History YMMV / ATimeToKill

** You need not be a racist or a member of the Klan to think that what Carl Lee did was wrong. He openly killed two suspects in a courthouse, before they even had a chance to go to trial, and shot a guard in the leg (albeit unintentionally), resulting in him needing it amputated. If you wanted to, you could argue that this film winds up (whether intentionally or not) advocating vigilantism and mob rule.

%%* SignatureScene: Those immortal words as delivered by Creator/SamuelLJackson.
** Also Brigance's closing argument.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: You need not be a racist or a member of the Klan to think that what Carl Lee did was wrong. He openly killed two suspects in a courthouse, before they even had a chance to go to trial, and shot a guard in the leg (albeit unintentionally), resulting in him needing it amputated. If you wanted to, you could argue that this film winds up (whether intentionally or not) advocating vigilantism and mob rule.

** Roark is referred to as "Lois Lane" at one point in the movie. A decade after this film's release, Kevin Spacey would portray Lex Luthor in Film/SupermanReturns.
* JustHereForGodzilla: While the film remains quite controversial, for some it's still more than worth it for main leads performences, ESPECIALLY Samuel L. Jackson's for the reason already explained below.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: You need not be a racist or a member of the Klan to think that what Carl Lee did was wrong. He openly killed two suspects in a courthouse, before they even had a chance to go to trial, and shot a guard in the leg (albeit unintentionally) resulting in him needing it amputated. If you wanted to, you could argue that this film winds up (whether intentionally or not) advocating vigilantism and mob rule.

** Carla was in her right [[WhatTheHellHero to be reasonably mad at Jake for taking Carl Lee's case as his killings of the two people who raped his daughter Tonya were what drove the Ku Klux Khan to take revenge and threatening Jake's family]] unless he stepped down and allowed the black man to be executed, which he did not want to (though to be fair, Carl Lee's decision to kill them was a ''conscious'' one), even pointing out that their daughter Hannah came every day "bawling because kids call her a nigga-lover" and castigating Jake for not calling Sheriff Walls, the only black cop, as a possible intervention would've equally saved Carl Lee, Jake and his family a lot of trouble, only for her, after coming back to town from a trip, as a way to keep herself and Hannah safe from the gang's wrath, to be remorseful for yelling at Jake and assuring him he's not to blame for the whole ordeal, as he only did his best to make things right and acknowledges that he took Carl Lee's case because of Hannah, knowing that her husband would've killed those men himself had they raped her just like they did to Tonya. Remorseful or not, and even if Jake took the case for Hannah, people still agree that Carla was understandably freaked out when Jake kept playing with fire (well, he literally did when the people hell bent on avenging Tonya's rapists [[KillItWithFire succeeded in burning his house down]]) by refusing to resign from the case and choosing to prevent Carl Lee from being executed via the gas chamber.

* AmericansHateTingle: See ValuesDissonance below.

* SignatureScene: Those immortal words as delivered by Creator/SamuelLJackson (see Memetic Mutation above).

** Carla was in her right [[WhatTheHellHero to be reasonably mad at Jake for taking Carl Lee's case as his killings of the two people who raped his daughter Tonya were what drove the Ku Klux Khan to take revenge and threatening Jake's family]] unless he stepped down and allowed the black man to be executed, which he did not want to (though to be fair, Carl Lee's decision to kill them was a ''conscious'' one), even pointing out that their daughter Hannah came every day "bawling because kids call her a nigga-lover" and castigating Jake for not calling Sheriff Walls, the only black cop, [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot as a possible intervention would've equally saved Carl Lee, Jake and his family a lot of trouble]], only for her, after coming back to town from a trip, as a way to keep herself and Hannah safe from the gang's wrath, to be remorseful for yelling at Jake and assuring him he's not to blame for the whole ordeal, as he only did his best to make things right and acknowledges that he took Carl Lee's case because of Hannah, knowing that her husband would've killed those men himself had they raped her just like they did to Tonya. Remorseful or not, and even if Jake took the case for Hannah, people still agree that Carla was understandably freaked out when Jake kept playing with fire (well, he literally did when the people hell bent on avenging Tonya's rapists [[KillItWithFire succeeded in burning his house down]]) by refusing to resign from the case and choosing to prevent Carl Lee from being executed via the gas chamber.

** Carla was in her right [[WhatTheHellHero to be reasonably mad at Jake for taking Carl Lee's case as his killings of the two people who raped his daughter Tonya were what drove the Ku Klux Khan to take revenge and threatening Jake's family]] unless he stepped down and allowed the black man to be executed, which he did not want to (though to be fair, Carl Lee's decision to kill them was a ''conscious'' one), even pointing out that their daughter Hannah came every day "bawling because kids call her a nigga-lover" and castigating Jake for not calling Sheriff Walls, the only black cop, [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot as a possible intervention would've equally saved Carl Lee, Jake and his family a lot of trouble]], only for her, after coming back to town from a trip, as a way to keep herself and Hannah safe from the gang's wrath, to be remorseful for yelling at Jake and assuring him he's not to blame for the whole ordeal, as he only did his best to make things right and acknowledges that he took Carl Lee's case because of Hannah, knowing that her husband would've killed those men himself had they raped her just like they did to Tonya. Remorseful or not, and even if Jake took the case for Hannah, people still agree that Carla was rightfully freaked out when Jake kept playing with fire (well, he literally did when the people hell bent on avenging Tonya's rapists [[KillItWithFire succeeded in burning his house down]]) by refusing to resign from the case and choosing to prevent Carl Lee from being executed via the gas chamber.

** Carla was in her right [[WhatTheHellHero to be reasonably mad at Jake for taking Carl Lee's case as his killings of the two people who raped his daughter Tonya were what drove the Ku Klux Khan to take revenge and threatening Jake's family]] unless he stepped down and allowed the black man to be executed, which he did not want to (though to be fair, Carl Lee's decision to kill them was a ''conscious'' one), even pointing out that their daughter Hannah came every day "bawling because kids call her a nigga-lover" and castigating Jake for not calling Sheriff Walls, the only black cop, [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot as a possible intervention would've equally saved Carl Lee, Jake and his family a lot of trouble]], only for her, after coming back to town from a trip, as a way to keep herself and Hannah safe from the gang's wrath, to be remorseful for yelling at Jake and assuring him he's not to blame for the whole ordeal, as he only did his best to make things right and acknowledges that he took Carl Lee's case because of Hannah, knowing that her husband would've killed those men himself had they raped her just like they did to Tonya. Remorseful or not, and even if Jake took the case for Hannah, people still agree that Carla was rightfully freaked out when Jake kept playing with fire (well, he literally did when the Ku Klux Khan [[KillItWithFire succeeded in burning his house down]]) by refusing to resign from the case and choosing to prevent Carl Lee from being executed via the gas chamber.

* HarsherInHindsight: In the movie, the DA played by Creator/KevinSpacey castigates a defense witness for having been a statutory rapist. After October 2017, when Spacey himself was accused by at least sixteen other people of sexual misconduct, this scene feels absurd in the worst way. Likewise,Creator/DougHutchison portraying a rapist in this movie became this with his controversial marriage and grooming of Creator/CourtneyStodden.

** Roark is referred to as "Lois Lane" at one point in the movie. A decade after this film's release, Kevin Spacey would portray Lex Luthor in [[Film/Superman Returns]].

* HilariousInHindsight: Ellen Roark is a law student at Ole Miss, which is also the alma mater of [[Film/TheBlindSide Leigh Anne Tuohy]], and both women are played by Sandra Bullock. Even more remarkable because Bullock is from Virginia, not Mississippi.