'Marshall' movie about Thurgood Marshall is highly entertaining, absorbing

NEW YORK (WABC) -- So many of us learned about Thurgood Marshall in school. He argued the landmark desegregation case of Brown V. Board of Education before The Supreme Court and later made history when he was elevated to the highest court in the land as one of the nine justices.

His life is the subject of a new movie called "Marshall," and it's what's often called a 'bio-pic.' This ranks as one of the best of its kind because the film doesn't try to tell his story from the cradle to the grave. Rather, it chooses to focus on one, early chapter of that remarkable life.

Thurgood Marshall has been called, "the greatest lawyer of the 20th Century," and says the man who plays him, "this is the origin story."

Chadwick Boseman brought Jackie Robinson back to life for the movie "42" and portrayed James Brown in "Get On Up." The actor has become adept at showing us the man behind the myth.

That served him well playing the man who became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

Boseman told me, "this is the story of how he got there, you know. The significant things he did in his younger years."

In 1941, Marshall found himself traveling from the South where he risked his life defending innocent victims of racism, to the North and the tony community of Greenwich, Connecticut. There, he defended a chauffeur -- played in the movie by Sterling K. Brown -- who had been falsely accused of raping his employer, played by Kate Hudson. Turns out what happened between them was consensual.

"She was lonely," explain Brown. "He took advantage of an opportunity. They took advantage of each other." But, the chauffeur took the fall for what happened: he paid the price for their shared indiscretion.

Due to bigotry, Thurgood Marshall was not allowed to speak in court during the trial so another, local attorney played by Josh Gadd, had to do all the talking.

The star said the local guy took a big risk, "Dealing with the kinds of hatred and bigotry that was running rampant," said Gadd. "That's something very bold to put yourself in the line of fire of."

The case was the talk of the Tri-State area more than 75 years ago, but had faded into obscurity. The director of "Marshall," Reginald Hudlin insists the case deserves to be more than an historical footnote.

"We've seen Southern racism so much. We've seen the racist sheriff chewing tobacco. We got it!"

He was interested in another type of narrative."Northern racism gets a pass way too much because there's this layer of gentility, and underneath that the same institution of racism."

"Marshall" taught me a lot about a man I thought I knew, but even though the film is without a doubt worthwhile, It is also highly entertaining, absorbing and well worth your time and money!