The Verdict Reviews

(MU) Lumet es muy contemporáneo para ser un clásico y muy viejo como para brillar entre las estrelllas trendy. Pero tiene sorpresas nunca bien ponderadas como esta historia de decadencia venida a más, de redención en los pliegues del drama de corte, con sorpresas de última hora, fracasos y descepciones

Sidney Lumet, as a director, has chosen projects which shake the tree of moral dilemmas, that looms large overhead and wait for the fruit to fall on our head, giving us something to shout (Eureka!) about.

Here, is a broken man, Paul Newman. Once a shining star, now lays broken. Not by his own doing, but brought down by the crooked system. Now fate allows him a second chance. He is slow to recognize, afraid to try, but once he gets on top of this horse, there is no bringing him down.

Those who ride up to him and try to force him down, end up in the dirt themselves. "Act like ye hath fate, and fate shall be granted to you". Amen!

This movie is my ultimate favorite. It has all the big themes, played to perfection by the masters.

One of my favorite court dramas of all time.
With almost a seasoned ease, Paul portrays a disheveled, aging, never-has-been, malpractice lawyer who finds within himself the humanity which never really had a chance to surface due to the layered weight of his chronic alcoholism. The movie & Newman's performance sets up very well the desolation & loneliness that the main character moves his life thru as he goes up against the legal system that giganticly favors the "big guys" over the "little guys". One can really get the sense that Newman knows that he stands no chance of winning the case, but continues moving on forward because he is, for the 1st. time in his barely neglible career, fueled by the honesty & goodness of what is right. A feeling that is so new to this character, that, combined with the realizaton that a human life is totally dependent him for justice, it becomes emotion exhilirating enough to keep an almost broken old man to keep fighting on, no matter how high the price.
One of those rare times when the performance comes thru real enough to make us (oh, what am I'm talkin' about this "us" bullsh#t? What I really mean is "me" ) almost believe that even under the most insurmountable odds, there is always some kind of hope.