt as a tennis-club stud.

Solid stuff.