Actually, maybe a little too much. As I noted in my “More Lawyers” blog, much of legal work is fairly dull, and that includes trials. Clearly no one would want to watch a movie where lawyers simply waited…and waited…and waited…and finally make some Byzantine and esoteric arguments on demurrers or pleas in bar, with a judge sustaining a second demurrer and dismissing a case with prejudice. Even lawyers would find that a dull film. Clearly, movies have to be edited and presented with some drama and reality is going to suffer as a consequence. Too bad.
I find that lawyers portrayals on film are more often positive and favorable than negative – the eager, idealistic lawyers far outnumber the sleazy, dishonest ones. Just my impression.
I can’t pretend to give an exhaustive list, so much as cover the bases with what I consider the cream of the crop, fully recognizing there are more out there I’ve missed. With that disclaimer in mind, enjoy….
A Civil Action (1998). This was the drama featuring John Travolta as the arrogant personal injury attorney, Jan Schlittman, who bankrupts (literally) his firm fighting a company which polluted a small town’s water supply. Robert Duvall plays the defense counsel who fights against him – chivalrously – and William H. Macy and Tony Shaloub are his partners. The defense succeeds at making the case too expensive for the firm to try effectively, bludgeoning them into accepting an $8 million settlement, far lower than the $20 million Duvall had earlier offered. This was one of the films highlighted in a CLE course, which persuaded me to watch it. Despite all the terrible things that happen to Schlittman, the good guys ultimately win, though they don’t make any money out of it.
Erin Brockovitch (2000). The famous Julia Roberts film about a crusading woman dressed like a porn star who champions the rights of a small town which – guess what – suffered from pollution. Fairly entertaining, but this “David vs. Goliath” on pollution/big business issues is a bit overdone.
The Rainmaker (1997). Based on the John Grisham book of the same name, with Matt Damon (no sign of Ben Affleck!) in the main role, an attorney right out of law school taking on an evil insurance company on a bad faith claim case: the insurance company denied a perfectly good claim, expressly because it calculated that it would save more money by denying claims than it would incur in bad faith claim lawsuits such as these. The famous line in here is the insurance company’s 8th denial letter to the hapless clients, “8 times you have requested coverage, and 8 times we have denied it. You must be STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!” Danny DeVito plays his “law clerk”, Mickey Rourke his boss (on the run due to various “issues” with the FBI), and Jon Voight as Drummond, the arrogant insurance company lawyer. This is yet another David vs. Goliath, underdog lawyer who learns the hard way – as he goes along. In this case, however, I did relate to Matt Damon’s character, and Grisham’s observance that most lawyers will not get rich simply on hourly fee cases, so a huge windfall judgment like this is their most plausible shot at anything close to richness (though I don’t recall that bit making it into the movie itself).
Philadelphia (1993). Tom Hanks punches his “gay man” role ticket ahead of the curve, playing a Philadelphia lawyer who sues his former law firm for discrimination when they terminate him for AIDS. Antonio Banderas played his lover, and Denzel Washington played his “I don’t care for your lifestyle, but I respect the principles” lawyer. I found this to be less of a “lawyer movie” than a “homosexual gets justice!” film.
My Cousin Vinny (1992). This is one of my favorites, particularly for the “voi dire” of Mona Lisa De Vito (Marisa Tomei), who tells us why she can’t tell us the base timing on a 1955 Chevy Bel Air with the four barrel 327 V8 (“the 327 didn’t come out until 1962, and wasn’t available in the Bel Air with a four barrel until 1964, at which time the base timing was 6 degrees before top dead center”). Pesci, of course, is great as Vincent Gambino, who has to get his nephew (Ralph Macchio) and his friend acquitted of the murder of a Sack & Suds clerk, a crime they clearly did not commit. There’s lots of great courtroom drama: he knocks out each “eyewitness’” testimony (“were they magic grits?”) and learns Alabama criminal procedure as he goes along – helped by his fiancé, of course. When I saw the film in the theater, I was screaming at them (silently) to get the public defender – and we found out why the public defender wasn’t ex-ex-ex-ACT-ly a stellar trial lawyer. It’s also a great “fish out of water” story as well, the contrast of Pesci & Tomei’s accents vs. the locals, especially his “ok, I’ll take the $200 instead of getting my ass kicked” deal with the idiot at the bar, and the judge, played by Fred “Herman Munster” Gwynne.
Liar Liar (1997). Jim Carrey’s hilarious film, about a lawyer who finds his job truly crippled by a 24 hour inability to lie – and faced with a divorce trial he cannot continue, because, as he explains to the judge, “I cannot lie!” Renee Zellweger plays his slutty, nasty client who should lose out on her case due to a prenup which waives her rights if she commits adultery – which she clearly committed. I really didn’t care much for the family drama – his wife, played by Maura Tierney, his kid Max, and his romantic rival, played by Carey Elwes, who can’t quite get “the Claw” down well enough. The funniest part was the firm board meeting, where he tells everyone what he REALLY thinks of them.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003). This is probably one of the more cynical “divorce lawyer” movies. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, the top divorce lawyer, author of his firm’s so-called unbreakable prenuptial agreement. He meets his match in Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a stunning woman who drives him crazy, turning his life inside out – to the point where he ends up at the matrimonial lawyers convention, as the keynote speaker, bedraggled and lovesick, his reputation as the most cynical bastard in the business blown to shreds. And that’s just the beginning.
One thing I like about this movie is that for once, it’s not about criminal lawyers, murder trials, etc. The other thing is that frequently I hear non-divorce lawyers groan about domestic relations practice as “ugh, slimy, dirty, icky!” like it was working in sewers or crime scene cleanup work. Most of my divorce practice is uncontested work, the other spouse either MIA or completely cooperative, but I do some contested work. To the extent there is some sliminess or unsavory elements (unfortunately, I’ve never been called upon to review videotape evidence of adultery) that is a minority of the time and really adds to the zest and flavor, rather than grossing out. On the other hand, I’m not keen on seeing a mother cry when she’s deprived of her children. It all kind of cancels itself out.
Surrender (1987). Not really a lawyer film, but it does have a substantial role by Peter Boyle, as Caine’s divorce lawyer, who insists that his client protect himself with a prenuptial agreement, after his two prior relationships ended in the typical California “50/50” split on divorce. Thanks to Marvin v. Marvin (the 1967 case involving actor Lee Marvin), he couldn’t even avoid this by NOT marrying his girlfriend. He’s a wealthy, famous writer with a substantial income to protect. So when he pursues a relationship with Sally Field, a struggling artist, he’s determined to make sure lightning doesn’t strike three times. Without divulging too much of the plot, it’s an excellent treatise on the issue of love, romance and prenups – with very little courtroom scenes, all at the very beginning (!) of the film.
And Justice For All (1979). The classic Al Pacino “you’re out of order” overacting courtroom climax film. It takes place mostly in the Circuit Court for the City of Baltimore (check out “Die Hard 4” and you’ll recognize downtown Baltimore). Kirkland (Pacino) and his colleague Jay Porter (Jeffrey Tambor) are criminal lawyers, who are stressed out that all too often innocents wind up behind bars thanks to hanging judges like Fleming (John “Dynasty” Forsythe). Fleming, in fact, blackmails his nemesis, Kirkland, into representing him on a rape charge. Arrogantly indifferent to his own obvious hypocrisy, Fleming cynically infers that not only is he guilty of the charge, he still expects Kirkland to get him acquitted anyway. For his part, Porter suffers a nervous breakdown when a former client of his, a murderer who was acquitted on a technicality for a crime he did in fact commit, takes another victim – a crime which would not have happened but for Porter’s skill at exploiting the loophole. If I had to narrow the films down to a “must see” list, this one would make it.
From The Hip (1987). This had Judd Nelson as a loose cannon lawyer with oddball, unrealistically bizarre trial tactics (perhaps the inspiration for “Boston Legal”). I thought it was over the top and stupid, and I hadn’t even been in law school when I saw it, much less a practicing attorney. Maybe I need to see it again.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959). This is the old B&W film with Jimmy Stewart, defending Lt Manion (Ben Gazarra), accused of murdering a bar owner who raped his wife (Lee Remick). Stewart invokes the defense of “irresistible impulse”, a variant of temporary insanity where the defendant has a moment where unique and unusual circumstances push him to behave uncharacteristically violently, in this case to murder a man who was not threatening him personally with any immediate bodily harm. It’s a very subtle distinction, but well illustrated by the film. George C. Scott played the prosecutor.
Flash of Genius (2008). Greg Kinnear stars as Robert Kearns, the independent scientist who took on Ford – and won. He had developed the intermittent windshield wiper and demonstrated a working model to Ford engineers; soon thereafter, Ford claimed it was no longer interested in his invention and suddenly introduced the feature on its cars. He smelled a rat, and sued. His “ACLU” lawyer (played by Alan Alda) bailed on him when he refused to take a generous offer which nonetheless absolved Ford of any intellectual property theft. On his own, he took the case to trial, pro se, acting as his own expert witness – and won. Kearns had lived in my neighborhood (though not at the time this film takes place), and my brother and I used to play with one of his younger sons (not the one portrayed in the film). My dad had told us about the story when we were kids. Not only does it have substantial courtroom depiction, but it also gives some idea of the task Kearns had to deal with: it was a complex case, which would have been a challenge for a lawyer, much less a pro se party.
The Fountainhead (1949). I mention it here because I don’t think this qualifies as a lawyer movie – especially since Roark represented himself. The trial at the end is less a trial in its own right than an opportunity for Roark (Rand) to preach to an audience he would not normally have access to – and present his moral case. This was regurgitated recently in “The Simpsons” by Maggie Simpson herself.
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