The Verdict

For other uses, see The Verdict (disambiguation).

that this may be his last chance to do something right as a

lawyer, and that merely taking the handout would render
him lost. Everyone, including the presiding judge and
The Verdict is a 1982 courtroom drama lm that tells the
story of a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer who takes the victims relatives, is stunned by Franks decision.
a medical malpractice case to improve his own situation, Things quickly go wrong for Frank: his clients brotherbut discovers along the way that he is doing the right thing. in-law nds out from the other side that he has
The lawsuit involves a woman in a persistent vegetative turned down a $210,000 settlement, and angrily confronts
state and is thus reminiscent of the Karen Ann Quinlan Frank; his star medical expert disappears; a hastily arcase. The lm stars Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, ranged substitutes credentials and testimony are called
Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea and Lindsay into serious question on the witness stand. His opponent
Crouse.
the high-priced attorney Ed Concannon (James MaDirected by Sidney Lumet, the lm was adapted by David son) has at his disposal a large legal team that is masMamet from the novel by Barry Reed and is not a remake terful with the press; the presiding judge (Milo O'Shea)
makes deliberate eorts to obstruct Franks questioning;
of the 1946 lm of the same name.
and no one who was in the operating room is willing to
The Verdict garnered critical acclaim and box oce suc- testify that there was any negligence.
cess. The lm was nominated for ve Academy Awards,
including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Paul Newman), While looking for cigarettes in Lauras handbag, Mickey
discovers a cheque from Concannon, implying that she
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (James Mason), Best
Director (Sidney Lumet), Best Picture and Best Screen- is providing information on Franks legal strategy to the
opposition. At their next encounter a coldly furious Frank
play Based on Material from Another Medium (David
strikes Laura in the face with great force, knocking her to
Mamet).
the oor. Mickey informs him that he can get the case
declared a mistrial, but Frank decides to continue.

Franks big break comes when he discovers the whereabouts of a lone witness quickly hushed after the incident: Caitlin Costello (Lindsay Crouse), the nurse who
admitted his client to the hospital. Her testimony that
she was told by one of the doctors in the case to change
her notes on the admitting form after the incident to hide
his fatal error stuns the entire courtroom. Concannon,
obviously surprised and distressed (and thus apparently
not having been informed by Laura of Franks discovery of Costello), attempts to discredit her and manages to
get the judge to declare her testimony stricken from the
record on technicalities. Frank delivers a brief but moving closing argument, telling the jury you are the law,
and entreating them to seek truth and justice in their
hearts before they vote. When the jury returns, they nd
for Franks client and ask whether they can award more
than the amount sought by the plaintis. The judge resignedly replies that they can.

Plot

Frank Galvin (Paul Newman), once a promising graduate of Boston College Law School and a lawyer at an elite
Boston law rm, is now an alcoholic ambulance chaser
who has lost all of his four cases over the last three years.
As a favor, his former partner and friend Mickey (Jack
Warden) throws him a medical malpractice case where
its all but assured that the defense will settle for a large
amount. The case involves a young woman who was given
a knock-out anesthetic during childbirth, after which she
choked on her own vomit and was deprived of oxygen
for a number of minutes. The baby died and the young
woman is now in a coma, on a respirator. Her sister
and brother-in-law are hoping for a settlement to properly care for the victim, and Frank assures them they have
a strong case. Meanwhile, Frank becomes romantically
involved with Laura (Charlotte Rampling), a woman he
As Frank is congratulated by his clients, Mickey, and colmeets at a local bar.
leagues and strangers alike, he catches a glimpse of Laura
Frank visits the comatose woman and is deeply aected. watching him from afar. That night, Laura, in a drunken
He then meets with the defendants: the Archdiocese of stupor on her bed, drops her whiskey on the oor, drags
Boston, which runs the Catholic hospital where the in- the phone toward her, and picks up the receiver. The nal
cident took place. As expected, the archdiocese oers shot is of Frank in his oce looking thoughtful, drinka fairly substantial amount of money $210,000 to ing coee out of a paper cup, and ignoring the persistent
settle out of court, but Frank declines the oer as he fears
1

ringing of his phone.

Cast
Paul Newman as Frank Galvin
Charlotte Rampling as Laura Fischer

REFERENCES

fast devolving and chose Mamets original script. This

was agreed to by Paul Newman, who ultimately agreed to
star.[5]
Bruce Willis has an uncredited background appearance
as an extra, in one of his rst lm appearances. After
the verdict is read for the plainti, Willis can be seen,
smiling, to the left of Newmans head. Tobin Bell also
appears, to Newmans right.

Jack Warden as Mickey Morrissey

James Mason as Ed Concannon

4 Reception

Milo O'Shea as Judge Hoyle

Lindsay Crouse as Kaitlin Costello
Edward Binns as Bishop Brophy
Julie Bovasso as Maureen Rooney
Roxanne Hart as Sally Doneghy
James Handy as Kevin Doneghy
Wesley Addy as Dr. Towler
Joe Seneca as Dr. Thompson
Lewis J. Stadlen as Dr. Gruber

The Verdict holds a 96% Fresh rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[6] In a poll of 500 lms
held by Empire magazine, it was voted 254th Greatest
Movie of all time.[7] In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #91 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.[8] Richard D. Pepperman
praised the scene in which Judge Hoyle eats breakfast and
oers Galvin coee as a terric use of objects, making
for a believable judge in his personal, comfortable and
suitable place, as well as a Physical Action (motion) that
demonstrates the subtext of the Judges objective (in support of the insurance company, the doctor and their attorney) without an abundance of expository dialogue.[9]

Kent Broadhurst as Joseph Alito

Colin Stinton as Billy
Tobin Bell as Courtroom Observer
Bruce Willis as Courtroom Observer (uncredited)

Production

Film rights to the novel were bought by the team of

Richard Zanuck and David Brown. A number of actors,
including Roy Scheider, William Holden, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Dustin Homan, expressed interest
in the project because of the strength of the lead role.
Arthur Hiller was originally attached to direct and David
Mamet hired to write a screenplay. Neither ZanuckBrown or Hiller liked Mamets script, so Hiller left the
project and the producers commissioned another screenplay, from Jay Presson Allen. The producers liked this
script and were approached by Robert Redford, who liked
the project but did not like Allens script. Redford suggested they hire James Bridges as a writer-director and
Bridges wrote several drafts of the screenplay, but Redford was not happy with any of them and Bridges left
the project. Redford then began having meetings with
Sydney Pollack without telling the producers; irritated,
they red Redford.[4]
Zanuck and Brown then hired Sidney Lumet to direct,
sending him all versions of the script. After several
rewrites, Lumet decided the storys original grittiness was

4.1 American Film Institute

AFIs 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
Frank Galvin Nominated Hero
AFIs 100 Years...100 Cheers No. 75
AFIs 10 Top 10 No. 4 Courtroom Drama

5 References
[1] The Verdict, Box Oce Information. The Numbers.
Retrieved January 5, 2012.
[2] Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate
and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p260
[3] The Verdict, Box Oce. Box Oce Mojo. Retrieved
January 5, 2012.
[4] William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade, 1982
p 62-67
[5] Shawn Levy, Paul Newman: A Life, p 436.
[6] The Verdict, Movie Reviews. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
[7] "Empires The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. Empire.
Retrieved January 29, 2012.

[8] Savage, Sophia (February 27, 2013). WGA Lists Greatest Screenplays, From 'Casablanca' and 'Godfather' to
'Memento' and 'Notorious". Retrieved February 28,
2013.
[9] Pepperman, Richard D. (2008). Film School: How
to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything about Filmmaking. Michael Wiese Productions. pp. 184185. ISBN
9781615930401. Retrieved April 7, 2013.

See also
Trial movies

External links
The Verdict at the Internet Movie Database
The Verdict at Rotten Tomatoes

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

The Verdict Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Verdict?oldid=639246251 Contributors: Zoe, Edward, Bueller 007, John K,
LGagnon, MistToys, Binabik80, SidP, Cburnett, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), PatGallacher, Before My Ken, GregorB, BD2412,
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Broadbot, Wingedsubmariner, TashTish, VVVBot, Yankees10, Spinerod, Aspects, Drunkenpeter99, Trivialist, PixelBot, MwNNrules,
7&6=thirteen, MelonBot, Addbot, DutchDevil, Tassedethe, Yobot, Intractable, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Rotideypoc41352, DrilBot, RedBot,
Full-date unlinking bot, Toolnut, Jedi94, Sanguis Sanies, EmausBot, Qrsdogg, Cmlloyd1969, ZroBot, Ziva 89, DeWaine, ,
SporkBot, DASHBotAV, Wukai, Delawaresky, Sngnisfuk, Bharath Ram, Dutchy85, Sangwoo92, Ldavid1985, Patent4u100, ChakaKong,
StewieBaby05, Abyssopelagic, Atlas-maker, Willowhale, Hicalibre009, Rchaknight and Anonymous: 68

8.2

Images

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Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

8.3

Content license

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