The Verdict

The Verdict (1982)

**** (out of 4)

Disgraced, alcoholic lawyer Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) is handed his best case in years and in return all he has to do is collect the settlement. Instead of doing so Frank sees this case at a shot at redemption so he takes it to trial against one of the best defense lawyers (James Mason).

THE VERDICT is without question one of the greatest courtroom dramas that you're ever going to see. I'd argue that it's also one of the greatest films of the decade. I'd even go a step further and say it's one of the greatest and most powerful films ever made. I will even add more praise in saying that it contains perhaps the greatest ensemble acting that you're ever going to witness. Is all of this too much praise to throw on a film? No when it's for a film like THE VERDICT.

Obviously everything here begins and ends with Newman who gives one of the greatest performances that you're ever going to witness. I always said that Marlon Brando's performance in LAST TANGO IN Paris is the greatest performance i have ever seen but this one by Newman is close. Just take a look at the sequence before the trial where his character has a panic attack. Just see the fear in eyes, his movement and the fear in his voice. Watch his final speech to the jury. Check out a twist, which I won't ruin, but deals with him being betrayed. A lot of times a music score and editing help "make" a performance but in all of these scenes there are none of that. Instead it's just Newman delivering a performance and often it's shown in one take.

Not only is the lead terrific but so are all the supporting players. Jack Warden is terrific in his role as the assistant. Charlotte Rampling is as calm and cold as you can get. As for Mason, did you ever doubt that you were watching a brilliant lawyer work his magic? Milo O'Shea will have your blood boiling in the role of the judge. All of the important characters are brought to life through terrific performances but even the small roles are flawlessly acted. Edward Binns as the Bishop. Lindsay Crouse as an important witness.James Handy and Roxanne Hart as the suffering family members.

THE VERDICT is one of the most grim and dark movies that you're ever going to see. The character study of a drunk and a loser makes for some very dark moments and director Sidney Lumet perfectly sets everything up during the opening sequence where we learn everything we need to know. His direction throughout is flawless. The film is slow-paced but it's done for a reason and it's impact is certainly felt in the end. The story is a rather simple one about redemption but the movie offers up so much drama and suspense that it works just like a thriller.

THE VERDICT is a film that deserves all the praise one can give it.

I like that this film shows how the criminal justice system, solid though it is, has cracks that can prevent justice being done, and that the people participating in it have to have the courage to recognize them. This film has turned out to be a seminal one: legal drama has turned overwhelmingly to rumination of the moral interstices of the law like the one portrayed here. Without "The Verdict," we wouldn't have "The Practice." Gone are the days when all of Perry Mason's clients were innocent.

Paul Newman's performance has been justifiably enshrined in the pantheon of Circumstances When The Academy Dropped The Ball. But what made the film a truly emotional performance for me was Lindsay Crouse as the pivotal witness. The entire ensemble was flawless, as was the incredible atmosphere. "The Verdict" is probably too serious for some movie fans, and that's OK--no film can please everyone. But if you like to be given something to think about by your entertainments, this is the film for you.

"The Verdict" is simply one of the best legal dramas ever done. Of course much of what happens in the movie is unrealistic and wouldn't happen in a real case but the movie isn't a study in courtroom procedure (watch the fantastic "Anatomy of a Murder" for that) it is a study about redemption and in that respect it excels.

This movie captures Paul Newman's finest screen performance and that alone makes it an important movie. The scenes where Newman hardly says anything show how great an actor he is---his look of self-loathing when he's thrown out of the funeral home, his palsied hand and lost look when he's trying to drink his whiskey, his panic when Charlotte Rampling lambastes him for being a failure. Then throw into that his terrific courtroom scenes, his arguments with the judge in chambers, it is just a sensational performance all around.

The level of acting is high all around in this movie. James Mason was Oscar nominated for playing the silky smooth, totally corrupt defense attorney. Jack Warden shines as Frank Galvin's world-weary former law partner. Lindsey Crouse has a small role as a nurse but is given the most powerful and dramatic moment in the entire movie. Her cross-examination by James Mason is where the movie really shines and shows that Paul Newman can keep his ego in check. How many movies give the most powerful and dramatic moment of the film to one of the secondary players? How many lead actors would be willing to just sit there quiet in a chair while a bit player and the second male lead share the big moment? It was a bold decision by both Newman, director Sidney Lumet and writer David Mamet and it is unforgettable.

The movie shows the two extremes of the practice of law. James Mason's win-at-all-costs cheating and Paul Newman getting so emotionally wrapped up in the case that he is no longer protecting his client's interests and instead is out to settle his own personal scores. A great, great movie.

I have seen this movie, on screen and as a video, many times. Each time, it gets better. This is no doubt the best acting by Paul Newman in his career. Why he didn't get the Oscar for this role, but instead got it for the lackluster "The Color of Money", is beyond me. The movie is actually about redemption, or the attempt to be redeemed.

His interpretation of Frank Galvin, a desperate, conniving, down-to-the-last-case attorney, is fascinating and totally convincing. And he has a fantastic supporting cast -- from Jack Warden as his partner, Charlotte Rampling as his chance for romantic redemption, Milo O'Shea as the corrupt judge, Lindsay Crouse as his surprising ace-up-his-sleeve, and most of all, in a landmark supporting actor role, James Mason as the seemingly distinguished and respected defense attorney.

And I found the direction by Sidney Lumet to be, once again, outstanding. Lumet has such a long list of great movies that you wonder why he has never won an Oscar or been given an AFI Lifetime Achievement award.

This is a riveting movie -- about the law, but mainly about the flawed nature of the human beings who are entrusted with it. Please hear Newman, as Frank Galvin, on his last, crippled, despairing leg, give the summation to the case. It needs to be carved in marble somewhere. David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay, deserves accolades for how he was able to hand Paul Newman such a moving summation. The summation is about life, not just the law. It is a masterpiece, worth seeing the entire movie for.

Most of all, it is Newman's Finest Hour.

If Newman hadn't been up against Ghandi, he probably would have. I think the Academy realized their error and Newman's win for The Color of Money was really for his portrayal of Frank Galvin, in this well-done tale of moral decrepitude and ultimate redemption. Writer Mamet and Director Lumet are into heavy symbolism throughout, with the scene of the developing Poloroids of the victim (the case becomes clear in Galvin's mind), to Galvin's pilfering of a woman's mail to run down a lead on a potential witness. The closing statement of Newman's character to the jury is powerful.