TEHRAN – Iranian critic Yashar Nurai will review Sidney Lumet’s 1982 legal drama “The Verdict” at the Iranian Artists Forum on Monday.

Also a lawyer, Nurai will analyze the topic “Attorney and the Issue of Conscience” in a session, which will be held after a screening of the film at 5 pm.

The forum will organize the session with contributions from the National Union of Bar Associations of Iran.

David Mamet adapted the film from Barry Reed’s 1980 novel of the same name.

The film follows Frank Galvin, a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer who accepts a medical malpractice case to improve his own situation, but discovers along the way that he is doing the right thing.

The film received nominations at the Academy Awards in five categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Paul Newman).

“The Verdict” garnered critical acclaim and box office success.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 89 percent, with an average rating of 7.8/10, based on 36 reviews. 

The website’s critics’ consensus reads, “Paul Newman is at the peak of his powers as an attorney who never lived up to his potential in ‘The Verdict’, supported by David Mamet’s crackling script and Sidney Lumet’s confident direction.”

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.

In a poll of 500 films held by Empire magazine, it was voted 254th Greatest Movie of all time. 

In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #91 on its list of the “101 greatest screenplays ever written”.

The film opened in 3 theaters in New York City and grossed $143,265 in its first 5 days. The following weekend it expanded to 615 screens and grossed $2,331,805, finishing seventh for the weekend, and went on to gross $54 million.

Photo: Paul Newman in “The Verdict” by Sidney Lumet.

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