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Episode 30 - The Verdict (1982) (Guest: John Rusty Wing)
No full textThe Verdict (1982) tells the story of down-on-his-luck Boston lawyer, Frank Galvin (Paul Newman). Galvin had been a rising star until he was framed for jury tampering by a partner at his elite Boston law firm because he planned to expose the firm\u27s illegalities. Galvin left the firm and his marriage and career fell apart. After Galvin hits rock bottom, his former partner and friend Mickey Morrisey (Jack Warden) sends him a medical malpractice case as a favor; the case involves a botched delivery and is expected to settle out of court for a significant sum. But Galvin is moved after visiting the woman in the hospital, where he sees her in a comatose state. Galvin refuses the settlement offer and takes the case to trial, where he confronts the hospital’s high-powered and corrupt attorney Ed Concannon (James Mason) and a hostile judge (Milo O’Shea), Galvin also has a romantic relationship with another attorney, Laura Fischer (Charlotte Rampling) whom he meets in a bar but, unbeknownst to him, is a spy planted by Concannon. Galvin discovers the hospital is covering up its negligence. Although the judge excludes this evidence, Galvin wins a huge damage award as the jury sees the truth. The Verdict was directed by Sidney Lumet and written by David Mamet, adapted from Barry Reed’s 1980 novel of the same name. It is a gripping courtroom drama and a moving story of redemption. My guest is John (“Rusty”) Wing, Senior Counsel at Lankler, Siffert & Wohl, and a nationally recognized criminal defense attorney (full bio here)
Timestamps:0.00 Introduction3:23 A lawyer down on his luck6:26 Jury-tampering10:29 Rejecting a settlement offer without consulting the client17:58 Why judges pressure settlement26:53 Prepping the witness32:05 The pretrial investigation41:23 A mistrial?44:09 The judge takes over the direct examination47:46 A heated fight in chambers49:57 The trial\u27s pivotal moment51:54 The judge’s evidentiary rulings57:37 The summation59:20 Jury nullification106:23 A comparison with 12 Angry Men Further reading:Bergman, Paul & Asimow, Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (2006)Mikulee, Sven, “‘The Verdict’: Sidney Lumet and David Mamet’s Masterpiece as a Blend of a Courtroom Drama and a Personal Redemption Story,” Cinephilia and BeyondParker, Richard D., “The Good Lawyer: The Verdict” in Screening Justice – The Cinema of Law: Significant Films of Law, Order and Social Justice (Rennard Strickland et. al. eds., 2006)Souther, Sharon A., “The Artist’s Search for Justice in the Justice System: A Discussion of Representative Films of Sidney Lumet and Works from the World of Literature on the Law,” 25 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 687 (2007)Valero, Geraldo, Revisiting Sidney Lumet\u27s The Verdict, RogerEbert.com (Aug. 15, 2023)https://scholarship.shu.edu/law-on-film-s02/1013/thumbnail.jp
Episode 26 - Inherit the Wind (1960) (Guest Nell Minow)
No full textInherit the Wind (1960) is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial, where a local teacher is prosecuted for teaching about human evolution in public school in violation of state law. The film was directed by Stanley Kramer and is based on a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. It stars Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond (patterned after celebrated defense attorney Clarence Darrow), Frederic March as the prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady (patterned after famous three-time presidential candidate and renowned fundamentalist Christian spokesperson, William Jennings Bryan); Dick York as Bertram T. Cates (patterned after high school science teacher John Scopes), and Gene Kelly as reporter E. K. Hornbeck (patterned after H.L. Mencken). Fans of the TV series M*A*S*H will also enjoy seeing Harry Morgan as the trial judge. The film not only provides a glimpse into the role of religion in public life in American in the 1920s; it also contains important messages about conformism and freedom of thought directed at the McCarthyism of its own era—messages that continue to reverberate today. My guest to talk about Inherit the Wind is film critic Nell Minow (bio here).Timestamps:0.00 Introduction4:52 The era of the Scopes “monkey trial”8:34 The Scopes trial as a “test” case12:25 The decision to exclude evidence of evolution18:40 The later theory of “intelligent design”20:30 Clarence Darrow’s classic cross-examination of William Jennings Bryan23:27 Miracle on 34th Street and how courts resolve disputes about faith24:40 The film as a response to the McCarthy era26:14 The verdict and aftermath30:10 The power and methods of the religious right today34:22 The impact of Inherit the Wind and other “issue movies”37:06 The film’s continuing relevanceFurther reading:Austerlitz, Saul, Rethinking Stanley Kramer: How a message-movie humanist became an auteurist punching bag, Moving Image Source (Aug. 25, 2010)Farrell, John F., Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned (2011)Minow, Nell, “‘An Idea Is a Greater Monument Than a Cathedral’: Deciding How We Know What We Know in ‘Inherit the Wind,’” 30 U. San Fran. L. Rev. 1225 (1996)National Center for Science Education, “Ten Major Court Cases about Evolution and Creationism” (June 6, 2016)Sprague de Camp, Lyon, The Great Monkey Trial (1968)Uelman, Gerald F., “The Trial as Circus: ‘Inherit the Wind,’” 30 U. San Fran. L. Rev. 1221 (1996)https://scholarship.shu.edu/law-on-film-s02/1009/thumbnail.jp
Episode 18 - Norma Rae (Guest: Fred B. Jacob)
No full textNorma Rae (1979) describes the struggle of Norma Rae Webster (Sally Field), a factory worker with limited education, to unionize a textile mill in North Carolina. The film was directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., and is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton (as told in the 1975 book Crystal Lee, A Woman of Inheritance by New York Times reporter Henry P. Leifermann). Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman), a union organizer from New York City, persuades Norma to help him organize a union. But Norma and Reuben must overcome a series of obstacles, including pressure and harassment from management as well as internal divisions among the textile workers. Norma, moreover, must navigate issues in her personal life, including with her new husband Sonny (Beau Bridges), who resents Norma’s growing commitment to the union. Ultimately, Norma succeeds as the workers vote to unionize. The film offers a snapshot of the labor movement on the cusp of the Reagan era in American and features a memorable, Oscar-winning performance by Sally Field in the title role. My guest is Fred B. Jacob, Solicitor of the National Labor Relations Board and labor law professor at George Washington University Law School. Fred’s views on this podcast are solely his own and not those of the National Labor Relations Board or the U.S. Government.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction3:33 An inflection point in U.S. labor history6:40 Unionizing the textile industry13:29 The clash between culture and economics14:03 Organizing a workplace21:08 How unions are protected24:17 A snapshot of the middle of the J.P. Stevens campaign27:08 How the law operates in Norma Rae28:38 Management’s pressure tactics31:09 Why you need a “Norma Rae” when trying to organize people32:46 The film’s iconic moment of worker power35:30 Violence against the labor movement40:17 Management’s exploitation of racial divisions49:58 How the union helps empower Norma53:57 What happened next at the factory59:30 Crystal Lee Sutton: The real Norma Rae1:01:36 Unions today1:05:14 How the National Labor Relations Act helps people to be brave1:08:51 Other great labor moviesFurther reading:Allan, Angela, “40 Years Ago, ‘Norma Rae’ Understood How Corporations Weaponized Race,” The Atlantic (Mar. 2, 2019)Dray, Philip, There is Power in a Union (2011)Dubofsky, Melvyn & McCartin, Joseph A., Labor in America: A History (9th ed. 2017)Fry, Naomi, “The Ongoing Relevance of ‘Norma Rae,’” New Yorker (Aug. 4. 2020)Kazek, Kelly, “When Hollywood came to Alabama to film \u27Norma Rae,\u27” Al.com (May 3, 2019)Leifermann, Henry P., Crystal Lee, A Woman of Inheritance (1975)https://scholarship.shu.edu/law-on-film-s02/1001/thumbnail.jp