Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Bessie Smyth
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
betty dalton
The Verdict: I sigh in awe...The Verdict deserves to be treated as something very special. Dont watch it as a popcorn movie just to be entertained. Save this subtle movie for a rainy day, when you are in a melancholic mood, because The Verdict will definitely lift your spirits up, but in an unexpected twisted way, like in real life with all its contradicting emotions.There is no big drama right in your face. This story sneaks up on you, in a subtle clever way.
The Verdict is a story about a drunk who has hit rockbottom. That may sound depressing, but on the contrary, everything about this movie oozes refinement: the story, the photography, the acting, the soundtrack, all are magnificent. The Verdict levetates way beyond just a good quality movie. Sidney Lumet treats us viewers with something only a great director can do: he talks to us when nothing is being said. He uses silence in scenes as an emotion.The magnificent photography and the subtle but excellent acting in The Verdict are beyond any other courtdrama, and even beyond any other regular movie.. The photography and the acting are meticulous yet so natural, slow in tempo yet so serene and vivid simultaneously. Watching The Verdict often feels like seeing paintings come alive...
Many scenes in The Verdict reach their climax without words being spoken. There are moments of silence everywhere. Even the very end of the movie fades out without one word being said but at the same time that silence is covering emotions so heartwrenging and glorious that I sigh in awe...
TheLittleSongbird
Being an admirer of both Sidney Lumet and Paul Newman and having heard many great things about 'The Verdict', expectations were high. Luckily those high expectations were met.Not quite top 3 Lumet like '12 Angry Men', 'Network' and 'Dog Day Afternoon', but it is very close ('The Wiz' being his weakest by considerable distance), while Paul Newman's role here in 'The Verdict' is one of his long and great career's crowning achievements. Being constantly shown Galvin's drunkenness and self-disgust occasionally got a little heavy-going for my tastes and one is not hugely surprised by the case's outcome.On the other hand, 'The Verdict' is a superbly made film, the dark and gritty visual works so well and complements the subject equally so. Lumet directs subtly but in a way that still feels skillful and engaging. The music is suitably atmospheric, and the script is wordy but still taut and compelling, avoiding sentiment and clichés and not dragging the film down into too much exposition while still making the characters interesting.The story does have a slow start but compels ceaselessly from the twenty five minute or so mark, succeeding as a quiet yet still edge-of-your-seat courtroom drama and even more so as a character study, with Galvin a fascinating character. There are great scenes here, especially the movingly powerful summation and the whole of Lindsay Crouse's appearance. While not the biggest fan of ambiguous endings, the ambiguity and open-interpretation of the ending didn't bother me here at all and Galvin's change was believable to me and wasn't that sudden.As hoped, Newman dominates the film and his powerful performance (like when he shuts himself in the bathroom, a master class of verbal-less acting) is one of his best and deservedly nominated for an Oscar (losing to Ben Kingsley in a strong and tough competition in that category that year). The supporting cast are more than up to his level, James Mason especially is on splendidly silky smooth yet quietly menacing form, as is a touching Lindsay Crouse, a charming Jack Warden, a blood-boilingly good Milo O'Shea and emotive Charlotte Rampling.In summary, helped primarily by the performance of Newman 'The Verdict' is one engrossing last chance at a big case. 9/10 Bethany Cox
851222
Greetings from Lithuania."The Verdict" (1982) is a superb movie in all directions. This is an excellently paced drama which plays as well as a thriller - a court room thriller and more - a super character study movie. The great (and one of my favorite) Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, a down on his luck old and alcoholic lawyer who takes on last case to prove to everyone (and mostly to himself) that unjustness done to people can be resolved. This movie is a superb study of case itself, court-room drama and characters. I won't go into details or plot, just going to say that at running time 2 h 5 min i just wanted for this movie to continue - a very rare case in todays movie world.Overall, "The Verdict" is excellently paced, directed, written (by great David Mamet) and acted court-room drama and character study. It's a smart movie, about true people. Al in all this is a great movie.
janinequinlan
When The Verdict, a courtroom drama directed by Sidney Lumet, came out in 1982, I had just graduated nursing school. The Verdict features Paul Newman and was written by David Mamet. This film has a medical context and a nursing role.A word about Sidney Lumet. Lumet directs quality movies about medico-legal, substance abuse and cultural issues. For instance, in Equus the plot is about a psychiatrist treating a boy who blinds a stable full of horses. Lumet also directed Long Day's Journey into the Night which is Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical account of his explosive home life, fueled by a substance abusing mother, an alcoholic father and a mentally ill brother. Dog Day Afternoon is about a gay man who robs a bank to pay for his lover's sex change operation. The simple robbery turns in to a hostage situation and a media circus. Critical Care, a medical "comedy", is about a young hospital resident embroiled in a legal battle with siblings over the care of their rich, comatose father. The resident has a supervisor who insists that he only care for patients with full insurance. Finally, 12 Angry Men, another courtroom drama is about a young Hispanic male who is accused of murdering his father but the story really is about jurors' prejudices about the trial, their biases about the accused and each other.The Verdict depicts a once successful, now down-and-out lawyer who sees his career turning around when he accepts a medical malpractice case and refuses to settle rather than going to trial.Kaitlin Costello Price, Mamet's wife in real life by Lindsay Crouse, is a nurse who was involved in the pre-surgical care of the comatose patient. The long and short of her story is that she had to leave nursing because the surgeons told her to change a patient's record who had eaten an hour before the operation so they could use general anesthesia. If she did not falsify the record, she would never work as a nurse again. She doesn't.Her words echo in my mind to this day "Who were these men? Who were these men? I wanted to be a nurse"!Some racial profiling and sexual bias goes on here. A black doctor is brought in to testify and Newman treats him shabbily.Jack Warden called him a "witch doctor". Additionally, there was a seen where Newman punched his girlfriend for lying to him and she thinks she deserves it.
