Description: Wealthy, brilliant, and meticulous Ted Crawford, an aeronautical engineer in Los Angeles, shoots his wife and entraps her lover. He signs a confession; at the arraignment, he asserts his rights to represent himself and asks the court to move immediately to trial. The prosecutor is Willy Beachum, a hotshot who\'s soon to join a fancy civil-law... ( +expand to view full text )

Description: Wealthy, brilliant, and meticulous Ted Crawford, an aeronautical engineer in Los Angeles, shoots his wife and entraps her lover. He signs a confession; at the arraignment, he asserts his rights to represent himself and asks the court to move immediately to trial. The prosecutor is Willy Beachum, a hotshot who\'s soon to join a fancy civil-law firm, told by everyone it\'s an open and shut case. Crawford sees Beachum\'s weakness, the hairline fracture of his character: Willy\'s a winner. The engineer sets in motion a clockwork crime with all the objects moving in predictable ways.