The Verdict

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The Verdict
original movie poster
Directed by	Sidney Lumet
Produced by	David Brown Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	Novel: Barry Reed Screenplay: David Mamet
Starring	Paul Newman Charlotte Rampling Jack Warden James Mason Milo O'Shea
Cinematography	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Editing by	Peter C. Frank
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 8, 1982
Running time	129 min
Language	English

The Verdict is a 1982 feature film which tells the story of a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer who pushes a medical malpractice case in order to improve his own situation, but discovers along the way that he is doing the "right" thing. Since the lawsuit involves a woman in a persistent vegetative state, the movie is cast in the shadow of the Karen Ann Quinlan case. The movie stars Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea and Lindsay Crouse.

Directed by Sidney Lumet, the movie was adapted by David Mamet from the novel by Barry Reed and is not a remake of the 1946 film, The Verdict, directed by Don Siegel and starring Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.

The Verdict was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Paul Newman), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (James Mason), Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Notes 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Plot

Frank Galvin (Paul Newman), once a promising Boston lawyer, is now an alcoholic ambulance chaser who has lost all of his four cases over the last three years. As a favor, his friend Mickey (Jack Warden) throws him a medical malpractice case where it's all but assured that the defense will settle a large settlement be offered. The case involves a young mother who was possibly administered the wrong anesthetic and is now in a coma. The relatives of the mother are hoping for the settlement and Frank assures them they have a strong case.

Frank visits the coma-stricken young mother and is deeply affected. He then meets with the defendants - the Archdiocese of Boston, who run the Catholic hospital where the incident took place. As expected, the archdiocese offers a fair amount of money to settle out of court, but Frank declines the offer, as he fears that this may be his last chance to do right as a lawyer and taking the money would make him "lost." Everyone, including the presiding judge and the mother's relatives, is stunned by Frank's decision.

Things quickly go wrong for Frank. His star medical witness bails on him; his opponent, the attorney Ed Concannon (James Mason), is masterful with the press; and no one wants to talk about what, if anything, went wrong in the emergency room on the day in question. Frank refuses to give up, even when he has the opportunity to have the case called a mistrial. Though his case is somewhat weak at times, he concludes with an impassioned final speech calling the jury to pursue truth and justice. The jury sides with Frank and awards the family a large, but undetermined, amount of money.

[edit] Notes

• Robert Redford was originally slated to star in this film, but he was uncomfortable with the script. After several rewrites, he decided that he did not like the story and left the project. Sidney Lumet came on board and chose the original script as the one he would direct.

• Bruce Willis has an uncredited background appearance as an extra, in one of his first film projects. After the verdict is read for the plaintiff, Willis can be seen to the left of Paul Newman's head and can be seen smiling. Another notable star in this very same instance, but instead to the right is Tobin Bell.

• In the school yard scene, the graffiti on the building wall, clearly says, Pink Floyd "The Wall", The Who, and Physical Graffiti, the name of a famous double album by Led Zeppelin.

The jury sides with Frank and awards the family a large, but undetermined, amount of money. The movie was recently redacted to eliminate the jury's finding. It aired on HBO and Cinemax that way.

[edit] See also

• Trial movies

[edit] External links

• The Verdict at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Films directed by Sidney Lumet 1950s 12 Angry Men (1957) • Stage Struck (1958) • That Kind of Woman (1959) • The Fugitive Kind (1959) 1960s A View from the Bridge (1961) • Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) • The Pawnbroker (1964) • Fail-Safe (1964) • The Hill (1965) • The Group (1966) • The Deadly Affair (1967) • Bye Bye Braverman (1968) • The Sea Gull (1968) • The Appointment (1969) 1970s King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) • Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970) • The Anderson Tapes (1971) • Child's Play (1972) • The Offence (1972) • Serpico (1973) • Lovin' Molly (1974) • Murder on the Orient Express (1974) • Dog Day Afternoon (1975) • Network (1976) • Equus (1977) • The Wiz (1978) 1980s Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) • Prince of the City (1981) • Deathtrap (1982) • The Verdict (1982) • Daniel (1983) • Garbo Talks (1984) • Power (1986) • The Morning After (1986) • Running on Empty (1988) • Family Business (1989) 1990s Q & A (1990) • A Stranger Among Us (1992) • Guilty as Sin (1993) • Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) • Critical Care (1997) • Gloria (1999) 2000s Strip Search (2004) • Find Me Guilty (2006) • Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) • Getting Out (2009)

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