Paul Newman: The Verdict
There are many good Paul Newman movies and many good moments of Paul Newman in mediocre movies, but, for me, he rose to true greatness, and the movie with him, in The Verdict, 1982. I frequently hear people say what I say -- Newman should have won an Oscar for his role as the alcoholic attorney trying to finally do the right thing -- to regain his self-worth and to achieve justice for a Boston family victimized by medical malpractice. The film was directed by Sidney Lumet, working with a David Mamet screenplay. There was an excellent cast -- Jack Warden, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling, Milo O'Shea -- but Newman gave his greatest of all performances, as Frank Galvin, shaking with doubt, trying to claw his way out of a bottle to win a case for the family of a young woman left in a coma during an operation in a Catholic hospital. In the jungle of his fears, Galvin finds what E.B. White called "the flashy tail feathers of the bird courage." He was nominated that year for best actor, and that turned out to be his sixth unsuccessful career nomination. (Ben Kingsley won it, for Ghandi.) If you can rent a single Newman film tonight, to remember him, try The Verdict. (If you're a Verdict fan, by all means, send along a comment. If you'd like to argue for another "Newman's Best," have at it.)
When the holy-rollers said no to Newman
Ten years ago, Paul Newman was scheduled to make a movie on a Virginia island in the Chesapeake Bay but a Christian fundamentalist uprising killed the idea. Tangier's born-again Christian elected leaders said no to Warner Bros.' proposal to film some scenes from Message in a Bottle, which was to co-star Newman and Kevin Costner. I worked this story at the time.
"Each member of the town council read the script independently and, without any discussion, the vote [against the movie] was unanimous, 6-0," Mayor Dewey Crockett told me. "The objections were in three categories -- language, sex and alcoholic beverages. There was a lot of raunchy language and seven or eight sex scenes. And we have a dry town here."
Still, Newman was cool about the rejection. He'd been booked for a private tour of Tangier and took it anyway. Two charter boat captains in Crisfield, Keith Ward and Curtis Johns, gave the
actor a ride to the island and escorted him to the hardware store. Newman toured the island
in a rented golf cart and left after about two hours, declaring Tangier one of
the most beautiful places he'd ever visited.
Why did Newman make the trip? Nobody seemed to know. Perhaps he felt obligated because, despite the town council vote, a lot of people wanted to see Message in a Bottle filmed on Tangier.
My contact on the story was Wallace Pruitt, who ran Shirley's Bay View Inn with his wife. "People are really tore up about it," he said.
The film was shot on location in North Carolina.
It was rated PG-13.
Newman and life
Here's a quote from Paul Newman, expressing something too few of the smug and self-satisfied in Hollywood, in Washington and on Wall Street ever own up to: "I want to acknowledge luck -- the chance and benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, who might not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it."
Comments
My verdict: Yes, yes, it's his best film. I never tire of watching that performance. He makes the viewer feel as down and desperate -- and, ultimately, as smart -- as Frank Galvin. The Mason v. Newman matchup was brilliant.
Posted by: Rick Montgomery | September 27, 2008 4:41 PM
I will always remember him as Butch Cassidy, but he was awesome in the Verdict.
I saw it after waiting in line and as I entered a departing movergoer commented.."all that and he loses the case.."
It was the prefect thing to say, if you have seen The Verdict then you understand, if not..rent or buy it.
An awesome actor, forget his political views and look at his love, his life work and his humanity.
He will be greatly missed.
Posted by: Ed Lulie | September 27, 2008 8:18 PM
Yes, the Verdict is the best Newman film in my view. He played the part so understated, so edgy, and so heroic. Just when you think you're going to drown in cynism and evil, Newman throws you a life line of hope, courage and heroism. And my favorite line: 'there is no other case, there is only this case.' And how about those last 30 seconds of the phone ringing with Newman just staring with those sad blue eyes. What a masterpiece.
Posted by: Kirk Van Brunt | September 27, 2008 8:52 PM
Verdict is my second fav. I have to go with The Hustler
Posted by: jeff | September 27, 2008 10:50 PM
Sure, he was really good in "The Verdict." He did such a fine job and was so believable that every time I saw Charlotte Rampling in anything I hated her guts for being such a slimy, wretched spy whore in that movie.
But I'm sorry......the singular performance that epitomizes Paul Newman as legend is his turn as the self-destructive anti-hero Cool Hand Luke.
He was perfectly cast as Fast Eddie in "The Hustler," and was wonderful in "Butch Cassidy," but he was at his best playing "my boy....kept comin' back at me with nuthin." "Yeah, well....sometimes nuthin' is a real cool hand."
Posted by: Chris | September 27, 2008 11:18 PM
With the passing of Hollywood legend Paul Newman, there is a significant legacy that many in the mainstream media are unaware of. In addition to Paul Newman’s magnificent philanthropic contributions from the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang charity for sick children to his strong support for many other causes, little known is his and his wife, Joanne Woodward’s long association with the nonprofit, nonpartisan military watchdog organization—the Center for Defense Information (where this writer worked for eleven years—1992-2003).
Often mislabeled “left-leaning,” the Center for Defense Information (see www.cdi.org) was founded in 1972 by retired Rear Admiral Gene R. La Rocque (a World War II veteran) as an organization committed to closely scrutinizing military spending and publicizing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Pentagon, the military branches, and in other federal agencies. And Newman and Woodward were there virtually from the beginning.
In the organization’s first decade, Ms. Woodward helped organize and moderated a women’s conference on preventing nuclear war. One or the other of the pair were regular fixtures at the Center’s annual board meetings. Paul and Joanne have worked vigorously over the decades to fulfill the major credo of CDI: “that a strong defense entails more than tanks, planes, and well-trained military personnel. The Center for Defense Information believes that strong social, economic, political, and military components and a healthy environment contribute equally to the nation’s security. CDI opposes excessive expenditures for weapons and policies that increase the danger of war.”
Staffed by a distinguished group of retired U.S. military officers (many served at the highest levels of the Pentagon) and civilian analysts (like David Johnson, author of the influential web-based “Russia List”) the Center’s distinguished alumni include Admiral La Rocque, the late Rear Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, Jr. as well as Marine Colonel James A. Donovan (former publisher of The Journal of the Armed Forces). Current contributors include a plethora of senior advisers and military fellows like Marine Generals Anthony Zinni and Charles Wilhelm, Dr. Philip Coyle III (former Pentagon director of operational test and evaluation who has lobbied hard against the Bush Administration’s unreasonable push to deploy untested, unproven, and overly expensive missile defense systems), and military expert Lawrence Korb. CDI is now directed by nuclear weapons expert Dr. Bruce Blair, formerly of the Brookings Institution and before that a U.S. Air Force nuclear missile launch control officer.
Paul Newman led a busy life but he reserved quite a bit of his valuable time to work and promote an everyman’s perspective on defending our nation. This perspective opposed the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race (ratcheted up by both Brezhnev and Reagan) both during the Cold War and today (when America and Russia still possess tens of thousands of nuclear weapons—locked into a dangerous destabilizing hair-trigger alert status almost 20 years after the ending of the Cold War in 1991). Newman and millions of average Americans also said “no” to the unnecessary and unwise utilization of U.S. military force in Panama (1989), Somalia (1993-94), Iraq, and Iran (as press and pundits ironically debate whether we can “save the world” from Iranian irrationality by nuking that nation). Paul opposed NATO expansion, supported past and current efforts to clean up the huge toxic legacy (including chemical and nuclear wastes sometimes boxed in cardboard and dumped into local landfills) at thousands of military and Department of Energy sites located throughout our nation, and argued for many other checks on the damaging Bush Administration’s neo-conservative perspective that has today made America a feared and somewhat isolated player on the world stage.
Paul Newman did not use CDI as a soapbox to publicly shout his views on reasonable defense. Instead he worked behind the scenes to promote peace, prosperity, and the judicious and rare use of American military force.
So enjoy your Newman’s Own popcorn while you watch Butch Cassidy or Cool Hand Luke tonight, in honor of the blue-eyed kid from Cleveland, but also remember that perhaps America is just a bit safer and secure thanks to this particular legacy of Mister Paul Newman.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey W. Mason
Waldorf, Maryland
Posted by: Jeffrey Mason | October 6, 2008 4:03 PM