The Verdict (1982)

Paul Newman: Frank Galvin

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Quotes 

• [Frank is giving his summation to the jury] 

  Frank Galvin : You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.

  [he sits down] 

• [the church has offered a check for $210,000 to settle the case] 

  Frank Galvin : How did you settle on the amount?

  Bishop Brophy : We thought it was just.

  Frank Galvin : You thought it was just?

  Bishop Brophy : Yes.

  Frank Galvin : Because it struck me, um, how neatly 'three' went into this figure: 210,000. That means I would keep seventy.

  Bishop Brophy : That was our insurance company's recommendation.

  Frank Galvin : Yes, that would be.

  Bishop Brophy : Nothing we can do can make that woman well.

  Frank Galvin : And no one will know the truth.

  Bishop Brophy : What is the truth?

  Frank Galvin : That that poor girl put her trust into the... into the hands of two men who took her life. She's in a coma. Her life is gone. She has no home, no family. She's tied to a machine. She has no friends. And the people who should care for her - her doctors... and you and me - have been bought off to look the other way. We've been paid to look the other way. I came here to take your money. I brought snapshots to show you so I could get your money. I can't do it; I can't take it. 'Cause if I take the money I'm lost. I'll just be a... rich ambulance chaser. I can't do it. I can't take it.

• Frank Galvin : Your honor, with all due respect: if you're going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn't lose it.

• Mickey Morrissey : [Mickey is trying to convince Frank not to take the case to trial]  Do you know who the attorney for the Archdiocese is? Ed Concannon!

  Frank Galvin : He's a good man...

  Mickey Morrissey : He's a good man? Heh, heh, he's the Prince of fucking Darkness! He'll have people testifying they saw her waterskiing in Marblehead last summer. Now look, Frank, don't *fuck with this case!

• [telling the joke to the others in the bar] 

  Frank Galvin : So Pat says, he says, "They got this new bar... and you go inside and for half a buck you get a beer, a free lunch and they take you in the back room - they get you laid... Mike says, "Now wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Do you mean to say there's a new bar and you go inside and for a half a buck they give you a beer, a free lunch and they take you in the back room and they get you laid?" Pat says, "That's right." "Have you ever been in the bar?" And he says, "No, but me sister has."

• Judge Hoyle : It seems to me, a fellow's trying to come back, he'd take the settlement, get a record for himself. I, myself. would take it and run like a thief.

  Frank Galvin : I'm sure you would.

• Frank Galvin : Hi! Frank Galvin. I, uh - I represent Deborah Ann Kaye in the case against St. Catherine Labouré.

  Maureen Rooney : I told the guy I didn't wanna talk to anybody.

  Frank Galvin : Just take a second. Deborah Ann Kaye. You know what I'm talking about. Did you hear who our chief witness is?

  Maureen Rooney : No.

  Frank Galvin : It's David Gruber. He's the, uh, assistant chief anesthesiologist in Mass Commonwealth. He says that your doctors, Towler and Marx, put my client in the hospital for life. And we can prove that. So what we don't know is why. I mean what went on in there in the operating room? I mean something happened, you know what it was. They gave her the wrong anesthetic, now something happened. I mean it was a distraction, what, the telephone, what?

  Maureen Rooney : You have your doctor's testimony. What do you need me for?

  Frank Galvin : 'Cause we need someone who was in the operating room. We're gonna win the case. I mean there's no question of that, it's just simply a matter of how big.

  Maureen Rooney : Hm... Well I don't have anything to say to you.

  Frank Galvin : Yeah. You know what happened.

  Maureen Rooney : Nothing happened.

  Frank Galvin : Then why don't you testify for their side? I can subpoena you, you know. I can put you up there on the stand.

  Maureen Rooney : And ask me WHAT?

  Frank Galvin : Who turned my client into a goddamn vegetable!

  Maureen Rooney : Well I didn't do it, mister!

  Frank Galvin : Then who are you protecting?

  Maureen Rooney : Who says I'm protecting anyone?

  Frank Galvin : What, doctors? What do y - what do you owe them?

  Maureen Rooney : I don't owe them a goddamn thing!

  Frank Galvin : Then why don't you testify for them?

  Maureen Rooney : You know, you're a very pushy fella.

  Frank Galvin : You think I'm pushy now, wait till I get you up there on the stand!

  Maureen Rooney : Well maybe you'd just better DO that then!

  [beat] 

  Maureen Rooney : You know, you guys are all the same. You don't care who you hurt. All you care about is a dollar, you're a bunch of whores! You've got no loyalty... no nothing, you're a bunch of whores!

• Frank Galvin : The court doesn't exist to give them justice? The court exist to give them a *chance* at justice.

• Frank Galvin : [to the judge]  You couldn't hack it as a lawyer. You were a bag man for the boys downtown and you still are, I know about you.

• [Judge Hoyle is speaking with Concannon and Galvin about the case] 

  Judge Hoyle : Frank, what would you and your client take - right now, this very minute - to walk out of here, let this damn thing drop?

  Frank Galvin : My client can't walk, your honor.

  Judge Hoyle : I know full well she can't, Frank. You see the padre on your way out; he'll punch your ticket... you follow me?

• Frank Galvin : I'm her attorney.

• Judge Hoyle : I'm gonna write to the Board of Bar Overseers about you today, fella. You're on your way out. They should have kicked you out in that Lillibridge case. Now, this is it, today.

  Frank Galvin : I'm an attorney, on trial before the Bar, representing my client. My client. When you open your mouth, you're losin' my case for me.

  Judge Hoyle : Listen to me, fella...

  Frank Galvin : No, you listen to me! All I wanted out of this trial was a fair shake, OK? You push me into court five days early, I lose my star witness, and I can't get a continuance. And I don't care. I'm goin' up there, I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna let the jury decide. They told me about you. Said you're a hard-ass, you're a defendant's judge. Well, I don't care. I said to hell with it. To hell with it!

  Judge Hoyle : [conciliatory]  Look, Galvin, many years ago I...

  Frank Galvin : [laughs]  Come on! Hey, don't give me that shit about you bein' a lawyer too. I know about you. You couldn't hack it as a lawyer. You were a Bagman for the Boys Downtown, and you still are. I know about you.

  Judge Hoyle : [angry]  Are you done?

  Frank Galvin : You're damn right I'm done. I'm gonna ask for a mistrial. I'm gonna request that you disqualify yourself from sitting on this case. I'm gonna take a transcript of the trial to the Judicial Conduct Board and ask them to impeach your ass!

  Judge Hoyle : [furious]  You aren't gonna get a mistrial, boy. We're going back this afternoon, and we're gonna to try this case to the end. Now you get out of here before I call the Bailiff and have you thrown in jail!

• Frank Galvin : I can win it. I can win this case.

  Mickey Morrissey : You won, Frank. You won! When they give you the money, that means you won. Now, look, we don't want to go to court. Is this - is this getting through to you?

• Frank Galvin : I'm going to help her.

  Mickey Morrissey : To do what? To do what, for chrissakes? To help her to do what? She's dead!

  Frank Galvin : They killed her. And they're trying to buy it.

  Mickey Morrissey : That's the fuckin' point, dummy. Let them buy it! No, we let them buy the case. That's what I took it for.

• Frank Galvin : Why are you doing this?

  Dr. Gruber : To do the right thing. Isn't that why you're doing it?

• Frank Galvin : You see, the jury wants to believe. I mean, the jury *wants* to believe. It is something to see. I got to go down there tomorrow and pick out twelve 'em. All of 'em, all of their lives, saying, "It's a sham. It's rigged. You can't fight City Hall." But, when they step into that jury box, I mean, you can just barely see it in their eyes, "Maybe. Maybe."

  Laura Fischer : Maybe what?

  Frank Galvin : Maybe I can do something right.

  Laura Fischer : And - and is that what you're going to do? Is that what you're going to do?

  Frank Galvin : That's what I'm going to try to do.

• Frank Galvin : I changed my life today, what did you do?

  Laura Fischer : I changed my room at the hotel.

  Frank Galvin : Why did you do that?

  Laura Fischer : TV didn't work.

• [first lines] 

  Funeral Director : Mrs. Dee, this is Frank Galvin. He's a good friend of ours and a very fine attorney.

  Frank Galvin : It's just a shame that happened to your husband, Mrs. Dee. I knew him vaguely at the Lodge. He was a wonderful man. It was a crime what happened to him. It was just a crime. If I can help - in any way.

  [hands Mrs. Dee his business card] 

  Frank Galvin : Don't hesitate to call.

• Frank Galvin : I doubt very much that the case will ever come to trial.

• Frank Galvin : Come on in? I'd get you a cup of coffee, but my girl went out.

• Frank Galvin : Look, the hospital is owned by the Archdioceses.

  Dr. Gruber : What are they going to do? Not invite me to their birthday party?

• Frank Galvin : The weak. The weak have got to have somebody to fight for them. Ain't that the truth? You want another drink?

• Laura Fischer : It's over?

  Frank Galvin : Yeah, it's over.

  Laura Fischer : But, I thought it wasn't over until the jury comes in?

  Frank Galvin : Who'd you hear that from?

  Laura Fischer : From you.

• Frank Galvin : [two guys walk into a bar]  Do me a favor. I'll buy you a drink tomorrow.

  Mickey Morrissey : What are you doing tonight?

  Frank Galvin : I found this new bar, you see, and for half a buck you can - I'm going to get laid.

  Mickey Morrissey : I'll be at the office. Just don't leave your best work in the sheets.

• Mickey Morrissey : How are you holding up?

  Frank Galvin : Good.

  Mickey Morrissey : All we have is a witch doctor.

  Frank Galvin : Yeah.

  Mickey Morrissey : Well, look at it this way, Franky: it's refreshing every time a doctor takes the stand he's not a Jew.

• Frank Galvin : What's your name?

  Laura Fischer : Laura.

  Frank Galvin : Mine's Frank. Furthermore, you came back to see me tonight.

  Laura Fischer : What if it wasn't you I came back here to see tonight?

  Frank Galvin : Well, you got lucky.