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 Warden) helps him out by passing a routine malpractice case his way. Frank is just going through the motions until he meets the victim, a woman who has suffered complications during childbirth and is now reduced to a permanently comatose state. Rejecting the Catholic hospital's offer of a financial settlement, Frank decides to take the case to court, battling both for his client's rights and for his own dignity. Newman gives the finest performance of his career. James Mason is perfect as Edward J. Concannon the slimy lawyer for the defense. David Mamet provides the face-paced, honest, and suspenseful screenplay. Shot sparsely in gray tones in the cold climate of a Boston winter, the film was deservedly nominated for five Academy Awards.

Theatrical Release: December 8, 1982

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital (unspecified) - English
Disc 1: THE VERDICT - Theatrical Presentation
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Paul Newman - Star; Sidney Lumet - Director
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection
Disc 2: THE VERDICT - Supplemental Material
Additional Release Material:
Behind the Scenes: Making of Featurette
Documentary:
1. "Paul Newman: The Craft of Acting"
2. "Sidney Lumet: The Craft of Directing"

Paul Newman: Oscar-winning American actor, THE COLOR OF MONEY
Jack Warden: American actor, SHAMPOO, HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1979)
Charlotte Rampling: British Actress
James Mason: British actor, A STAR IS BORN (1954)
Milo O'Shea: 

Sidney Lumet: American director/producer

David Brown: Producer, worked with Richard Zanuck, began in '73, JAWS

David Mamet: American Playwright/Director

"...There are many fine performances and sensitive moral issues contained in [THE VERDICT]..."
"...Newman delivers....A clever, suspenseful, entertaining movie..."
"...One of the most gripping courtroom dramas ever made..."
3 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] features a typically engaging performance from Newman..."
"One of Lumet's best films, this David Mamet-scripted courtroom drama combines the liberal humanism found in the director's earlier 12 ANGRY MEN with a barbed, satirical edge."
4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he bulk of the heavy dramatic lifting...is in the play of emotions across Newman's craggy features. Few other stars have ever had the guts to sink to this whisky-soaked low."