Vida de un estudiante

I had dropped out of Harvard Law school in 1969, not because of a girl, but because I wanted to see life before I saw Vietnam. I later found out about the Marine Reserves and avoided Vietnam, but I had always wondered if I had made a BIG mistake (I did have a successful career in data processing, however).

When I saw this film, I immediately knew I had made the right choice. Most of my professors were just blustering blowhards who were trying as much to intimidate me as teach me (Kingsfield must have taken lessons from one professor of mine in particular, although Houseman was not half as intimidating as he was!).

Hart's realization that experience is almost as important as education( although sometimes not as lucrative) was a turning point in my life, and I have never looked back.

Not enough credit is given to Lindsay Wagner in without a doubt what was her best performance--brava!

As hard as it is to believe, this film makes studying exciting. The Paper Chase shows the difficulty of a first year law student. The endless studying sessions are followed by frustrating classroom encounters. The point of this film is that to succeed one must not sellout their ideals. People are changed by their experiences in this film. To win, one must place perspective on the pursuit of academic goals. Are good grades worth sacrificing love and friendship? Is flunking out truly the end of the world? At the end of the film Hart has come to realize that he has been just chasing after a paper diploma.

It's been almost 40 years since I entered law school during which this movie was released and viewed with great interest by just about everyone in my class. For some, it was a fairly accurate depiction of the emotional drain first year law school can bring about. We didn't see these folks again after the Christmas break.

For most, however, it was a bit 'over-the-top' fun - strategically useful to impress family and friends who always seemed to be oddly curious about the academic rigors involved in becoming a lawyer.

Our law school sponsored a frosh-night just before the first week of classes and, after the movie was released it was played as the highlight of the evening. For those of us in second and third-years who were also invited, it was great fun to observe the incoming, first-year students squirm and grimace as if it were they who were called-upon to recite the facts and finding in Carlill & Carbolic Smoke Ball.

Housman's performance, while undoubtedly brilliant and, indeed, a major dramatic focal-point of the film, would have been rather softened in reality. The students in my class (and no doubt the ones both before and after) were superbly aware of their own social rights and responsibilities and they certainly were no wall-flowers by any stretch. They would have very quickly and resoundingly stood-up to that sort of intimidation and it wouldn't have happened again.

And yet, now, some 40 years later, having just seen the movie again, I must say, upon reflection, it really does capture the essence of the law school experience. It is a jealous mistress; romantic relationships, sports, hobbies, casual fun - all of it becomes secondary to the almost overwhelming curricular demands. As is suggested in the film, it is not just a question of learning material, memorizing statutes and jurisprudence; it is more than that. It is a matter of changing the way one sees reality. To this day, even though I am a retired lawyer, I look at a vehicular accident and I think 'tortious liability'. I hear an ambulance and I think 'wills and estates'. I watch Dads alone and fumbling uncomfortably with their kids in MacDonald's on Saturday morning and I remember the 'custody and access' battles in which my clients were engaged.

To me, the movie is as fresh and evocative today as when I first saw it.

I cant say this movie is anything at all like law school, but I have been in a PhD program for seven years and I know this: The Paper Chase is far and away the most accurate representation of the first year of graduate school as depicted in film. Not there are really *any* depictions of graduate school in film, at least this one gets it right. The students at once detest and seek approval from a professor who cares very little about whether or not they make it. They must rely on one another to get through the year but in the end it is up to each one as individuals whether or not they succeed and go on, or even if they want to continue. Some may knock what might appear to be a cliched cast of first year law students(not unlike a World War II movie) including the arrogant one, the kooky one, the rich guy, the brainy one, the selfish one, the self doubting one--but honest, all of these stereotypes exist in every first year grad program in every department across the country.

If you think you want to go to grad school, this movie may (and hopefully will) cure you.

I saw this on an early VHS video transfer that was just awful. I then saw it years later on TCM in widescreen DVD format and was blown away by all I'd missed on that c****y video version. This is a first rate drama of a harried Harvard law student. Make sure you see this in widescreen so you can get the full effect of the wonderful scenes like the one where Hart and his buddy sneak into the upstairs library with the glass lighted floor to sneak a peek at Kingsfield's law student notes. I especially liked the way director James Bridges reflected the lighted floor off of Hart's glasses. A very nice touch from an underrated director. No car chases, no action sequences, no over the top plots, just a simple character driven story set in the beautiful Harvard law school. This is what great filmmaking is all about.