Film Review: The Verdict

This Is The Case

By Tadhg Curtin

It’s David vs. Goliath, and a last chance at redemption for Paul Newman’s alcoholic, ambulance chasing lawyer in Sidney Lumet’s superb legal drama, The Verdict (1982).

There are many great courtroom dramas. To Kill A Mockingbird probably being the most noble, A Few Good Men might be the most well known, it certainly has the most iconic courtroom drama moment (“I want the truth…”) And there is Lumet’s film debut, 12 Angry Men. The irony of that movie is it never sets foot inside a courtroom; taking place in the juror’s room. However, of all the cinematic courtroom dramas I’ve seen, The Verdict is at the top of my list.

Written by David Mamet and set in Boston, Newman plays an outcast, alcoholic lawyer who sees the chance to salvage his career and self respect by taking a malpractice case to trial rather then settling. That case being against the Archdiocese of Boston.

Charlotte Rampling

This one of the first movies where we saw an older Newman; 56 years old but he was still Paul Newman. It’s not unbelievable that he’s able to pick up the gorgeous Charlotte Rampling despite his bad luck. It’s one of my favourite Newman performances. I love the rest of the cast too - Jack Warden, who seems to have been born aged 53, the always great James Mason as Ed Conchannon plays a character that, by the measure of this movie, is one of the bad guys. But he’s just doing his job. He is just doing what a defence lawyer is supposed to do: defend his client, and he is damn good at it. Noted for playing rogues and scoundrels, Irish actor Milo O’Shea is the devil incarnate as the judge over the proceedings. He shows no sympathy for Newman’s plight, twisting the screw on proceedings any chance he gets. Charlotte Rampling and a young Lindsey Crouse leave a devastating mark as well. They’re fantastic.

Sidney Lumet was one of the most underrated of the American film making masters. He wasn’t a flashy director but that’s not to say he didn’t apply bravura touches where suitable. I point towards the camera move incorporated over the reading out of the final verdict. However, my absolute favourite moment is where Newman is taking pictures of his client in the hospital with a Polaroid camera. As we see him have an epiphany regarding the case he’s taken on, we cut to and hold on a shot of two pictures developing on the client’s bed. The rhythmic wheeze of her coma machine hissing off-screen.

So simple. So devastating.

It’s such a quiet movie. In my recent viewing, I realised I had my TV volume at the highest volume and yet the movie was but a whisper. Compared to the world today, everyday life back then seemed more muted regarding visual and aural noise. It’s a movie with people in rooms, flicking through paper, talking to each other in dimly lit bar booths. And it’s one boozy movie, people drink and smoke with such frequency it’s staggering.

I’ve never wanted the good guys to win more in a movie. “This is THE case” Newman states at one point. This is one great movie is what I say.

Available on DVD, Blu Ray and to rent on YouTube.

Milo O'Shea, James Mason & Paul Newman