Class Action (1991)

An attorney representing a traumatized accident victim finds that his opponent is a very familiar defense attorney - his own daughter.

Director:

Michael Apted

Writers:

Carolyn Shelby, Christopher Ames

Stars:

Gene Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Colin Friels

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gene Hackman	...	Jedediah Tucker Ward
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	...	Maggie Ward
Colin Friels	...	Michael Grazier
Joanna Merlin	...	Estelle Ward
Laurence Fishburne	...	Nick Holbrook (as Larry Fishburne)
Donald Moffat	...	Quinn
Jan Rubes	...	Pavel
Matt Clark	...	Judge Symes
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	Dr. Getchell
Jonathan Silverman	...	Brian
Joan McMurtrey	...	Ann
Anne Ramsay	...	Deborah (as Anne Elizabeth Ramsay)
David Byron	...	Carl
Tim Hopper	...	Howie
Robert David Hall	...	Steven Kellen

Storyline

Jed Ward is an attorney who specializes in whistle blower, David vs. Goliath, type cases. He finds a client who is suing an auto company over a safety problem that has had a severe effect on his life after the accident. He must replace the current attorney and be ready for trial quickly, and then he finds that the defense attorney will be his estranged daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

judicial | judiciary | judicial system | attorney | trial | 

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Taglines:

A father and a daughter, divided by a case, endangered by the truth.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for uses of strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Személyes ügy

Filming Locations:

Bix Restaurant - 56 Gold Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,207,923, 17 March 1991, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$24,277,858

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$28,277,918

Company Credits

Production Co:

Interscope Communications,Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jed Ward's (Gene Hackman) office scenes were filmed on location in a real law office at 473 Jackson Street on the third floor. At the time, the space was occupied by the legendary San Francisco civil rights/criminal defense lawyer J. Tony Serra. Serra is also visible during the funeral scene sitting in the back of the pews: he's the gentleman with the long gray hair. James Woods played a character based on Serra in the film True Believer (1989).

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Goofs

There is a scene between Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in the kitchen, and she says to Gene, "I forget......How many tablespoons are in a teaspoon?" She should have said, "How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon."

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Quotes

Jedediah Tucker Ward: If your mother could hear you now.
Maggie Ward: Well she can't, can she? She finally got out of here and wherever she is, she's gotta be much happier than she was with you.
Maggie Ward: [Jedediah attempts to hit Maggie, shocking her] Finally, words fail the great Jedediah Tucker Ward.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Class Action/If Looks Could Kill/Guilty by Suspicion/True Colors (1991)

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Soundtracks

If You Don't Know Me By Now
Written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff
Performed by Simply Red
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment/WEA Records Ltd.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Drama, in and out of the courtroom! Wow.

I still find it kind of a coincidence that this was aired here on the cable the day before Fathers' Day here. Father Jedediah Ward (Gene Hackman) and daughter Maggie (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are both lawyers and coincidentally, they are on the opposing ends of a major court case.

From the start, one can see that Maggie is very driven to be successful in the lawyers' circles given she told her boss she wanted to take on the case because she is very aware of the company the law firm she works for represents. And her colleagues then told her that her father is the plaintiff for the case. Now this drove the daughter to outwin her father in the courtroom even more.

All the estrangement actually went back to the time when Maggie realised her father is not faithful to her mother. So whenever they passed by each other, Maggie often never gave her father one look. After Mrs Ward's passing, father and daughter reunite each other for a while...but! The old issues all came back.

And when along the way in researching for the case, an obstacle appeared and it almost led Maggie into trouble. Jedediah thought his daughter is almost in trouble and they managed to clear out some things between each other. It even led to surprising events which happened on the day of the big court case.

For me who has always been interested how lawyers always go about their work, this is a nice introduction. Father-daughter relationship is also being explored here. That is why I said about the movie on cable the day before it's Fathers' Day today here.