Crimen perfecto

The Lawyer was Barry Newman's best acted role. Yet, as outstanding as Newman was, the show-stealer was blond bombshell Mary Wilcox as the slutty wife of a doctor accused of her savage murder.

Based on the famous Sam Shepperd murder case, the movie is well-acted, moves at a quick pace, and has enough twists and turns to make this one of the best courtroom dramas every made.

However, the sexy Mary Wilcox, in nothing more than a small supporting role, is the actress to remember long after the film is over. 100% all-natural, Wilcox had one of the most impressive bodies in screen history. Tall, tan, with long-shapely legs, and beautiful melon-shaped breasts, Wilcox's nude scene is one of the sexiest filmed. Of course it's spoiled by her on-screen murder. Why this beauty never achieved stardom is beyond me. She appeared a few years later in the Tony Curtis film Lepke, in a brief scene wearing a see-through night-gown and she looked as sexy as ever.

The Lawyer is great, but Mary Wilcox was greater.

Fascinating version of the Sam Shepard case. Newman plays an upstart attorney who gets handed a murder case involving a doctor accused of killing his wife. He dominates the film with some dynamic acting. Terrific courtroom scenes.

Director Furie offers several flashy point-of-view angles and keeps things moving just fine. It occasionally veers toward the fantastic by exaggerating certain aspects of the Dr. Shepard case but never loses its audience. Why this film has always been unavailable on DVD is a mystery. Its time has come since it outshines so many of the courtroom dramas that have come along since it was released. Diana Muldaur is very good in a rare movie role.

"The Lawyer" is an entertaining, if unspectacular courtroom drama featuring the sterling acting talents of Barry Newman ("The Limey", "Bowfinger") and Diana Muldaur ("L.A. Law", "Star Trek: The Next Generation") amongst others. In short, it is about a New York lawyer who ups-sticks to the country, and a murder case he handles in his new environment. As I said, it's nothing special, but surprisingly involving nonetheless. Essentially it plays like a high quality TV movie, so it's no surprise that a spin-off TV series, "Petrocelli", followed. It's worth watching if you have a spare couple of hours, and fans of the show will be interested to see the formative incarnation of Petrocelli. Assured helming, incidentally, comes from Sidney J. Furie - director of one of the best Cold War Spy films ever, "The Ipcress File". "The Lawyer" will make no-one's All Time Top Ten list, I can assure you, but there are many many worse films out there. In a word: Interesting.

(7/10)

Likable, if not terribly engrossing, courtroom drama in which Barry Newman originated his trademark role of opportunistic lawyer Tony Petrocelli (reprised in a subsequent TV series). Generally well-handled by director Furie but the murder sequence, re-enacted in three different ways during the course of the trial, seems unnecessarily flashy. A smart script and a lively music score ensure that the film be an eminently watchable one.

It seems more of a pity that director Furie, who started out strongly with films like this one and THE IPCRESS FILE (1965) would later end up helming third-grade action fare like the IRON EAGLE films or misbegotten would-be blockbusters like SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)...

This film is a courtroom drama following lawyer Barry Newman (Petrocelli) as he defends doctor Robert Colbert (Jack) against the charge of murdering his wife Mary Wilcox (Wilma). The story is based on a true case and the film resulted in a TV spin off series called 'Petrocelli'. In fact, the film has the feel of a TV movie.

It's an OK film – nothing special. The running time is too long and rival lawyer Harold Gould (Scott) has a very annoying habit of throwing snacks violently into his mouth and eating his way through the dialogue. Lose points for that. The script-writers have also given Colbert some pretty stupid lines of dialogue - why on earth would he say such dumb stuff if he wants to convince us of his innocence? He tells his lawyer words to the effect of 'you really want to know if I did it or not, don't you?' Why would an innocent man tease his lawyer, and the audience, like this? Pure crap from the scriptwriting department.

Actually, it doesn't really matter because Colbert is about to be transported to his next adventure on the "Time Tunnel". He's just biding his time. By the way 'Bidin' My Time' is a classic song by Judy Garland from the film "Girl Crazy" (1943). The film's not so good, but the song sequence is great. Back to this film, it's made in the 70's so guess what, gratuitous breast alert!