A Little Rough Justice, Please-Paul Newman’s The Verdict (1982)-A Film Review

DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

The Verdict, starring Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason, directed by Sidney Lumet, 1982

Oh sure back in the day Shakespeare in one of his plays, Richard III I think, had somebody intone ‘”first, let’s kill all the lawyers,” as the beginning of wisdom of the new regime. And on any given day that might be sound advice, good lawyers or bad, although usually when people moan about lawyers their own seen to been an exception to the rule so some might actually be spared. But what if, as in the film under review Paul Newman’s The Verdict, there are dueling lawyers one side an alcoholic lone practitioner defending a just case and on the other a slew of lawyers from a big Boston Brahmin law firm at the service of the well-heeled. On that day you and I might have to take sides in the murky land of seeking some rough justice in this wicked old world.      

Let’s flesh this one out a little. Frank Galvin, a Boston Irish-bred lawyer played by Paul Newman, had fallen on hard times after reaching for the brass ring of big-time law firms and falling down, had taken up like a lot of the brethren the drink to wash away a lot of sins and had been reduced to ambulance-chasing. That fate the lowliest of the low in the profession and left strictly for the lesser members of the tribe. Then a friend came along and gave him a case which would make him well again, would put the wind back in his sails and give him some dough and his reputation back to boot. The case seemed like a slam dunk- a young women giving birth to a child had due to an improper use of anesthesia been in a coma for several years and was not coming back, had become a vegetable. The question at hand was whether the attending doctors were negligence and as a consequence the deep pockets in the case-a Catholic Church- run hospital of high repute were to be held liable for a big settlement.   

 

The woman’s sister and brother-in-law were looking for some help to get out from under having to spend their own lives caring for that non-responsive young woman in some manner. As usual before trial the two sides were mandated to reach a settlement out of court to avoid wasting the limited resources of the court system for a civil case, a case which seemed to everybody like a slam dunk. A serious offer was made by the law firm for the Church, a high-rolling big time operation headed by Ed Concanon, played by James Mason, who was known to take no prisoners in court, to leave no stone unturned for his defendant clients.  Frank though despite pleas from all sides “got religion,” saw that this case had to go court to hold somebody responsible in a big way for what had happened to the young woman.      

And to trial they did go. But here is the not so funny part of this seemingly slam dunk case. Every possible aid to Frank like expert testimony from a well-known doctor that there had been serious errors made in the operating room was being throttled to ruin his case. Put that weakening of his main case together with an unsympathetic judge and the chances of winning dropped dramatically. As each door was slammed shut it became clear that something was not right. That not right turned out to be the work of a lovely young woman, Laura played by fetching Charlotte Rumpling, who “picked” Frank up in a bar and who subsequently became his lover. The real deal though was that Laura was working as a spy for old don’t miss any possibility Concanon and his big-time law firm feeding her masters every tidbit about the trial strategy and the witness list. Nice, right.     

But in the end, no thanks to Laura or some others, a little rough justice prevailed in this wicked old world when the admitting nurse after a frantic search in the case came forward and revealed that one of the doctors forced her to change the admitting document. That testimony was supposed to be suppressed, ignored by the jury but you know as well as I did that once they had heard that Frank had won the day, had stepped up to the plate. Best of all the foreman of the jury asked the surly judge whether they could vote to give the young woman more than had been asked for. Yes. Yes, hang ‘em high. So, yes as well, let’s kill all the lawyers but let’s give Frank Galvin a big pass-okay.