“Nothing we can do, can make that woman well.”
“And no one will know the truth.”
“What is the truth?”
“That poor girl put her trust into the— the hands of two men who took her life… She’s in a coma. Her life is gone. She has no home or family. She’s tied to a machine. She has no friends, and the people who should care for her, the doctors… and you and me, have been bought off to look the other way. We’ve been paid to look the other way. I came here to take your money. I brought snap shots so I could get your money… I can’t do it, I can’t take it, because if I take the money, I’m lost. I’ll just be a rich, ambulance chaser. I can’t do it, I can’t take it.”
“You may discuss money, Mr. Galvin how’s your law practice?
“Not too good, I only got the one client.”
The 1982 courtroom drama, The Verdict features a powerful performance by the always fantastic Paul Newman and lands at the top of my favorite courtroom drama films of all time. Directed by Sidney Lumet with a dynamic screenplay by the awesome David Mamet, the film contains several memorable lines and the most evil judge known to man.
The film begins with Paul Newman as Frank Galvin. Galvin is a struggling lawyer who has lost several of his last cases. He drinks too much and seems to care nothing for this profession. He’s resorted to representing recently dead people in wrongful death cases and even has the nerve to attend funerals to hand out his card. Frank’s luck is about to change when a retired, former co-worker sends him a case that will surely settle, leading to a nice payday for Frank. The case in question is of a young woman who was given the wrong anesthesia while giving birth and ended up in a vegetated state. At first Frank is thrilled about the case with the settlement nearing 200,000 dollars. Frank visits the young, nearly dead woman in the hospital and when time comes to take the check, he hesitates. He then delivers the speech found at the top of this review, leading to him taking on the case and not settling. Along the way, he meets a young woman played by Charlotte Rampling who refuses to let him feel sorry for himself during the build up to the trial. As things begin to fall around Frank with his star witness gone missing, and all of his evidence being dismissed on a technicality, Frank must try to find a way to win this case for his clients, but mostly, for himself.
First let me get out of the way the predictable praise for Paul Newman in this film. He is simply fantastic and the alcoholic lawyer who tries to turn around his life. I was also pleasantly surprised by Charlotte Rampling, an actress whom I’ve only seen in two other roles before this, 2003’s Swimming Pool and the 2010 film reviewed as part of this blog, Never Let Me Go. She has a very tough job in this film but she executes the role asked of her perfectly. The star for me in the film, as some may have guess, is the script by David Mamet. Arguably the best screenwriter in the modern era, Mamet has delivers scripts for films such as The Verdict, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross, Homicide and many others. Make no mistake, the combination of Paul Newman, David Mamet, and Sidney Lumet is historic in Hollywood and while this film was nominated for 5 Oscars, it failed to win even one, which is a great mistake in my opinion. I found the film to be engaging, surprising and as I said, my favorite courtroom drama of all time.