Sidney Lumet's direction is never very flashy. In fact, I would sometimes call it downright boring. He uses extremely minimal to non-existent musical score, and for entire long sequences the camera stand stationary as the actors speak. Sometimes he even pulls back so we get the whole room, but can' see either the actors' faces or their expressions, just their voices.

Indeed the fireworks of Lumet's work is in the scripts that he oftentimes writes himself or is very involved with and the performances that he has a way of drawing from his actors. So what happens when the script has no fireworks and the lead performance is a technically proficient but often uncompelling drunk?

The answer is "The Verdict", possibly the most boring and plodding Best Picture nominee that I've ever seen. The story centers around Frank Galvin (Newman), a has-been litigator who now drinks his life away and can't get a client.....until he does. Upon seeing his client (she's a vegetable, made comatose by her doctors' negligence) he decides that this case will be his salvation, and he will not settle (whether his clients want to or not) and will see it through. Of course Frank is terribly outmatched, his witnesses keep disappearing, and what should have been a winnable malpractice case becomes hopeless.

The problem with "The Verdict" is in the conflict. The best legal dramas, including Lumet's more recent "Night Falls on Manhattan", pose a moral question and leave it up to the audience to deliberate on for the duration of the film. While there is almost always a "right" and "wrong" side, we can at least see the opposing viewpoint and could agree to a certain extent. This film has no conflict. The doctors screwed up and should be punished. We can't relate, we just know they should lose. So then the film has to become a mystery and an "uncover the truth" film, which it simply isn't cut out to do.

I know most will say that the real message is in the Newman character. The thought that he finds redemption in this unwinnable case and is forced to overcome his insecurities and blah blah blah. In reality the Newman character is a drunk. He is also an immoral and fraudulent lawyer who doesn't tell his clients of the offer to settle and instead risks all of THEIR money on his own....just so he can feel good about himself again. And what does he do when he realizes he screwed up? He tries to back down and run away, then pouts about how its hopeless.

"The Verdict" has the makings and feel of an important movie, but when you look at what its saying it becomes a crock. Newman's performance is nonetheless pretty good, but not enough to save this picture. The Academy bought the big lie with this one.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12