Written and directed by Ralph Cinque, Dovey’s Promise comes from history. In 1965, Raymond Crump (Terrence Mombrun) is charged with the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, who happens to be the mistress (and true love?) of one JFK. As a young, poor African-American, Raymond tenses up and contradicts himself several times while being questioned by the police. However, there is a lack of forensic evidence directly tying him to the brutal killing.
For that reason, and a desperate plea from the man’s mom, attorney Dovey Roundtree (Joy White) decides to represent Raymond for $1. Along with her paralegal, renowned lawyer Terrence Reilly (Karl Lucht), Dovey hunts for the truth while trying to poke holes in the prosecution’s witnesses.
Dovey’s Promise is an independent production, and that shows itself in the utter lack of era trappings. Aside from the lack of cell phones or discussions of the internet, there’s nothing here to suggest the 1960s or even the 1980s. In fact, at one point a character is wearing a buttoned shirt purchased from Wal-Mart… that I bought roughly one year ago. This makes it hard to be fully enveloped by the atmosphere. The very flat lighting doesn’t help things.
“…Raymond Crump is charged with the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer…”
However, the courtroom drama has a lot of greatness going on. The pacing’s excellent, for one. No scene lasts longer than necessary, and every moment is needed. This is pretty much the definition of no fat to trim. The court proceedings never feel repetitious or dull. In fact, the questioning of each witness is filled with fraught tension.
This is in large part due to the incredible cast, led by a revelatory White. With her big expressive eyes and soft yet commanding voice, she owns every second of the 110-minute runtime. Without White in the title role, this wouldn’t or couldn’t be as engaging. That’s not to say the supporting cast is lesser in any way. Mombrun is very gentle and meek as the accused, making Dovey’s defense even easier. Lucht is brilliant as the paralegal who may or may not love Dovey. Eric Wilkerson, as the judge, is commanding, a little intimidating even, but fair. Lance Henry plays the prosecuting attorney, and he seems to honestly believe Raymond is guilty. This makes that man’s closing statements most impactful.
Dovey’s Promise would be more engrossing if it had the resources to commit to the time period of the story fully. But everything else works so well that it doesn’t hurt the message at the end. White is a revelation and is so clever and fierce one hopes to see her far more often in many more projects. She’s surrounded by excellent co-stars who are instantly believable in their parts.
For more information about Dovey’s Promise, visit the Breaking Glass Pictures site.
"…the incredible cast [is] led by a revelatory White."
