Two Similar Films: The Verdict and Goliath

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Goliath

Amazon Video – 2016

Starring – Billy Bob Thornton as Billy McBride

The Verdict

Director – Sidney Lumet – 1982

Starring – Paul Newman as Frank Gavin

A review of two similar films

The other evening I concluded my viewing of the sixteen part film series Goliath, starring Billy Bob Thornton as Billy McBride. After seeing the end of this series, I realized that this film had almost exactly the same plot as the 1982 film The Verdict starring Paul Newman as Frank Gavin.

The film The Verdict is about a malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and a hospital. The film Goliath is about a lawsuit against a so-called “defense contractor.” Apart from this difference, the storyline of both films is in many ways similar. However, there is one significant difference that underscores how times have changed in the intervening years of these two films.

First, we need to look at the basic story and background of these two films. The book The Verdict, that the film is based on was written by Barry Reed. Read was a malpractice attorney who understood the seemingly insurmountable obstacles lawyers need to overcome in order for their clients to receive justifiable compensation.

We might think about the fact that today one of the leading causes of death in this country comes from medical malpractice. Most of these cases do not go to trial because lawyers know that the legal system, for the most part, favors doctors and their employers who are hospitals.

Understanding this reality Barry Reed wrote his novel about a lawyer, Frank Gavin, who once had a prominent practice, lost everything, became an alcoholic, and made a tenuous living as an ambulance chaser. 

Then, the grieving family of a victim of malpractice asks Gavin for his assistance. After reluctantly accepting the case, Gavin gradually sees that this is more than a case about money. This is a case about right and wrong, where there is an urgent need for a competent lawyer to fight for justice.

While advocating for this family, Gavin will confront a high priced law firm, as well as a judge who routinely rules in favor of corporations.

In the film series Goliath, we see Billy McBride, a lawyer who once had a prominent practice who lost everything and became an alcoholic. A twist to this plot is that McBride’s former wife and mother of his teenage daughter is a partner for the law firm he challenges in court.

In this film, McBride needs to convince the family of a deceased husband and father that they need to sue a defense contractor for his wrongful death. In this film, McBride also confronts a powerful law firm, as well as a judge who routinely makes rulings favoring the corporation.

The one big difference in these two films is in the composition of the cast. In the film The Verdict all the characters except one is a white man. In the film Goliath all of Billy McBride’s assistants are women. Three out of the four lawyers representing the defense contractor are women. The fourth lawyer is a Black man. The character who portrays the judge is a Black man.

So, we can see that in the intervening years between 1982 and 2016 Hollywood continues to see the story of lawyers challenging corporations as compelling. However, today the film industry feels the need to portray this kind of story using a cast that gives the story a different dynamic.

Erin Brockovich

In the year 2000 the film Erin Brockovich staring Julia Roberts was released. This was the true story of a mother who worked for a law firm and became obsessed with a class action lawsuit. In the course of this case, Brockovich proved that she was extremely competent in the work she did. Without her efforts, we might question if there ever would have been a positive outcome to this case.

Here we see a woman who was not a lawyer who proves herself to some of the most powerful lawyers associated with this case who are men. In the film Goliath women are prominent lawyers for a prestigious law firm.    

So, when we look at the timeline of these three films, we see how women as well as Black people are receiving more prominent roles in films. Some people might say that this comes from the fact that there was a Black President in the United States. There has also been an increase of women and Black people in prominent positions in the government as well as corporations.

While this may have been a factor, my opinion is that the changing roles of women and Black people come from the civil rights movement as well as the feminist movement. These movements challenged the stereotypes and discrimination that limited the opportunities of over half the population.

Clearly discrimination continues to be institutionalized in this country. Giving women and Black people more roles in films is only a tiny step is dealing with this problem.

However, while there are those who argue that the United States is becoming more racist, we might look at the two films The Verdict and Goliath and see how the moguls of the film industry need to have more diverse casts in order to sell compelling stories.

Individual versus collective action

Today, in the capitalist system in this country, working people are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Most of us work alienating jobs where we see seemingly endless challenges just so we might have the things we need, as well as some of the things we want.

Given that this is our environment, the film industry has profited handsomely by promoting films where heroic characters overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. We might think of the films The Verdict, and Goliath as two films that portray this idea.

However, the facts show that the law, for the most part, defends the drive for profits of corporations and rarely defends the rights of workers. Today the National Football League has clearly violated the players right to freedom of speech by making it a requirement to stand during the National Anthem. The President fully supports the NFL in this action.

The First Amendment to the Constitution defends the right of freedom of speech that would make the NFL’s action illegal. However, corporate lawyers work to interpret the law in a way that is the exact opposite of what the law states.

It has been the mass movements in the history of this country that have created real change. These movements would include: The American Revolution, the Civil War, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the movement supporting women’s rights, and the movement against the war in Vietnam.

In the commercial film industry we rarely see a film that portrays working people who engage in a collective action to advance our interests. One such film was Norma Rae released in 1979 starring Sally Field in the title role. This is the true story of a union organizing drive in the textile industry. Another film is the 1987 film Matewan that portrays the true story of a coal miners strike. 

We might also consider that some of the most important leaders in this history of the world happen to be women as well as Black people. That list would include: Mother Jones, Ida Wells, the Cuban revolutionaries Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela.

When we look at the lives of these leaders, we see that their primary qualification was a willingness to dedicate themselves to advancing the cause of working people. This dedication overcame the racist and sexist prejudices they confronted. Their examples demonstrate that we will have more leaders who will have the tenacity to overcome the tremendous problems we face today.