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
Read about this film
Title: The Verdict (1982)
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Date of birth: 25 June 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Date of death: April 9, 2011, New York City, New York, U.S.
Writing credits:
Barry Reed, David Mamet
Music by: Johnny Mandel
Country: United States
Language: English
Color: Color
Runtime: 129 min.