The film stars Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman (who had previously appeared in another Grisham adaptation, The Firm), Faye Dunaway, Lela Rochon, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry, and David Marshall Grant.

Klansman Sam Cayhall is tried for murder in the bombing, and is eventually convicted and sentenced to die in the gas chamber at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.

Nevertheless, as he begins to argue the case, Adam is approached by the Governor through an aide, Nora Stark, who suggests that he might consider clemency if Sam provides information about unidentified co-conspirators to the bombing.

As Adam investigates, inconsistencies in the facts of the original case come to light, casting doubt on Sam's intent to kill and suggesting that he lacked the ability to make the bomb himself, and both Stark and the original FBI agent who investigated the case indicate that the bombing may have been the result of a broader conspiracy involving the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and White Citizens' Councils, which were active at the time of the bombing in opposition to civil rights.

Adam continues to work through the courts, filing and arguing motions for a stay of execution, including on the grounds that Sam was legally insane and unable to tell right from wrong, due to his indoctrination into the Ku Klux Klan.

At the same time, Lee, faced with the unearthed ghosts of the family history and having lapsed back into full-blown alcoholism, reveals to Adam that in the early 1950s, as children, she and Adam's father had witnessed their father murder the family's African-American neighbor Joe Lincoln during a fight that had started because Adam's father, Eddie, had wrongly accused Lincoln's son of stealing a toy soldier.

Adam and Nora secretly gain access to the Sovereignty Commission's sealed files, which prove a wider conspiracy to the bombing, and also indicate the participation of an accomplice.

[6] James Foley came on board to direct while Chris O'Donnell and Gene Hackman agreed to star.

[7] William Goldman described the project as a "total wipeout disaster... a terrible experience" and claims he never saw the finished movie.

"[9] Scenes were filmed in a photo realistic recreation of the gas chamber on studio sets in Los Angeles.

[11] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[12] Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, remarking: "In the early days of X-rated movies, they were always careful to include something of 'redeeming social significance' to justify their erotic content.

"[13] James Berardinelli also gave the film two stars out of four, saying: "Plot-wise, The Chamber is full of seeming irrelevancies.

I made a fundamental error when I sold the film rights before I finished writing the book.