The Verdict (1982)

Directed by: Sidney Lumet | 129 minutes | drama | Actors: Paul Newman, James Mason, Jack Warden, Charlotte Rampling, Milo O’Shea, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Binns, Julie Bovasso, Roxanne Hart, James Handy, Wesley Addy, Joe Seneca, Lewis J. Stadlen, Kent Broadhurst, Colin Stinton

The man with the most famous blue eyes in cinema history has retired. Paul Newman (1925) recently announced his retirement from acting. The Hollywood legend says he no longer has confidence in his own abilities. “I’m not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to. You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that’s pretty much a closed book for me.” The versatile Newman leaves behind a wonderful body of work, including starring roles in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969), ‘Cool Hand Luke’ (1967), ‘The Hustler’ (1961), ‘The Sting’ (1973) and the only film for which he won an Oscar, ‘The Color of Money’ (1968). He was also nominated nine times for the prestigious gold statuette, including for the court drama ‘The Verdict’ (1982) by the brilliant director Sidney Lumet, a film that was nominated a total of five times but did not win a single Oscar. .

In ‘The Verdict’, Newman plays Frank Galvin, a downtrodden and alcoholic Boston lawyer. In the past three years, he’s only had four cases, and he’s lost all of them. His only friend, his former mentor Mickey Morrissey (Jack Warden), tries to help him out and offers him a lucrative business. A young woman has fallen into a coma at a Catholic hospital due to the negligence of two respected doctors and also lost her unborn child. Her sister and brother-in-law hope to be able to collect a large sum of compensation. The defending party does indeed offer a $210,000 settlement, but caught in a sudden fit of justice, Frank decides not to take the money and takes the case to court. Much to the dismay of everyone around him. Frank has to take on one of the most acclaimed lawyers in the US, the bold Ed Concannon (James Mason). When his star witness suddenly runs off, it becomes very difficult for Frank.

The ‘little’ man who takes on the established order; it’s a common theme in movie history. Director Sidney Lumet – who twenty-five years before ‘The Verdict’ already made a rock-solid courtroom drama with the unparalleled ’12 Angry Men’ – wanted to expose the dubious practices in the American rule of law. A book by lawyer Barry Reed, in which the incompetence and corruption within the judiciary are discussed, was the basis for the screenplay of ‘The Verdict’. The talented screenwriter David Mamet, who would later create a furore with excellent scripts for the likes of ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ and ‘Wag the Dog’, was asked to edit Reed’s story for the silver screen. Thanks to the work of Mamet and Lumet, who is a great actor director, ‘The Verdict’ became much more than just a courtroom drama. In fact, the outcome of the lawsuit is not the most important part of the film; it revolves around the personal development of main character Frank Galvin. How does he crawl out of the deep valley into which he ended up due to all kinds of unpleasant circumstances? The director knows how to depict this struggle very well.

Lumet gathered together a fantastic bunch of actors. The big crowd puller is of course Paul Newman. He doesn’t make his character Frank more beautiful than he is; a clumsy alcoholic who hardly knows what he is doing. Only when he has set his teeth in the business and won’t let go, does he find a new purpose in his life. The always great Brit James Mason (‘Lolita’, ‘A Star is Born’) also pops off the screen. You know Concannon is a sneaky guy, yet as a viewer you never really get to hate him because Mason makes him a flesh and blood human being. Jack Warden (“12 Angry Men,” “All the President’s Men”) is lovable as Frank Galvin’s loyal friend. There are also nice roles of Milo O’Shea as the biased judge, Charlotte Rampling as Frank’s unreliable girlfriend and Lindsay Crouse as the key witness. Incidentally, a very young Bruce Willis has a cameo as one of those present in the courtroom.

As to be expected with a Sidney Lumet film, the actors take the whole thing to a higher level. Thanks to Mamet’s strong script, a realistic picture is created of the situation, so that what happens remains recognizable for the viewer and you can therefore be carried away with the worries of the protagonists. ‘The Verdict’ is an intelligent film about the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system in the United States. The fantastic acting by Newman, Mason and Warden will have you glued to the tube from start to finish. Highly recommended.