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The Verdict - Good
*Also, I am writing directly. If I step across any sort of line with my thoughts, I have not done so to deliberately provoke.*
After a mixed experience seeing another film today, I decided to give this other one that I had seen on lists a try. An early 1980s court drama that it seems has been sort of forgotten. Starring Paul Newman, who apparently starred in BCATSK and Cool Hand Luke (neither of which I've seen).
*-Plot:* A lawyer well past his prime who struggles with drinking problem takes up a medical malpractice case for money. Eventually he takes it on for more than that.
*-My impressions:* The film is from the early 80s and seems to very much embody a declining generation still around that time. I presume that many of the lawyers practicing in the movie must have begun their careers in the 50s.
It's set in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the oldest parts of the USA, and if you add to that, old furniture, old Catholic hospitals, old courtrooms, old offices... all of this solidifies my impression.
The protagonist has fallen into bad habits as he ages, as if he's just fallen out of time, and that this case has woken him up to the state he finds himself in: Single, not much success in his chosen field of work (last 4 cases went badly) and a messy office, and equally fed up assistant.
Whether the added intention or not, the cast for the most part equally all seem above 50 or 60. There is bitterness in the air all round. Everything is as it should be, and this lawyer waking up and deciding to try something new but not just taking the case, but forcing it to go to trial ruffles everyone's feathers.
The woman he meets possibly gives him further impetus. >!Before he realizes that she's essentially a plant, and, probably something that illustrates that this is a product of its time, he slaps her in the middle of a bar after learning the truth.!<
*-Courtroom drama impressions:* I am no expert, but I imagine some of the conduct of the judge would have landed the trial into serious trouble. The film acknowledges that with the lawyer's threat to move for a mistrial based on the involvement.
But worse, something that is quite believable, all sorts of manipulation gets in the way of the plaintiff's case: the prime witness being tampered with and made to leave when the trial is due to take place, the judge refusing to accomodate this and a number of other elements.
It's driven home that the plaintiff is supposed to lose this case.
>!(My nitpick would be that the victory isn't driven home a bit more, but that's up to the writer.)!<
But ultimately, this film is less about the substance of the trial but about an individual underachiever who suddenly finds motivation to fight for something again. >!The last scene where he lets the phone just ring will stay with me a while. He's found himself and peace of sorts.!<
\-Standouts moments:
>!The nurse's testimony and what she says at the end!<
>!The bedroom scenes of the woman putting Calvin under pressure with the words 'I can't commit myself with failure' (or something to that effect. Powerful stuff.!<
>!And simply the reveal of that woman in the offices of the defense.!<
\-*Verdict:* Good, recommended for those that like slow paced meaningful films.
#movies #video
source
*Also, I am writing directly. If I step across any sort of line with my thoughts, I have not done so to deliberately provoke.*
After a mixed experience seeing another film today, I decided to give this other one that I had seen on lists a try. An early 1980s court drama that it seems has been sort of forgotten. Starring Paul Newman, who apparently starred in BCATSK and Cool Hand Luke (neither of which I've seen).
*-Plot:* A lawyer well past his prime who struggles with drinking problem takes up a medical malpractice case for money. Eventually he takes it on for more than that.
*-My impressions:* The film is from the early 80s and seems to very much embody a declining generation still around that time. I presume that many of the lawyers practicing in the movie must have begun their careers in the 50s.
It's set in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the oldest parts of the USA, and if you add to that, old furniture, old Catholic hospitals, old courtrooms, old offices... all of this solidifies my impression.
The protagonist has fallen into bad habits as he ages, as if he's just fallen out of time, and that this case has woken him up to the state he finds himself in: Single, not much success in his chosen field of work (last 4 cases went badly) and a messy office, and equally fed up assistant.
Whether the added intention or not, the cast for the most part equally all seem above 50 or 60. There is bitterness in the air all round. Everything is as it should be, and this lawyer waking up and deciding to try something new but not just taking the case, but forcing it to go to trial ruffles everyone's feathers.
The woman he meets possibly gives him further impetus. >!Before he realizes that she's essentially a plant, and, probably something that illustrates that this is a product of its time, he slaps her in the middle of a bar after learning the truth.!<
*-Courtroom drama impressions:* I am no expert, but I imagine some of the conduct of the judge would have landed the trial into serious trouble. The film acknowledges that with the lawyer's threat to move for a mistrial based on the involvement.
But worse, something that is quite believable, all sorts of manipulation gets in the way of the plaintiff's case: the prime witness being tampered with and made to leave when the trial is due to take place, the judge refusing to accomodate this and a number of other elements.
It's driven home that the plaintiff is supposed to lose this case.
>!(My nitpick would be that the victory isn't driven home a bit more, but that's up to the writer.)!<
But ultimately, this film is less about the substance of the trial but about an individual underachiever who suddenly finds motivation to fight for something again. >!The last scene where he lets the phone just ring will stay with me a while. He's found himself and peace of sorts.!<
\-Standouts moments:
>!The nurse's testimony and what she says at the end!<
>!The bedroom scenes of the woman putting Calvin under pressure with the words 'I can't commit myself with failure' (or something to that effect. Powerful stuff.!<
>!And simply the reveal of that woman in the offices of the defense.!<
\-*Verdict:* Good, recommended for those that like slow paced meaningful films.
#movies #video
source
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