This article has been republished from A First Taste of Law. The most popular posts from the old blog that is now closed are being reshared here.
Jishnu Sanyal, all set to join a law school this summer, shared some movies that are close to our hearts.
Being an ardent movie viewer, while I was waiting eagerly (well maybe not so much) for the CLAT results, I was on a lookout for Law School Movies, hoping that there must be some movies that might just give me some ideas of life inside a law school (well lets put it straight, just an excuse for watching some more movies). Since Bollywood has not really interested in making good law related movies (I’ll come back to this later in the post), my only choices were from Hollywood. I came across four movies which young law students will surely find interesting. So just before you start packing for law school, you do want to catch these movies, or store them on your hard drive for future use. At least look out for them once you are in your law school, most of them have a lot of movies shared on LAN. NUJS has a huge database of music and movies shared on LAN.
DISCLAIMER – One of the movies I mention here might just change the way YOU THINK about the profession. Guess which one?
THE PAPER CHASE
This is a 1973 film starring Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, and John Houseman, and directed by James Bridges. Based on John Jay Osborn, Jr.’s 1970 novel, The Paper Chase, the film narrates the story of James Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard Law School, and his encounters with Professor Charles Kingsfield (played by John Houseman), the brilliant, demanding contracts teacher whom he both hero worships and at the same time finds incredibly intimidating. A television series was also created based on the movie.
James Hart a young, serious, hardworking student enters the coveted Harvard law School only expecting the basic pressures of a law school curriculum. But he finds himself in the fearful adversary of the school’s most imperious, mordant contracts professor, Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman). Their relationship grows even more tortuous when the young man discovers that the woman he is dating is the professor’s daughter (sounds like 3 Idiots isn’t it, I wonder where Chetan Bhagat got his inspiration from). The film is an extremely faithful adaptation of the novel. In the end, both in the novel and the movie James folds his final report card into an airplane and sends it sailing into the Atlantic Ocean.
Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. is a character you must look out for. His most famous line from the film exemplifies his own view of his role as a law professor: “You teach yourselves the law, but I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush; you leave thinking like a lawyer.” The phrase “think like a lawyer” has since become a jargon among law professors and students.
LEGALLY BLONDE
A 2001 comedy film produced by Marc E. Platt, directed by Robert Luketic, and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Amanda Brown. It stars Reese Witherspoon as a exuberant, extrovert sorority girl who struggles to win back her ex-boyfriend by proving that she is “serious” enough to earn a law degree, along with Luke Wilson as a young attorney she meets during her studies, Matthew Davis as the ex-boyfriend, and Selma Blair as his new fiancée.
Elle Wood is a Beverly Hills raised, mollycoddled and capricious blonde beauty that would go to any extent to keep her man. Even when it means venturing out of her comfort zone and going to law school! So when Warner Huntington III (Elle’s boyfriend) suddenly dumps her and heads off to HarvardLawSchool, Elle takes matter into her own perfectly manicured hands. She writes LSAT and heads for law school too!! Getting Warner back would now be just a matter of time, right? Well I am afraid it would be nothing close to easy. Elle’s about to begin her toughest fight ever – for love, honour, justice and respect for blondes everywhere!
THE PELICAN BRIEF
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 legal crime thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula who is known for dark-hued suspense pictures such as Klute, The Parallax View, All the President’s Men, and Presumed Innocent, the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham.
The story of the film is about 24-year-old Tulane University law student Darby Shaw who is enmeshed in an affair with Thomas Callahan, her alcoholic professor. Darby writes up a discerning theory about the recent murder of two Supreme Court justices, by using legal databases in her library. The theory comes to be known as Pelican Brief. When Callahan shares this so-called “Pelican Brief” with buddy Gavin Verheek, an FBI lawyer, the document finds its way to wrong hands. Darby is forced into hiding when Callahan is murdered as she was being stalked by the relentless assassin Khamel. Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), Washington Herald investigative reporter is Darby’s only hope of escaping Callahan’s fate and proving her theory. This John Grisham adaptation is fairly faithful to the best-selling novel which many of us are already familiar with. In my opinion the film has a few shortcomings, but the charisma and chemistry of the leads goes a long way toward compensating that and makes it a perfectly entertaining movie for any aspiring or actual law student.
THE RAINMAKER
The Rainmaker is a 1997 American film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. It is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham.
“All students enter law school with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after three years of brutal competition we care for nothing but the right job with the right firm where we can make partner in seven years and earn big bucks.” – Rudy Baylor. Rudy went to law school because he genuinely believed all the myths about helping people. Graduation found him waiting tables to pay off his student loans, rather than going to work for a prestigious firm just because his family had no high-placed connections. Eventually, Rudy was left with no options but to join Memphis-based ambulance-chasing (they don’t teach that in law school) outfit of Bruiser Stone (Mickey Rourke). There he partners up with Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), a “para-lawyer” who knows the ropes but has flunked the bar exam six times. During one of his ambulance chasing ventures in a local hospital he finds a young woman, Kelly Riker (Claire Danes),who has landed up there due to the savage beatings of her husband. The attraction between Rudy and Kelly is immediate and obvious, but she’s afraid to file for divorce for fear that her husband will kill her.
The Feds close in on dubious Bruiser as an aftermath of his innumerable shady dealings. Rudy and Deck are forced to jump the ship and sets up their own office with only $10,000 which they earned from one of their successful ambulance chasing venture. Rudy has only a single case: suing an insurance company Great Benefit for failing to make good on a claim owed to his client, a leukemia patient, Donnie Ray Black. When the inevitable happens and Donnie Ray dies, it becomes a wrongful death suit, with Rudy representing Donnie Ray’s mother Dot Black. The opposition consists of a host of high table lawyers led by Leo F. Drummond. But the judge, Tyrone Kipler, a fair man, allows Rudy some latitude in presenting his case. But in spite of all intimidating circumstances Rudy has faith in his cause , as he puts it “I’m alone, I’m… outgunned… but I’m right.” Rudy and Deck appear like first-timers and are actually shown acting nervous and inexperienced in court. They stumble over their words (or their feet) making numerous gaffes. The Rainmaker is mostly a character study of Rudy.
His relationship with Kelly, his courtroom struggles, and his growing involvement with his clients – is designed to underscore his evolution as an individual. Matt Damon as Rudy Baylor does a fine job of portraying the uncertainty of someone who believes he has the moral high ground, but at the same time realizes that his lack of experience could take the case away from him. Danny DeVito is seamless as the more cynical, financially-driven Deck, providing occasional moments of comedy, like he reduced those big fat ethics books which adorn the shelves of the library into 3 simple gospels “a lawyer should fight for his clients, refrain from stealing money and try not to lie”.
Although a serious movie, it provides you with a fair share of dark humor. Here’s a few lawyerly jokes cracked by Rudy Baylor in course of the movie “What’s the difference between a lawyer and a hooker? A hooker will stop screwing you when you’re dead.” “How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.”
Indian movie on law anyone?
Well there goes the four Hollywood movies, I was also searching for a few Bollywood ones, and I was highly disappointed. I found a 1960 movie called Kanoon and another 1983 one called Andha Kanoon. Anyone watched these? One of my friends told me about a movie called FOX which was released in 2009, its about the life of a criminal lawyer or something. It had Arjun Rampal in the lead, was a below average performer, and I doubt anyone noticed it.
Few months ago I heard that there would be a Bollywood remake of “My Cousin Vinny” but sadly afterwards I found out that the lead role would be played by Govinda. I would not be very optimistic about it.
Well law schools may not be regarded in the bracket of IITs in popular perception yet, but still, after 3 Idiots, can we expect a decent Law movie from the esteemed directors and producers in Bollywood? Till then we have to make do with Hollywood and Boston Legal.
One more thing, please don’t ask where can you get these movies, neither me nor Ramanuj promotes piracy.
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