StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

SnoopyStyle Dan Snow (Walter Matthau) is a liberal Supreme Court Judge. He is sadden by his friend's death, his conservative opposite on the bench. He is horrified when the President picks Orange County conservative judge Ruth Loomis (Jill Clayburgh) to be the new replacement despite her being the first female Supreme Court Judge.The issues being fought over almost seem quaint at times. It kinda goes back and forth without finding a direction. Their arguing is not any fun and gets tiresome rather quickly. There is humor in Matthau's grumpiness and some banter. At least, they don't get together which partially saves this.

preppy-3 This was made before Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court--the first woman ever to achieve that. Conservative Ruth Loomis (Jill Clayburgh) is appointed to the court when another justice passes away. She butts heads with liberal Dan Snow (Walter Matthau) over a pornography case.This was (I heard) based on a play and it shows. There are LONG sequences with people talking and cracking one-liners with each other. It doesn't hurt the film because the script is good with plenty of funny lines and interesting (it dated) observations. Also Barnard Hughes is excellent as another Chief Justice. But the film ultimately doesn't work. The main problem is Clayburgh and Matthau. They were both wonderful actors but they're at their worst here. They basically recite their lines with blank faces and no emotion. Also the two have no chemistry with each other and it comes through loud and clear. The film is flatly directed too. The R rating is kind of not needed. There's no violence or swearing but there are a few scenes from a porno film. While they are fairly graphic they're also pretty brief. All in all this is a mediocre comedy/drama. Fans of the two stars might want to check it out. I give it a 5.

Rodrigo Amaro There's one scene where Walter Matthau's character is having a heart-attack and when Jill Clayburgh asks him if he's OK, he replies with a smile on the face that he likes all that. I can say that "First Monday In October" is just like this situation, I can say that I liked some things of the film but I'm gonna say with a painful expression on my face. Matthau and Clayburgh are wonderful but the movie doesn't fly high in imagination and in space simply because it's a filmed play, with long dialogs that neither were interesting or too funny to be put on the screen to be classified as a comedy on serious matters like the election of a female judge to occupy a seat in the Supreme Court. The subject is too serious to be taken fun of, in fact, I've never seen a movie with this theme being hilariously funny without being a goofy comedy (except the last minutes of "The Bonfire of the Vanities" which is brilliant).Ronald Neame directs a boring plot, with some sparkles between the main characters who exchange great lines about court ethics on trials, and specially about Matthau's conduct in not watching a obscene film called "The Nymphomaniac Naked" which was the case whether that film was pornography or an art film; the "fake" trial where Matthau plays the director of such film is the most memorable moment of the film; and the funniest being the scene where all the judges are taking a photograph which seems to be an impossible mission to the photographer since all the characters can't stop arguing and laughing at each other over their different points of view."First Monday In October" is 80% drama and 20% comedy, as you see there's no balance between the two genres and that's why it was difficult to swallow and digest the film as being a good film; it almost got there, but I was expecting something like "House Calls", a previous work starring Matthau and Glenda Jackson, that had a rivalry that later becomes a romance between the two, and with some dramatic moments, without killing the humor away. Instead, all I've got was an almost dated subject with few humor, vast quantity of drama, touching performances. It goes into many ways to end up being humorless. Made to be as substitute for sleeping pills. 5/10

ozthegreatat42330 This film is probably not many people's first choice for a subject to be covered, but when writers Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee wrote it they proved once again why they were one of America's top Play Writing teams: The choice of cast for this production, set against the hallowed halls of justice and in and around Washington, could not have been better. Matthau, at the very top of his game plays a William O Douglas like curmudgeonly liberal justice Daniel Snow, who has a low opinion of a certain woman circuit court judge Ruth Loomis, played by Jill Clayburgh. When a justice of the Supreme Court, Stanley Morehead dies the President names Judge Loomis to replace him. And with that the social conservative Loomis and Liberal Snow line up to do battle, with a surprising twist in this intellectual comedy. This film is rated R for some language and certain scenes not appropriate for children.