Dan1863Sickles My mother was a tough, Jewish broad who never took crap off anyone. She was born in NYC in the Depression, worked her way through college, and later became the chairman of the foreign language department at a small women's college in upstate New York. The lady had only one weakness:Paul NewmanBeing dragged to Paul Newman movies wasn't so bad when I was a kid, when it was stuff like BUTCH CASSSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID or THE STING. But by the time I was in college, Newman's movies had really started to slide, and sag, and smell like dead fish wrapped up in old socks. This movie was so melodramatic, so dishonest, so sentimental about all the ugliest, dumbest aspects of the male mystique in America. Newman plays a drunken Irish lawyer who's down and out. Note well that David Mamet really plays up the drunkenness as if it's some noble affliction, proof of a pure heart, not a disease that ruins peoples lives. Well, Newman does his best to make this loser into a tragic hero. Even with a bad script, Paul Newman finds some pain that's real and connects to it on screen. So then, the drunk with the heart of gold gets the chance to make a comeback in the courtroom. He's got a can't lose case, about some mother who's brain-dead, or brain- damaged, because of corrupt and uncaring Catholic doctors at a hospital run by priests and bishops. Only the nurses are pure and true! There are so many warped assumptions in this film, about motherhood, and womanhood, and the tendency to both put women on pedestals and treat them like three year old toddlers. The whole thing is very Catholic, very male, very sick, very David Mamet. Oh, and the drunken hero Frank has a lady assistant (Charlotte Rampling, much too classy and sexy for this drunken boor) and of course she's no good and needs to get punched in the face. Women are okay when they're making babies, you see, but when a woman tries to compete in a man's world she needs to get smacked in the face and sent right back to the kitchen!David Mamet wrote this stinker, and he's a real horse's ass from Chicago. Just like Studs Lonigan, but without the class.

TheLittleSongbird Being an admirer of both Sidney Lumet and Paul Newman and having heard many great things about 'The Verdict', expectations were high. Luckily those high expectations were met.Not quite top 3 Lumet like '12 Angry Men', 'Network' and 'Dog Day Afternoon', but it is very close ('The Wiz' being his weakest by considerable distance), while Paul Newman's role here in 'The Verdict' is one of his long and great career's crowning achievements. Being constantly shown Galvin's drunkenness and self-disgust occasionally got a little heavy-going for my tastes and one is not hugely surprised by the case's outcome.On the other hand, 'The Verdict' is a superbly made film, the dark and gritty visual works so well and complements the subject equally so. Lumet directs subtly but in a way that still feels skillful and engaging. The music is suitably atmospheric, and the script is wordy but still taut and compelling, avoiding sentiment and clichés and not dragging the film down into too much exposition while still making the characters interesting.The story does have a slow start but compels ceaselessly from the twenty five minute or so mark, succeeding as a quiet yet still edge-of-your-seat courtroom drama and even more so as a character study, with Galvin a fascinating character. There are great scenes here, especially the movingly powerful summation and the whole of Lindsay Crouse's appearance. While not the biggest fan of ambiguous endings, the ambiguity and open-interpretation of the ending didn't bother me here at all and Galvin's change was believable to me and wasn't that sudden.As hoped, Newman dominates the film and his powerful performance (like when he shuts himself in the bathroom, a master class of verbal-less acting) is one of his best and deservedly nominated for an Oscar (losing to Ben Kingsley in a strong and tough competition in that category that year). The supporting cast are more than up to his level, James Mason especially is on splendidly silky smooth yet quietly menacing form, as is a touching Lindsay Crouse, a charming Jack Warden, a blood-boilingly good Milo O'Shea and emotive Charlotte Rampling.In summary, helped primarily by the performance of Newman 'The Verdict' is one engrossing last chance at a big case. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Solnichka McPherson Well, Paul Newman is good, but this film is not among his best. His character is annoying at best, for a variety of reasons, the least of which is he's a lawyer. That being said, let's get to the rest of the film. It is a strong-plotted film, with the time- earned theme of the wronged-little-guys against the big-money-big-guys in a courtroom. Who wins? Watch the movie. Medical malpractice always makes for engaging material. Not much else to say about this film. Newman is solid, but not great. Jack Warden is okay, because that's all he really can be. James Mason is good, and the court scenes are among the best in the film, especially when Mason cross- examines an Irish-accented former Boston nurse. There is a gratuitous love interest and an eventual plot twist that is totally predictable. Watch it, but if you want better Newman, watch Seinfeld or Absence of Malice.

851222 Greetings from Lithuania."The Verdict" (1982) is a superb movie in all directions. This is an excellently paced drama which plays as well as a thriller - a court room thriller and more - a super character study movie. The great (and one of my favorite) Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, a down on his luck old and alcoholic lawyer who takes on last case to prove to everyone (and mostly to himself) that unjustness done to people can be resolved. This movie is a superb study of case itself, court-room drama and characters. I won't go into details or plot, just going to say that at running time 2 h 5 min i just wanted for this movie to continue - a very rare case in todays movie world.Overall, "The Verdict" is excellently paced, directed, written (by great David Mamet) and acted court-room drama and character study. It's a smart movie, about true people. Al in all this is a great movie.