The Verdict (1982)
96 %
Reviews Counted: 25 Fresh: 24 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 7.8/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Synopsis: Sidney Lumet directs Paul Newman as an alcoholic lawyer whose once-promising legal career is on the skids and who gets and one last chance to prove himself in this tense courtroom drama. Frank Galvin (Newman) can't even scare up clients anymore until a colleague Mickey Morrissey (Jack... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Paul Newman, Jack Warden, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason, Milo O'Shea
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Reviews
Sidney Lumet directs effectively, keeping the tension strong, and unfolding David Mamet's intelligent screenplay slowly but with maximum impact.
Comment
06/30/08
There are many fine performances and sensitive moral issues contained in The Verdict but somehow that isn't enough to make it the compelling film it should be.
06/30/08
Top Critic
Paul Newman goes into court a drunken bum and comes out a better man in this superb legal drama about a man finding redemption.
06/30/08
Sidney Lumet's direction, like David Mamet's patchy script, may not be quite good enough to justify the Rembrandt-like cinematography of Edward Pisoni and the brooding mood of self-importance, but it's good direction nonetheless.
06/30/08
Top Critic
Not an action flick by any means, The Verdict is a slow burn from frame one to the end.
09/09/07
David Mamet's script is a bit theatrical for courtroom drama, but it's Paul Newman's nuanced performance, and the direction of Lumet, who uses silences and pauses as eloquently as dialogue, that distinguish the picture.
10/21/06
Newman gives a brilliant performance in this powerful David and Goliath tale of a sad man's quest for redemption in the face of despair. Newman, director Lumet and the film itself all should have won an Academy Award, but sadly didn't.
02/16/06
The first courtroom drama in years to recapture the brilliance of the form.
01/26/06
The performances, the dialogue and the plot all work together like a rare machine.
10/23/04
Top Critic
O roteirista David Mamet provou seu talento inquestionável já em seu segundo longa-metragem – e as magníficas atuações de Newman e Mason elevaram ainda mais seu trabalho.
11/25/03
Overrated potboiler with preposterously innacurate courtroom scenes. But Newman is great.
06/20/03
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