First Monday in October (1981)

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Jerome Lawrence (play)
Jerome Lawrence (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 August 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

In the Supreme Court, there are only eight of them against all of her.

Plot:

For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.

Plot Keywords:

Supreme Court | Judge | Washington D.C. | Courtroom | Battle Of The Sexes

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Walter Matthau	...	Dan Snow
Jill Clayburgh	...	Ruth Loomis
Barnard Hughes	...	Chief Justice Crawford
Jan Sterling	...	Christine Snow
James Stephens	...	Mason Woods
Joshua Bryant	...	Bill Russell
Wiley Harker	...	Justice Harold Webb
F.J. O'Neil	...	Justice Waldo Thompson
Charles Lampkin	...	Justice Josiah Clewes
Lew Palter	...	Justice Benjamin Halperin
Richard McMurray	...	Justice Richard Carey
Herb Vigran	...	Justice Ambrose Quincy
Edmund Stoiber	...	Committee Chairman
Noble Willingham	...	Nebraska Attorney
Richard McKenzie	...	Hostile Senator

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:15 (video) | Norway:16 | UK:AA | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Inyo National Forest - 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The airport that Justice Loomis (Jill Clayburgh) flies into when she returns to Orange County, California actually is John Wayne/Orange County Airport as it existed prior to undergoing major improvements in the late 1980s.

Quotes:

Justice Dan Snow: She wants me to disqualify myself because I won't go down there and sit through that pile of crap?
Chief Justice Crawford: Uh, well, uh...
Justice Dan Snow: So its crap. What if it is crap? That's not the point. Crap's got the right to be crap.
Chief Justice Crawford: Drop the legal language, Dan.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.23)" (2009)

Terribly Dated

Lighthearted and fluffy, "First Monday In October" tackles the issue of the first woman appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. The film was topical when released in 1981, but now seems terribly dated. Grumpy but witty Justice Dan Snow (Walter Matthau), a liberal, spars with the new justice: Ruth Loomis (Jill Clayburgh), a conservative.

The plot is slow and a bit cloistered, no doubt the result of the film's origin as a play. The plot does advance, but not until near the end. Most of the "action", especially in the middle Act, consists of witty dialogue among the various justices, especially between Snow and Loomis. The dialogue is so witty that it seems unnatural. Each character immediately responds with some clever come-back line. The script could easily have been converted to an episodic TV sitcom of the early eighties. Mercifully, it wasn't.

The story has no real substance, apart from the rather obvious theme that any argument requires opposing points of view. And so, Justice Snow makes his point about a dinner menu. And Justice Loomis makes a counterpoint, showing how a reasoned debate can be applied even to life's most trivial moments.

The film does have very good production values. And the performances of Matthau and Clayburgh are certainly credible. Viewers who like these two actors will no doubt like this film.

My reasoned judgment of "First Monday In October" is that it is not a bad film. It's just very dated, and a tad fatuous.