At the risk of bankrupting his firm and career, lawyer Jan Schlichtman takes on a case involving two companies responsible for causing children to be diagnosed with leukemia due to the town'... Read allAt the risk of bankrupting his firm and career, lawyer Jan Schlichtman takes on a case involving two companies responsible for causing children to be diagnosed with leukemia due to the town's contaminated water supply.At the risk of bankrupting his firm and career, lawyer Jan Schlichtman takes on a case involving two companies responsible for causing children to be diagnosed with leukemia due to the town's contaminated water supply.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 5 wins & 10 nominations total
- Mr. Granger
- (as Daniel Von Bargen)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe real Jerome Facher was thrilled at the way he was portrayed by Robert Duvall.
- GoofsAl Eustis tells Jan he won't pay the amount of money to settle the lawsuit because once the amount is disclosed to the public, they'll file lawsuits as well. With all his years of experience in civil law, Jan should've known this is only an excuse because all contract settlement terms will remain confidential to any outside party, as the judge states at 1 hour and 30 minutes into the movie.
- Quotes
Jan Schlichtmann: [narrating] The odds of a plaintiff's lawyer winning in civil court are two to one against. Think about that for a second. Your odds of surviving a game of Russian roulette are better than winning a case at trial. 12 times better. So why does anyone do it? They don't. They settle. Out of the 780,000, only 12,000 or 11/2 percent ever reach a verdict. The whole idea of lawsuits is to settle, to compel the other side to settle. And you do that by spending more money than you should, which forces them to spend more money than they should, and whoever comes to their senses first loses. Trials are a corruption of the entire process and only fools who have something to prove end up ensnared in them. Now when I say prove, I don't mean about the case, I mean about themselves.
- Crazy creditsThe producers wish to thank the people of Boston, Waltham, Northbridge, Charlestown, Dedham, Brimfield and Palmer, MA.
- Alternate versionsIn the North American prints, the 1985 Touchstone Pictures logo played first, followed by the 1995 version of the 1987 Paramount Pictures plays at the beginning. The international prints had the logos alternating with Paramount played first followed by Touchstone. The North American prints ending it with the Buena Vista Pictures Distribution disclaimer, followed by the closing version of the Paramount Pictures and Touchstone Pictures logos. The international prints meanwhile had also removing the Buena Vista references and it goes directly to the closing version of Touchstone Pictures and Paramount Pictures logos.
- SoundtracksHard Workin' Man
Written by Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder, Paul Schrader
Performed by Don Van Vliet (as Captain Beefheart)
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Special Markets
"Slow-moving" = ...no car chases.
"poor acting" = ...no karate chops
"too long" = ...longer than a music video
"dull" = ...See "Slow-moving"
"A Civil Action" was a fine book, and the film does it justice. No, it's not perfect, but it is emotionally moving, and faithful to the non-fiction account of the case.
Some of the heart-rending short scenes featuring parents of the child-victims (the father at the deposition; the parents trying to revive the dying child in the car) were absolute masterpieces. There should be special Academy Awards available for brief scenes of this kind that are too "small" for Best Supporting Actor awards, but are, in themselves, worthy of acclaim.
- toenails
- Jan 30, 1999
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $75,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $56,709,981
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $70,079
- Dec 27, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $56,709,981
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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