6. The Verdict
In Sidney Lumet's 1982 The Verdict, Paul Newman plays Frank Gavin, a once promising Boston lawyer who is now an alcoholic ambulance chaser and who has lost all of his four cases over the last three years. His friend and former partner Micky (Jack Warden) gives him a medical malpractice case that can be settled out of court. A young mother was possibly given the wrong anesthetic, which put her in a vegetative state. Frank meets with the Archdiocese of the Catholic hospital where the negligence happened. The Archdiocese offers a large sum of money to Frank to settle the case of out court- but after visiting the mother in the hospital, Frank feels more has to be done for this woman. He declines the money and decides to try the case in court. This angers the woman's sister and her husband, who learn from the defence side what Frank has done. Despite still retaining his movie star good looks, Newman gives what is practically an egoless performance playing an alcoholic down on his luck lawyer. But it's Newman's star stature that makes it so believable that he still has some integrity as a lawyer. It's a layered and affecting performance, and in terms of greatness, it's right up there with his work in The Hustler and Cool Hand Luke. James Mason provides a nice contrast as the more smooth and calculating Ed Concannon, the defense attorney for the case, and the "fucking prince of darkness" as Mickey calls him. What's great about the film is the sense of melancholy that's present in nearly every scene. The film acknowledges that no amount of money can give this woman's life back. The sense of triumph at the end is not overdone, but realistic and cathartic. A small victory has been won, and Frank has found redemption- but the ringing telephone at the end signifies all that's been lost.