The Verdict - A-

On DVD (1982). Rated R, 125 minutes. Trailer.

As a screenwriter, David Mamet has tackled most subjects, and The Verdict is his meditation on lawyers, ethics, and integrity. Put his script together with Sidney Lumet's directorial abilities and Paul Newman's charisma and you've got a classic film. The Verdict tells the story of Frank Galvin, a wrongly ostracized attorney eeking out an existence as an ambulance chasing attorney. He hits on a potentially big case, and instead of settling the case, thereby keeping 1/3 of the payout for himself, he takes it to trial to help the victim and redeem his soul and his reputation. Click below for more VERDICT.
The trial plays out unsurprisingly, but there is a satisfying ending that is not the norm for these types of films. Mamet's script crackles with the type of hard hitting realistic dialogue that gets my blood pumping. My one hangup with the film was the relationship with the woman Newman meets at the bar. Why would he care about her so quickly and why is she even necessary to the plot? If you cut out that sequence and tighten up some of the hammy 'big law firm' sequences, this might sneak into a full A. I will note, for the record, that it is a decent '80s soundtrack, for once.

The lawyering in the film is generally accurate. The only 'off' stretches were the judge's conduct during the pretrial conference and during Newman's questioning of his witness as well as the 'big law firm' putting 20 lawyers on one relatively small case. Mamet doesn't let us lawyers off the hook for selling out to 'the man' to make money. Newman could take the money early, and has his incapacitated client (via her guardian ad litem, her sister) wanting him to settle. This and Michael Clayton give the best analysis to the ethical, moral and interpersonal issues associated with the practice of law.