Frank Galvin has one last chance at a big case.


The doctors want to settle. The church wants to settle. Their lawyers want to settle. And even his clients are desperate to settle.

But Galvin is determined to defy them all. He will try the case.

In Sidney Lumet's powerful courtroom drama The Verdict, Paul Newman stars as Frank Galvin, an alcoholic Boston lawyer who tries to redeem his personal and professional reputation by winning a difficult medical malpractice case. Frank, down on his luck, is presented with the case of his life when he is approached by the family of a woman who has been left in a coma following an operation in a large Catholic hospital. Helped by his assistant Mickey (Jack Warden), he agrees to take the case, hoping for a fast settlement. When he visits the victim in the hospital, he becomes emotionally involved, turns down a sizable settlement offer made by the hospital, and decides to bring the case to trial despite the formidable opposition of the Church and its lawyer, Newman (James Mason). He is also assisted by his new girlfriend, Laura (Charlotte Rampling), a woman who turns out to have an unusual past. Oscar-nominated for "Best Picture" and "Best Director" (Lumet) as well as for "Best Adapted Screenplay" (David Mamet from a novel by Barry Reed), The Verdict is an outstanding, if not very legally accurate, courtroom drama; Frank's decision to try the case without telling the family of the victim of the settlement offer would probably lead to his real-life disbarment. Paul Newman and James Mason give fine, Oscar-nominated performances, and Charlotte Rampling is quite good as the deceitful Laura, who never seems to turn down a drink.


The Verdict is a 1982 courtroom drama film which tells the story of a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer who pushes a medical malpractice case in order to improve his own situation, but discovers along the way that he is doing the right thing. Since the lawsuit involves a woman in a persistent vegetative state, the movie is cast in the shadow of the Karen Ann Quinlan case. The movie stars Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, and Lindsay Crouse.
Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film was adapted by David Mamet from the novel by Barry Reed and is not a remake of the 1946 film of the same name.
The Verdict garnered critical acclaim and box office success. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Paul Newman), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (James Mason), Best Director (Sidney Lumet), Best Picture and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (David Mamet).


Film rights to the novel were bought by the team of Richard Zanuck and David Brown. A number of actors expressed interest in the project because of the strength of the lead role, including Roy Scheider, William Holden, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Dustin Hoffman. Arthur Hiller was originally attached to direct and David Mamet hired to write a screenplay. Neither Zanuck-Brown or Hiller liked Mamet's script, so Hiller left the project and the producers commissioned another screenplay, from Jay Presson Allen. The producers liked this script and were approached by Robert Redford, who liked the project but did not like Allen's script. Redford suggested they hire James Bridges as a writer-director and Bridges wrote several drafts of the screenplay, however Redford was not happy with any of them and Bridges left the project. Redford then began having meetings with Sydney Pollack without telling the producers, which irritated them so they fired Redford off the project.[4]
Zanuck and Brown then hired Sidney Lumet to direct, sending him all copies of the script. After several rewrites, director Sidney Lumet realized the story's original grittiness was fast devolving and chose David Mamet's original script as the one he would direct. This was agreed to by Paul Newman who ultimately agreed to star.[5]
Bruce Willis has an uncredited background appearance as an extra, in one of his first film appearances. After the verdict is read for the plaintiff, Willis can be seen to the left of Paul Newman's head and can be seen smiling. Another notable star in this very same instance, but to the right is Tobin Bell.