The 2019 American drama film, directed by Clint Eastwood, based on true events, starring Paul Walter Hauser, Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilder, Joe Hamm, nina Arianda, tells the story of Olympic security guard Richard Joavier who discovers a bomb in the park, evacuates the crowd with all his might to prevent the bigger tragedy from happening, and is later accused of being a suspect.
Richard Jewell, an honest and law-abiding American citizen, bent on becoming a law enforcer to protect others, has a straightforward and somewhat self-righteous personality, behaves somewhat differently and rarely has friends, he is obese and lives with his mother, and is now a warehouse manager for a company.
By eavesdropping on lawyer Watson calling and sending Snickers to meet him, they gradually became friends by playing games and chatting together, but it didn't take long for Richard to say goodbye to Watson because he quit his job here, re-found a job as a security guard, and planned to become a policeman in the future.
Ten years later, in 1996, Richard still failed to become a policeman as he wished, was a school security guard, probably regarded himself as a law enforcer, did things too well, forcibly searched the student dormitory to prevent them from drinking, and even stopped students at high speed, etc., received a lot of complaints, the principal was very angry and called Richard to dismiss him, Richard reminded that the principal himself spoke publicly at the opening ceremony that he did not want to see the law and discipline on campus, and he also wrote it in a small book, just handled it impartially. The principal could not get off the stage and immediately resigned richard.
With the opening of the Atlanta Olympics approaching, Richard found a security job in the park, responsible for guarding the sound equipment of the concert, and with the encouragement of his mother, he still maintained his original intention, was enthusiastic about helping others, dutifully devoted himself to work, maintained order and helped to carry things and deliver water, and remained vigilant when the police chatted, wary of any suspicious people, like a sheriff.
Seeing a suspicious person hurrying past with a bag, Richard quickly stopped tracking and inspecting, until he saw the other party open the backpack and take out the water. After patrolling to find a group of students smashing bottles to stop it, or called the real police to disperse the students, at this time Richard found a suspicious backpack under the chair, proposed that according to the regulations should be reported immediately, the police felt a little fussy, maybe who lost a bag of beer, but Richard would rather be treated as a madman than make a mistake. He insisted on reporting and began shouting evacuation.
At this time, the police station received a mysterious phone call saying that there was a bomb planted at the concert and that it would soon explode. The investigators found three tubular bombs in their backpacks, confirming Richard's correctness, and they began to evacuate the crowd away, because there were many people watching the concert, the evacuation was relatively slow, and Richard ran forward and then loudly urged the crowd to leave. The sudden explosion caused many people to fall to the ground, and the crowd was in mourning, causing two deaths and more than a hundred injuries, and if it was not evacuated in time, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Richard later appeared on the TV news and became a household hero, and in an interview, Richard insisted that he was just doing his job, very modest and low-key. The FBI launched a routine investigation without any clues, but instead believed that Richard had a serious suspicion, because he was the first person to find the bomb, through the secret investigation, the former principal told them that Richard was doing extreme things, eager to win attention, and then associated with the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic bombing and other similar cases, they think that Richard self-directed, because he wanted to become a policeman, to become a hero.
The news of the secret investigation was leaked to the reporter Casey by Agent Sean, who sacrificed hue to get the news and published the headline despite the truth, turning the hero into a criminal and causing an uproar at once, and Casey became famous in one fell swoop and enjoyed the admiration of his peers.
Knowing that the news had been leaked and turning to a public investigation, Sean invited Richard to the police station in an attempt to trick him into signing a contract waiving his rights to cover up his dereliction of duty, and he was desperate to convict Richard, an act that the FBI acquiesced to in order to avoid reputational damage. Fortunately, Richard still understood the doorway, he refused to sign, called the only lawyer he knew, Watson, asked for help, Watson asked for immediate release, they now have no right to detain, and then immediately find Richard for details.
Watson saw in Richard's eyes that he was still the same pure boy he had been ten years ago, confirmed that he had not done it, and took his secretary to the park to calculate the distance from the phone booth to the concert, convinced that Richard had been framed, and he was determined to help the unfortunate man overturn the case.
Richard had too many experiences reinforcing his criminal image, pretending to be a policeman, evading taxes, and many guns, making Watson very passive. The FBI came to collect evidence, Richard did not listen to Watson's advice to keep silent, but actively cooperated with them, repeatedly excused them, even if he took away his mother's underwear, he also advised his mother to understand the difficulty of law enforcement, which made Watson and his mother very speechless.
Sean saw that there was still an opportunity to take advantage of it, and then lured Richard to repeat the words of the criminals of the day: I planted a bomb in Century Park, and there were thirty minutes to explode. Also said that in order to restore Richard's innocence, Watson came in and hurried to stop it, which is tantamount to self-destruction, Watson angrily scolded Richard not to be at the mercy of a shoe insole, they laughed at you know or not. Richard's emotions finally exploded, he knew that the other party's tone was not good, saying that he had had enough of all kinds of ridicule since he was a child, except that Watson regarded him as a person, but now to turn himself into a person he would not become, he could not do it anyway.
Watson was a little touched, and he understood that Richard could not be exquisite and self-serving, sinister and cunning, and this was why he wanted to help him. The assistant rushed to remind the two that the room had been monitored, Richard was very disappointed, did not expect that the FBI that was high up in the air was so authority, he dreamed at night that he had used his body to hold the bomb to protect the crowd, all at this time, Richard was still blaming himself for not doing well enough, and society had launched a siege on him.
The FBI found things from Richard's house and his oral accounts added a lot of so-called evidence that he had a criminal motive, defined his childhood playmate as a criminal accomplice, and even his living alone with his mother became an antisocial personality, really things that were not on the side were pulled in, anyway, they tried their best to convict him, Richard only then understood that the other party was going to kill himself. The mother and son lived in the insults of surveillance and public opinion, could not sleep at night, and became exhausted, and finally under the guidance of Watson, began to fight back.
Watson took him through the polygraph test, the FBI could not find evidence that could be directly convicted, began to interrogate, Watson encouraged him to dare to refuse and question, Richard could not bear it in Sean's aggressive questioning, he directly asked you what evidence did not come to accuse me, all by feeling? This is how the holy federal law enforcement agencies spend their time on themselves, what if the real murderer commits another murderous explosion? I just did my duty that day to spare some people, if everyone saw their own fate, will they still insist on reporting suspicious packages? Presumably no one wants to be the next Richard.
Shaun was dumbfounded, Watson smiled happily, and the widow was teachable. After 88 days of investigation, because of insufficient evidence to exclude suspicion of Richard, no one cares whether he has washed away his grievances, Richard wept with joy after confirming that it was really over, and he no longer unreservedly believed in the justice of justice as he had at the beginning.
Six years later, richard became a police officer, and Watson came to tell him that the real culprit had been found, which was really wronged, but unfortunately did not see Sean and the female reporter being brought to justice. Richard later died of heart failure at the age of 44.