Synopsis

Adapted by David Mamet from the novel by Barry Reed, Lumet’s masterful courtroom drama features Paul Newman in one of his greatest performances as ‘Frank Galvin,’ an alcoholic Boston ambulance-chaser who takes a seemingly open-and-shut medical malpractice case for an easy settlement.

But after visiting the bedside of the comatose plaintiff, Galvin undergoes a crisis of conscience and finds himself pushing the case to trial, where he squares off against a high-end defense attorney (James Mason) and a politically connected judge.



Nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Newman), Supporting Actor (Mason) and Adapted Screenplay, the film also stars Charlotte Rampling as Newman’s alcoholic lover, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him Bruce Willis as a courtroom extra. --Film Society of Lincoln Center

Cast: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, Lindsay Crouse, Edward Binns, Julie Bovasso, Roxanne Hart, James Handy, Bruce Willis