A Civil Action (1998)

Director:

Steven Zaillian

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Harr (book)
Steven Zaillian (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 January 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Justice has its price.

Plot:

The families of children who died sue two companies for dumping toxic waste: a tort so expensive to prove, the case could bankrupt their lawyer.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Leukemia | Lawsuit | Settlement | Toxic Waste

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

John Travolta	...	Jan Schlichtmann
Robert Duvall	...	Jerome Facher
Tony Shalhoub	...	Kevin Conway
William H. Macy	...	James Gordon
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Bill Crowley
Bruce Norris	...	William Cheeseman
John Lithgow	...	Judge Walter J. Skinner
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Anne Anderson
Peter Jacobson	...	Neil Jacobs
Mary Mara	...	Kathy Boyer
James Gandolfini	...	Al Love
Stephen Fry	...	Pinder
Dan Hedaya	...	John Riley
David Thornton	...	Richard Aufiero
Sydney Pollack	...	Al Eustis

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #36309) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Norway:7 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

During the phone conversation in the radio booth, a confused Schlictmann asks Anne Anderson, "Is this Rikki?" Rikki Klieman is a real-life lawyer and love interest of Schlictmann's in the novel.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie when the woman comes out on her front porch and picks up the newspaper, she removes the rubber band and looks at the top half of the paper. In the next cut she is looking at the bottom half of the paper and in the very next cut she is looking at the top half again.

Quotes:

James Gordon: [Seeing Uncle Pete for another loan after Schlichtmann's firm is in serious financial trouble] You'll never guess what I did last night. You'll like this. I pledged $200 to a tele-evangelist. I'm not kidding. He said, "Give and ye shall receive." I called him right up. I know, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Gordon's losing it. He's falling apart. He's probably buying lottery tickets." I bought a few, I'll admit it. I know. But, seriously, the jackpot's $45 million. That's just this week. You should see the lines out there.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 56th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Take Me to the River

Good, but not great

As far as courtroom dramas go, this is by no means great. I've seen plenty of them, as American law system interests me. The greatest would arguably be A Few Good Men... this is pretty much in the order end of the spectrum, being a fairly slight courtroom drama. It has just enough good points to it to keep it above average, but only *just* enough. I think the way the story was told was fairly standard, but good anyway. I liked Travolta's voice-overs, and liked the fact that it's not the typical cliché-like ending, where, against all odds, the case is won. I won't tell you exactly how it ends, but the ending is pretty good, and not as predictable as many of the courtroom dramas are. The plot is good, and develops, at least in the beginning, pretty good, and with a good pace. However, somewhere in the last half, the pace drops and you find yourself being bored with the film. Too bad, since it started out so promising. The acting is very good; Duvall and Travolta are obviously good, but Macy and Lithgow were surprisingly good(not that they're typically bad, though). The supporting cast also do their jobs well. The characters are well-written, credible, and well-casted. The humor, though rare in the film, is mostly good. All in all, a pretty good courtroom drama, based on a true story, and a basic story of inexperienced against experienced, as they say in the featurette on the DVD. I recommend it to fans of courtroom dramas, and fans of any of the actors. 7/10