Review of The Verdict

Screenwriter David Mamet has turned Barry Reed's novel--about a boozy Boston lawyer getting one last chance to prove himself in the courtroom--into theatrical dramaturgy. Perhaps he thought this story had the potential to be another "Death of a Salesman", but unfortunately it's closer to a well-heeled movie-of-the-week (sprinkled with expletives). Paul Newman was at precisely the right age to tackle the role of Frank Galvin, the little guy who takes on the system in a case against a hospital owned by the Archdiocese of Boston, and Mamet stacks the deck against him...even the judge has ties to the Church! Still, the film has an anti-climactic feel; there's very little emotion expended--in court or out--and really no suspense. Director Sidney Lumet sets the pace at a workmanlike even-keel, though it might have been more effective had he instructed his cinematographer, Andrzej Bartkowiak, to keep the camera active instead of inert. Opening near the end of 1982, the filmmakers clearly saw this as prestigious Oscar-material, but, aside from Newman's solid work, it isn't very extraordinary. **1/2 from ****