A Civil Action (film)
| A Civil Action | |
|---|---|
 International theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Steven Zaillian |
| Written by | Steven Zaillian |
| Based on | A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Conrad L. Hall |
| Edited by | Wayne Wahrman |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (North America) United International Pictures (International) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75 million |
| Box office | $56 million |
A Civil Action is a 1998 American
Plot
Environmental toxicants in the city of
Bringing a
After a lengthy trial, the jury returns a verdict in favor of Beatrice after Jan turned down an offer of $20 million from Beatrice attorney Jerry Facher during jury deliberations. The plaintiffs are forced to accept a settlement with Grace that barely covers the expense involved in trying the case, leaving Jan and his partners broke. The families are deeply disappointed, and Jan's partners dissolve their partnership, effectively breaking up the firm. Jan ends up alone, living in a small apartment and running a small-time law practice. He manages to find the last key witness to the case but lacks resources and courage to appeal the judgment. The files are archived while Jan later files for bankruptcy.
A postscript reveals the EPA, building on Jan's work on the case, later brought its own enforcement action against Beatrice and Grace, forcing them to pay millions to clean up the land and the groundwater. It takes Jan several years to settle his debts, and he now practices environmental law in New Jersey.
Cast
- John Travolta as Jan Schlichtmann
- Robert Duvall as Jerry Facher
- William H. Macy as James Gordon
- Tony Shalhoub as Kevin Conway
- Kathleen Quinlan as Anne Anderson
- Željko Ivanek as Bill Crowley
- Bruce Norris as William Cheeseman
- Peter Jacobson as Neil Jacobs
- John Lithgow as Judge Walter J. Skinner
- Dan Hedaya as John Riley
- James Gandolfini as Al Love
- Stephen Fry as Dr. George F. Pinder
- Sydney Pollack as Al Eustis
- David Thornton as Richard Aufiero
- Jay Patterson as Geologist
- Daniel von Bargen as Mr. Granger
- Paul Ben-Victor as Bobby Pasqueriella
- Ned Eisenberg as Uncle Pete
- Mary Mara as Kathy Boyer
- Denise Dowse as Judge Constance Mullen
Kathy Bates appears in an uncredited cameo in the final scene as the judge overseeing Jan's bankruptcy hearing.
Filming
The movie was shot in
Release
Box office
Despite showing promise on its initial limited release,[3] A Civil Action was a box office failure on wide release, earning a domestic gross of $56 million against its $75 million budget. The film was released in competition with a number of films that became hits, earning between $120 and $290 million each, including Shakespeare in Love, The Prince of Egypt, Star Trek: Insurrection, You've Got Mail, Stepmom and Patch Adams.
Reception
![[icon]](/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2019) |
On Rotten Tomatoes, A Civil Action has an approval rating of 63% based on reviews from 72 critics. The site's consensus called the film "Intelligent and unconventional."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics.[5] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.[6]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote: "Civil Action is like John Grisham for grownups."[7]
References
- ^ "A CIVIL ACTION (1998)". NewEnglandFilm.com. 15 May 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Graves, Amy (22 Jun 2000). "Your 15 seconds of fame". Newspapers.com. The Boston Globe. p. 11 - Calendar. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ Welkos, Robert W. (1998-12-29). "'Patch Adams' Just What Holiday Ordered". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
- ^ "A Civil Action". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ "A Civil Action". Metacritic.
- ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (January 8, 1999). "A Civil Action movie review & film summary (1999)". Chicago Sun-Times.
External links
- A Civil Action at IMDb
- A Civil Action at AllMovie
- A Civil Action at the TCM Movie Database
- A Civil Action at the American Film Institute Catalog
- A Civil Action at Box Office Mojo
- A Civil Action: Before the book and before the film (early newspaper articles by reporter Charles C. Ryan)
- Beyond A Civil Action hosted by W. R. Grace & Co.
- In Toxic Tort Litigation, Truth Lies at the Bottom of a Bottomless Pit by Eric Asimow, Picturing Justice: The On-Line Journal of Law & Popular Culture, February 1999
- Anderson v. Beatrice Foods Index and copies of every pleading filed in the Woburn suit, maintained by Florida State University College of Law
