Paul Newman as Frank Galvin, Closing Argument, The Verdict
The Verdict is a Sidney Lumet film from 1982, a courtroom drama starring Paul Newman. It is the movie our evidence professor showed us in law school. I love the closing argument. Here it is:
Galvin: Well...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."
I mean 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 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 a marble statue, or the trappings of the court. See, those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are, in fact, a prayer, I mean a fervent and a frightened prayer.
In my religion, they say, "Act as if you had faith; faith will be given to you."
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.
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