Tony Petrocelli, a bright young lawyer practicing in the rich cattle town of Baker, becomes embroiled in a murder case.
Barry Newman Harold Gould Diana Muldaur Robert Colbert Kathleen Crowley Warren J. Kemmerling Booth Colman Ken Swofford E.J. André William Sylvester Jeffery V. Thompson Tom Harvey Ivor Barry Melendy Britt John Himes Ralph Thomas Mary Charlotte Wilcox Gene O'Donnell Walter Mathews Ray Ballard James McEachin Robert L. Poyner Michael Murphy Antonino Garcia Tony
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Not necessarily great but certainly pretty neat. Furie bringing a little of that IPCRESS FILE swagger to what you might call a feature length Matlock meets ANATOMY OF A MURDER. Barry Newman rips in it. Very odd score! MVP Diana Muldaur as Newman's super hot wife/assistant.
Entertaining court room drama playfully directed by Sidney J Furie. I love the story time moment that brings the film home. The conviction of innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is lawyer Tony Petrocelli motto. Even if he's not sure his client is innocent there's also know proof to find him guilty. His client is a physician charged with the murder of his wife. The mystery of whodunit isn't as important as how Petrocelli works the jury. Being from NY, he's sticks out like a cannoli in the small cattle town of Baker. The locals refuse to pronounce his name correctly. He's always getting parking tickets and is not to far off from Saul Goodman.
Furie keeps the…
Before Kowalski there was… Petrocelli!
Barry Newman breaks out big in this sharp legal drama from Director Sidney J. Furie (THE IPCRESS FILE, THE ENTITY). If you’re a VANISHING POINT / FEAR IS THE KEY fan like I am, this is kind of ground zero for Newman as it preceded both of those films and was his first big headlining role. Here he plays Tony Petrocelli, a camper driving, hungry young lawyer working out in a rural area and looking for a momentous opportunity to help further his career. He’s handed that chance when he’s ushered aboard a somewhat baffling murder case where a doctor is accused of killing his wife with only circumstantial evidence but a lot of bias…
Sidney J. Furie’s legal drama in which an attorney (Barry Newman) and a state prosecutor (Harold Gould) contend the cloudy mystery of a doctor suspected of murdering his wife.
The story concerns Tony Petrocelli (Barry Newman), a bright young lawyer committed in the wealthy cattle town of Baker, who becomes involved in a homicide case.
Barry Newman gives a very good performance in his role as the lawyer involved, while Harold Gould is decent as Eric P. Scott, the prosecutor arguing his case in the courtroom.
Elsewhere, there is a fine performance to be had from Diana Muldaur as Ruth Petrocelli, Robert Colbert as Jack Harrison, Kathleen Crowley as Alice Fiske, and Warren J. Kemmerling (credited here as Warren Kemmerling)…
Back in the late 90s, when the BBC had finally realised they had rinsed dry the abysmal Diagnosis Murder on weekday afternoons, they decided to cast their net further in time to classic 70s mystery dramas like Quincy, The Rockford Files, Columbo and Petrocelli. The last one, starred Vanishing Point's Barry Newman as an altruistic former big city lawyer re-establishing himself in Arizona, living out of a camper whilst painstakingly building a new home for him and his wife which, even I could tell, would never near completion if he kept insisting on defending his clients for free.
America likes to say it has no class system like we do here in the UK, but I think the fact that…
Barry Newman is Tony Pertrocelli. A quick-talking, energetic lawyer in a cattle town in Texas. He gets a murder case, where a husband has been accused of killing his wife. The film then follows rather procedurally along with the trial, and appeal, to a fairly interesting ending.
The film is more interested in process than character. It isn't particularly sensational, nor especially melodramatic. Just lots of court scenes, and some imagined recreations. Newman is great as Petro-chelli, and he really makes the film work. He makes it work beyond its televisual aesthetic, or its slightly ponderous pace. Newman made The Lawyer, Fear is the Key and Vanishing Point in a 2 year period. All great performances, all quite odd.
Sidney…
Slow build up, but a strong translatory pace through the end. You’ll have a gluey fixation on the courtroom banter, that bond between lawyers on either side. It’s just a nice, captivating procedural gem with some tonal clashing music choices sewn in. I highly recommend!
This was turned later into a TV show and I assume work better there. Furie direction has some flashes of his style, but remains even more distant and less showy than usual. It is better away from the court. Very overlong. Newman is a solid lead.
There was about two-year stretch in the early '70s where Barry Newman was being groomed for stardom much the way Glen Powell is today. It didn't quite happen, but he did star in a legit classic with 1971's VANISHING POINT and stayed busy as a character actor for the next several decades. 1970's THE LAWYER was Newman's big break, and he turns in a fun performance as Tony Petrocelli, a brash, Harvard-educated defense attorney in a podunk Southwestern town. He's an ambulance-chasing wiseass, lives in a trailer with his wife/legal assistant Ruth (Diana Muldaur), and drives his camper-topped pickup truck around like a fucking maniac. A salacious, scandalous case falls in Petrocelli's lap when prominent local doctor Jack Harrison (MAVERICK's…
Tony Petrocelli is a terrible driver and a tenacious lawyer, defending a doctor accused of murdering his wife. The film is loosely based on the real life Dr. Sam Sheppard murder trial.
"The Lawyer" is fast paced and often comical, especially if one enjoys '60s style sexist gags. Almost the entire soundtrack consists of variations of a rather goofy jazz tune lending an almost cartoonish quality to the work. The courtroom drama portions of the film however is all business.
It's dated, rather over the top, but completely entertaining. There's pretty low production values and cheap film as was typical at that time. Deann was reminded of "The Rockford Files". I can see that. The character reappeared in the series "Petrocelli", running for two seasons in the mid-70s, featuring the same actor.
“Look, Jack, I don’t keep cats and dogs in the house because they eat too much, little children bore the pants off me, when I go to a ball game I root for the visitors, I’ve never sent a Christmas card, I don’t cry at weddings and funerals, and I’d cheat on my wife if I had the time.”
“Okay, okay, I get the picture. You’re one solid block of ice.”
“With one soft spot. You’re innocent until someone proves to me that you’re guilty.”
So, what if I told you this was a story about a scrappy, fast-talking, ambitious lawyer with unconventional methods who drives a funny car and has a network of quirky associates and operates out of…
