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Director: Norman Jewison
Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Lee Strasberg, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Lahti, Sam Levene, Craig T. Nelson
This has become a courtroom movie classic. Today, the cheesy soundtrack music, the old-fashioned effects, the characters’ casual sexuality and the rage-against-the-man mindset seem dated, but the strong acting, which included one of Al Pacino’s many Oscar nominations, combined with a screenplay that is alternately touching, funny and adversarial is still compelling.
Al Pacino is Arthur Kirkland, a sharp defence lawyer with a heart, who is dealing with a witch-hunting ethics tribunal, crazy and arrogant judges, an ill grandfather, a law partner (Tambor) on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and a new relationship. He definitely did not need the crazy new case that lands on his lap in the form of his least favourite judge, Henry T. Fleming. Soon, Arthur is faced with some decisions that will challenge his beliefs and affect his future.
This classic is dated but still well worth seeing for Pacino fans and those who enjoy the Hollywood legal system. The performances and story are excellent and the ending is remembered as vividly today as when people first saw in 1979.
