Great Scene: “The Verdict”

Courtroom dramas. A staple of Hollywood cinema for decades. From a string of great films nearly a half-century ago Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) to more recent hits including Presumed Innocent (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), and Erin Brockovich (2000), movie-going audiences have shown a sustained interest in legal dramas.

One staple of courtroom dramas is the closing argument. I think it’s fair to say that most screenwriters would tend to go over the top and have their lead character ratchet up the drama through their dialogue. But in the fantastic movie The Verdict (1982), starring the late Paul Newman as alcoholic lawyer Frank Galvin, screenwriter David Mamet resists that temptation to go bigger. Instead the power of Galvin’s words form from their simplicity and honesty.

INT. COURTROOM — JUDGE HOYLE’S P.O.V. — FULL COURTROOM — DAY

All looking slightly to their right.

ANGLE

JUDGE SWEENEY Mr. Galvin…?

ANGLE — GALVIN

In front of the full jury box. Beat.

GALVIN
 You know, so much of the time we’re 
 lost. We say, ‘Please, God, tell us 
 what is right. Tell us what’s true. 
 There is no justice. The rich win, 
 the poor are powerless…’ We become 
 tired of hearing people lie. After a 
 time we become dead. A little dead. 
 We start thinking of ourselves as 
 victims.
 (pause)
 And we become victims.
 (pause)
 And we become weak… and doubt 
 ourselves, and doubt our 
 institutions… and doubt our 
 beliefs… we say for example, ‘The 
 law is a sham… there is no law… 
 I was a fool for having believed 
 there was.’
 (beat)
 But today you are the law. You are 
 the law… And not some book and not 
 the lawyers, or the marble statues 
 and the trappings of the court… 
 all that they are is symbols.
 (beat)
 Of our desire to be just…
 (beat)
 All that they are, in effect, is a 
 prayer…
 (beat)
 …a fervent, and a frightened prayer. 
 In my religion we say, ‘Act as if 
 you had faith, and faith will be 
 given to you.’
 (beat)
 If… If we would have faith in 
 justice, we must only believe in 
 ourselves.
 (beat)
 And act with justice.
 (beat)
 And I believe that there is justice 
 in our hearts.
 (beat)
 Thank you.

He stands still a moment, then surveys the still courtroom.

Here is the scene from the movie:

Paul Newman takes these words and with his voice barely above a whisper, leaving plenty of room for silence, he drives home his point, one human to twelve other humans on the jury — making it a truly great scene.

[Originally November 7, 2008]

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