The Verdict (1982) ****1/2

There are only a handful of courtroom dramas that could be considered great such as 12 Angry Men or even J.F.K. The Verdict stands almost above the rest as the ultimate underdog lawyer story.

Paul Newman stars as Frank Galvin, a worthless drunken lawyer who hasn't one a case in years and has become not an ambulance chaser, but a hearse chaser going from funeral to funeral and dropping off his card. His former partner Mickey (Jack Warden) throws him a case dealing with a woman who was rendered brain dead during a routine baby delivery. It's an easy money case. But in the blink of an eye it becomes more to Frank Galvin as he has an epiphany and starts caring more about punishing the negligent parties than about the paycheck that comes home at the end of the day, even if it's against the usual legal protocol.

This is one of Paul Newman's defining roles and it is a shame that he didn't win the Oscar for his portrayal of Galvin, a man who doesn't realize what he's done is wrong until after he's been called on it. He's a man of ideals that was crushed by his past and now he's digging his way out. Newman makes us feel for this lonely drunk playing pinball in Boston. James Mason is a great antagonist to Newman's Galvin as the opposing attorney. His cases are like well tuned machines that go off without a hitch. Mason gives us the feeling that he knows what the opposition is going to do before they do. Sadly, this is one of Mason's final performances and certainly the best before his death in 1984.

Director Sydney Lumet (Network, Dog Day Afternoon) delivers his usual true life feel to The Verdict and makes you feel like your inside the courtroom. Or the law office. Or the pub. You become part of Galvin's world through his lens in a great story. The only problem I find with the film that keeps it from a five star piece is the actual verdict scene seems tacked on (indeed it seems that the original script wasn't even going to reveal the verdict to the audience). Other than that The Verdict is a great courtroom drama/underdog story that gives us a little taste of what a lawyer has to deal with on his soul from day to day.