The Verdict
Composite Score: 83.97
Starring: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O’Shea, Edward Binns, Julie Bovasso, Roxanne Hart, James Handy, and Joe Seneca
Director: Sidney Lumet
Writer: David Mamet
Genres: Drama, Legal
MPAA Rating: R
Box Office: $53.99 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Verdict is Sidney Lumet’s legal drama, based on Barry Reed’s novel of the same name, adapted by David Mamet for the screen. It follows Paul Newman’s aging small-time lawyer, Frank Galvin, as he takes on a medical malpractice case against a hospital run by the Boston archdiocese and their crack team of lawyers, headed by James Mason’s ruthless Ed Concannon. Lumet, Mamet, Newman, and Mason all received Oscar nominations for their contributions to the film, and it was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture that year. It marks another stellar example of Lumet’s ability to direct legal drama with excellence and some quality performances from both Mason and Newman.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
I don’t love the way that this film wraps its story up. A lot of it feels more like judicial malpractice to make sure that the audience gets the verdict that it is so rooting for. The set-up to the conclusion is so rife with defeatist imagery and conversations (and actual reasons for the case to go a certain way) that the conclusion feels more like a rug-pull, and not the creative or pleasant kind, more the deus ex machina kind. As far as I can tell, the plot follows that of the novel, so I can’t fully fault the filmmakers for the somewhat lackluster conclusion that we are left with. I just wish that they could have provided some legal precedent to go along with the implicit, “Juries will make the right decision even if the law says they shouldn’t,” narrative that we are left with.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
The performances of The Verdict’s two contrasting leading lawyers and its leading lady carry the film beyond its lackluster finale to a spot among film greats. James Mason gives one of his best performances as the realistic but dastardly Ed Concannon, determined not to be right or to be the best, but to win, as he reminds the audience and one of the film’s other characters toward the back half of the film. He plays his role with the punchable smugness that it requires and brings just the slightest hint of humanity to it to remind the audience that this “Prince of Darkness” was once just like the rest of us before money and connections turned him into the film’s villain. Charlotte Rampling, surprisingly snubbed of any noteworthy nominations due to a fairly stacked category that year, delivers an excellent show as the film’s femme fatale – Laura Fischer, a recently divorced woman looking for an apartment who falls into a relationship with Galvin. She plays her part with a subtlety of emotion that says everything she needs to say in just a single expression. While her character doesn’t have the most creative arc, her acting lends a depth to a character that could easily have been a one-note side character. Finally, Paul Newman is doing what he does best here – playing an alcoholic, tormented underdog with piercing blue eyes. His portrayal of the troubled Galvin, ready to give up save for this one last case, is what sells the film’s implausible finale. His drive to find the necessary evidence for his case and his one last plea to justice in his closing arguments place this performance among some of the best courtroom performances ever – it’s not quite Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, but what is?
Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, and James Mason give some excellent performances in The Verdict, allowing its message of justice winning the day to shine through, cliché though it may be, earning the film its place among the greats. The convenience of its conclusion might leave a poor taste in the mouth, but the acting and the tension of it all go a long way in making up that ground. This film is currently streaming on HBO Max if you’d like to watch it.