Sidney Lumet’s 1982 courtroom drama The Verdict is probably best known as one of Paul Newman’s finest films, and that’s surely an appropriate distinction. But it also marks only the second film written by legendary screenwriter David Mamet, whose silver screen debut was Bob Rafelson’s remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Although Newman fully deserves all the accolades he’s received for The Verdict, it’s Mamet’s screenplay – adapted from the novel by Barry Reed – that elevates the film beyond ‘just another courtroom movie’.
Nominated for five Oscars (and winner of none), this film is a sobering and entirely satisfying character study. Newman plays attorney Frank Galvin, a former hotshot who has fallen on hard times. An unjust conspiracy and a nasty divorce have conspired to leave Frank as a broken, alcoholic wreck who fishes for clients by visiting the funerals of total strangers. Devoted friend and one-time mentor Mickey Morrissey (Jack Warden) tries to help Frank by throwing him a case that’s a sure money-maker, while newfound girlfriend Laura (Charlotte Rampling) begins the difficult task of reconstructing Frank’s shattered self-esteem.
Frank’s ‘last-chance’ case involves a clear case of medical malpractice: admitted to the hospital to deliver her third baby, a healthy young woman is rendered a complete vegetable thanks to an operating room oversight. The hospital’s attorneys (led by the coolly devious James Mason) are quite prepared to settle the case out of court for a hefty sum, but Frank unwisely has a sudden attack of morality. He refuses the settlement and, much to the chagrin of Mickey, Laura, and especially the presiding judge, insists on taking the case to a jury.
With a lesser screenwriter, director, or leading man, The Verdict might have leaned too far in one direction, and ended up falling on its face, but here the film is a perfect balance between simple ‘character-driven redemption tale’ and ‘well-conceived courtroom dramatics’. Though the focus of the film is clearly Galvin’s pothole-laden road to redemption, this is also simply a damn compelling story. Mamet’s script offers subtle character shades and more than a few inspiring scenes of dialogue, while director Lumet (the excellent filmmaker behind Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and several others) casts the movie in a moody, shadowy atmosphere that perfectly reflects the arc of his main character.
There are numerous reasons to check out The Verdict: it has the immortal Newman (also nominated for an Academy Award, also didn’t win) strutting some of his best work ever; it’s a well-crafted and altogether compelling “trial flick”; and it showcases some great early work from one of today’s finest screenwriters. Those who can’t get enough of television’s Law and Order or The Practice should rediscover this minor classic, one of the best films to hit the screens during the early 1980s.
