The Verdict (1982)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A patient character study mixed with a smart courtroom drama. Taut, smart, steady, quiet, palpable and powerful, with performances that are perfect and natural from top to bottom.

Sidney Lumet won me over with 12 Angry Men, The Network and most of all, with a breathtaking masterpiece Dog Day Afternoon. However, the movie I'll say a couple of sentences about here, his late-career favorite, seems to be like those unplanned gems where things just magically fall in place..Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, a worn-out attorney having been presented with a new case, that possibly could revive his life and career. Along with Jack Warden as his mentor and friend, James Mason as an courthouse opponent, Milo O'Shea as judge and Charlotte Rampling as Frank's lover, all of them are utterly convincing and believable and give this film top-notch cast..Some allegedly small script details play such a huge part in differentiating this movie from a tons of movies with a similar subject. You witness Lumet magic on screen. I hope to get a chance to see the movie in a proper setting, in cinema..

'The weak have gotta have somebody fight for them...The court doesn't exist to give them justice. The court exists to give them a chance at justice.' One of the most overlooked and under-appreciated auteurs in cinema direction returns to the judicial stomping ground of his matchless debut. Sidney Lumet acquired this project after it had been abandoned by both Arthur Hiller and Robert Redford, troubled at aspects of David Mamet's adapted screenplay. Whereas Redford was uncomfortable at the prospect of presenting a chronic alcoholic, Lumet was drawn to the desperate and gritty realism of Mamet's treatment. Despite interest from many leading actors, including Sinatra who offered to play the part for free, Lumet was determined to offer the leading role to Newman. In the standout performance of his career, the latter thrives under Lumet's trademark low-key direction, finally able to answer criticism from his former mentor, Lee Strasberg, that he had the talent to be as great as Brando, but all too often relied on his looks to coast through a movie. In an understated performance as browbeaten advocate and barfly, Frank Galvin, Newman captures effortlessly the shame and wretchedness of this flawed protagonist. A tale of redemption, the audience accompany Galvin on his arduous journey from years of alcoholic abuse, a lack of self-worth, and professional malaise to a re-birth of some degree of self-belief and professional integrity. Reduced to trawling obituaries to seek potential clients, the road to redemption is triggered when he is handed an open and shut case of medical malpractice. Despite the preparedness of all parties, including his own clients, to settle out of court, Galvin becomes determined to pursue justice for a young mother left in a vegetative state after receiving an incorrect form of anaesthesia. In attempting to prove two eminent doctors in their field are guilty of gross negligence, he has to take on the combined forces of the Archdiocese of Boston in whose hospital they work, a highly priced and organised legal defense team, and a hostile presiding judge. In his last ever appearance in a major Hollywood production, James Mason, as the wily and assured lead defence counsel, provides such a mesmeric performance that it is a travesty he was not garlanded with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Mason was slated to reprise the role for TV but the project was shelved due to ill health. Two of Lumet's original 'Twelve Angry Men' appear out of character in a superlative supporting cast. Honest and principled Juror # 6, Edward Binns is here the bishop determined to avoid miring the archdiocese in scandal at all costs by hiding the tragedy from public interest, while superficial Juror #7, Jack Warden, plays Galvin's loyal and dependable former mentor and ally. Other notable performances come from Milo O'Shea as the biased corrupt judge, in his most incisive contribution to the silver screen, and that of Mamet's then wife, Lindsay Crouse, in a brief but compelling appearance as Galvin's surprise witness. Finally, Charlotte Rampling adds her trademark steeliness to her role's essential part in both story and character development. While her underlying motives serve to illustrate the degree of corruption which Galvin has to overcome, her own battle with her conscience to do the honourable thing mirrors that of Newman's character. The nominations for best picture, direction, and adapted screenplay evidence how fruitful a collaboration this was between Mamet and Lumet. No scene captures their combined artistry more than that which marks Galvin's epiphany. Securing his own photographic evidence to bolster his clients' claims and his own percentage of any financial settlement, Galvin's empathy for the incapacitated victim suddenly takes shape as do the images in the Polaroids. The power of this scene is further achieved as the only sound to be heard is the working of the life-support machinery. Lumet has managed to instil a sombre atmosphere and greater gravity throughout by intentionally shooting most scenes with a drab palette and curtailing extraneous dialogue and sound. Lumet should also be credited with persuading Mamet of the need to provide, as the title of the production would suggest, a judgement on the case. Unfortunately for Newman's Oscar-worthy performance, contrary to his character's summation, the jury at the Academy could not be trusted to make the right decision.

When The Verdict, a courtroom drama directed by Sidney Lumet, came out in 1982, I had just graduated nursing school. The Verdict features Paul Newman and was written by David Mamet. This film has a medical context and a nursing role.A word about Sidney Lumet. Lumet directs quality movies about medico-legal, substance abuse and cultural issues. For instance, in Equus the plot is about a psychiatrist treating a boy who blinds a stable full of horses. Lumet also directed Long Day's Journey into the Night which is Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical account of his explosive home life, fueled by a substance abusing mother, an alcoholic father and a mentally ill brother. Dog Day Afternoon is about a gay man who robs a bank to pay for his lover's sex change operation. The simple robbery turns in to a hostage situation and a media circus. Critical Care, a medical "comedy", is about a young hospital resident embroiled in a legal battle with siblings over the care of their rich, comatose father. The resident has a supervisor who insists that he only care for patients with full insurance. Finally, 12 Angry Men, another courtroom drama is about a young Hispanic male who is accused of murdering his father but the story really is about jurors' prejudices about the trial, their biases about the accused and each other.The Verdict depicts a once successful, now down-and-out lawyer who sees his career turning around when he accepts a medical malpractice case and refuses to settle rather than going to trial.Kaitlin Costello Price, Mamet's wife in real life by Lindsay Crouse, is a nurse who was involved in the pre-surgical care of the comatose patient. The long and short of her story is that she had to leave nursing because the surgeons told her to change a patient's record who had eaten an hour before the operation so they could use general anesthesia. If she did not falsify the record, she would never work as a nurse again. She doesn't.Her words echo in my mind to this day "Who were these men? Who were these men? I wanted to be a nurse"!Some racial profiling and sexual bias goes on here. A black doctor is brought in to testify and Newman treats him shabbily.Jack Warden called him a "witch doctor". Additionally, there was a seen where Newman punched his girlfriend for lying to him and she thinks she deserves it.