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DVD The Paper Chase
This minor classic from the 1970s was a must-see for many years, and it remains a delightful and unusual comedy-drama. Timothy Bottoms plays a law student who becomes transfixed by a crusty but renowned professor named Kingsfield (John Houseman), a difficult teacher who routinely ignores underachievers. While other students wrestle with their schedules and the overwhelming amount of material to learn, Bottoms's character struggles with his frustrations to get Kingsfield's approval--which becomes more complicated when he starts sleeping with the professor's daughter, played by Lindsay Wagner. The film, directed by James Bridges (Urban Cowboy) struck a chord with audiences (and perhaps still does) who recognized in it the call to uncompromising excellence that separates serious people from not-so-serious people. But Houseman's wonderful performance certainly has a lot to do with its continuing appeal: the legendary producer (Citizen Kane) won an Oscar for the part. --Tom Keogh
I saw this movie as an undergraduate and found it even more resonant when I got into graduate school. Although I did not study law, this movie will feel all too real for someone in an intensive post-undergraduate program. The life of the post-Bachelor's individual is truly terrifying. It's not for the weak of heart. The Paper Chase captures the world of academic stress wonderfully. All the issues are represented here: Do I have time to date? If I do, will a lover understand the need to pull an all-nighter on the weekend to finish a paper? Do my professors really expect me to finish this reading? For the serious student, life is far more like the Paper Chase than Back to School or Animal House. It's lonely, hard work, and your girlfriend will hate you sometimes for ignoring her so you can hit the books. And your professors will sometimes leave you twisting in the wind if you can't carry your own weight. Some grad school advisors are indeed like Kingsfield, thus the Houseman character is not a myth. John Houseman gets most of the good lines in this movie, but not all. Take the student lines like "Nothing makes you hornier than studying" or the exchange between Hart (I found it funny that even Hart's girlfrend calls him by his first name) and the failing Kevin that goes (I'm paraphrasing here), Hart: "They're just grades, Kevin." Kevin: "You know better than that. It's a grade, it's a number, but it determines futures." Paper Chase is at times painful to watch, as Hart endures flak on all sides--from his girlfriend to Kingsfield to his "supportive" study group. Hart does well because he's the classic good college student: an ambitious overachiever. He isn't the smartest necessarily, but he cares the most. But in the end, Kingsfield shows that no one ever will get inside his head. The struggle between professor and student is the heart of education. No college film treats colleges as honestly or intelligently as the Paper Chase. Watch it on the same bill with one of the slob college movies. Animal is for the heathen in us. Paper Chase is for the Puritan.
Good flick
This a good film. I'm in law school and ironically enough, nearly everyone in law school has had a Professor Kingfield. I sure did, and she was my Contracts professor (they always seem to be the Contracts profs). I guess Contracts is the whipping post for 1L indoctrination. Anyway, the 70's look and feel to the film has a fun, nostalgic feel. The law school observations are dead-on. For example, the paranoia that one is smart but clearly not smart enough, a Contracts professor that speaks an entirely different language, paranoia over grades, the pathetic desire to impress one's instructors, etc. It's all here. It is also true to life. Some of the plotting is jacked up for dramatic purposes (e.g., the guy that wants to commit suicide because he is failing), but it captures the spirit of law school. It's entertaining too. Enjoy. It's worth a look.
Houseman's first performance creates a timeless character
Like many other reviewers I measured this movie against my own law school experience. In the early 70's law school was very politicized, a reality conveniently ignored in this movie. Thus, while Hart, played by Timothy Bottoms, has the signature long hair of 70's social concern his character is left to joust with the vagaries of all-too-selfish love and desire, rather than meaning.
Like a child seeking his stern father's approaval, the main character cultishly devotes himself to professor Kingsfield (John Houseman), the aloof, high-priest of Harvard Law School and Hart is content to vie to join the privileged hierarchy of the Church of the Bar.
What we receive is a conformist messages from the film: It is enough to look the part of integrity and principle but in the end the only solution is to capitulate in the face of tradition and academia. I would have preferred a dialogue between these two forces, outsider and insider. That there is no struggle other than to master the arcane language of English common law says it all. Driven to despair and exhaustion one dreams only of success. The only option that seems available is to save oneself from drowning in a sea of overwhelm as happens to the unfortunate character of Kevin who, in the book, turns his despair and his shotgun on himself.
I would have been equally disappointed had Bottoms' character been the onesided presence in the film. While Houseman reaches greatness, the script is hobbled and reminds us too much that we are unwilling to strive for real dialogue which is the true depth of the Socratic method.
The canned relationship between Hart and Susan is another aspect of chosing safety and cliche over maturity and worked for intimacy.
What a shame that the excellence of Houseman's acting didn't spill over into the whole endeavor of the film. What a tribute to individual tallent and devotion. Ironically, Houseman (according to the producer's commentary) was only ever considered for the film by chance. The 21 year old co-producer met him and, even though Houseman had never acted before, the young man saw in him the image of Kingsfield. Maybe that freshness of perception, along side the tragedy that can be the system, is the greatest legacy of the film.
In this 1982 courtroom drama written by David Mamet and directed by Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman found the perfect role for a transitional period of his stellar career. As alcoholic Boston lawyer Frank Galvin, Newman shook off his screen persona as a handsome, blue-eyed hunk to portray an aging, weary man whose best years are behind him, with a shot-glass future that looks very bleak indeed. But when Galvin is given a chance to redeem himself--by proving medical negligence in the case of a comatose woman--he makes one final effort to regain his self-respect and tarnished reputation. He's an underdog against formidable odds, facing a powerful, politically connected lawyer (James Mason, slick as ever) who will do anything to win his case, regardless of professional ethics. Further complicating... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Newman - Charlotte Rampling Director(s): Sidney Lumet DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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