Customer Reviews

The Paper Chase [VHS]

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I always warned students at the beginning of each year that I had screened "The Paper Chase" once again and was interested in using the Socratic method to spin the little tumblers of their minds. Certainly this was the film that made me want to curb my innate desire to stand up in the classroom and pontificate on every subject under the sun.

Ostensibly the film is about the pressures of first year students at Harvard Law School, but since most of us do not want to become lawyers, know any lawyers, have any dealings with lawyers or even watch television programs with lawyers, "The Paper Chase" ultimately succeeds as a film about wanting to learn and learning to think. At the heart of the film is James Hart (Timothy Bottoms), come from Minnesota to learn at the feet of the great Professor Charles Kingsfield. Despite some painful moments of confrontation in the classroom with his would be mentor-my favorite: "Mr. Hart, here is a dime. Take it, call your mother, and tell her there is serious doubt about you ever becoming a lawyer"-Hart finds he can play the game and play it well. Having given his mind over to Kingsfield, the question then becomes whether his heart and soul will follow as well. The other members of his study group (which includes Edward Herrmann and James Naughton), make different choices and take different paths in order to survive the year. By the end of the film Hart is more alone than he was at the beginning.

As Kingsfield, John Houseman is the powerful center of the film. A producer and drama teacher for almost half a century, Houseman won the 1973 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and began a new career as an actor in films and a pitchman in television commercials (however, this was not Houseman's first film, since I know he played an admiral in the political thriller "Seven Days in May"). Indeed, Houseman went on to play the Kingsfield character in the ambitious television versions of the movie. However, it is important to note that those who knew Houseman as a producer or teacher were always quick to point out that he really was acting in "The Paper Chase." There might be Harvard professors fighting over the honor of being the real Kingfield, but Houseman was indeed just doing a role.

As the autocratic master of his domain, Kingsfield is very much the antithesis of the traditional dedicated teacher usually presented in films about school, a point driven home in the film's final meeting between Hart and Kingsfield. If there is a happy ending in this film, it is achieved by Hart's character on a personal, almost private level.

The original novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr. was brought to the film my director James Bridges, who also did the screenplay. Although the sub-plot where Hart discovers the young woman of his affections (Lindsay Wagner) is in fact (gasp!) Kingsfield's daughter is decidedly contrived, overall the film is an intelligent and thoughtful piece. If you are a teacher, or are thinking about becoming a teacher, "The Paper Chase" is just as much recommended viewing as the more conventional fare as such classics as "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "To Sir, With Love," "Up the Down Staircase," or more contemporary efforts such as "Songs of the Heart."

Well... I DID take this class -- Contract Law -- and I took it at Harvard Law School. The class was not ~exactly~ like the one presented in the film, but my Harvard experience was pretty much like the film.

I saw the film in the theatre, originally, weeks before I started classes at Harvard and it was as if Kingsfield directed his questions into the audience and I wanted to dive under the theatre seat. Obviously I had not read the cases. "Hawkins versus McGee" may have been the first case, but I defy anyone to find "Carbolic Smoke Ball" in their editions of West's casebook on Contracts.

My own study group was pretty much like the one shown in the film, except there were women in ours, so "The Paper Chase" is pretty much of a "buddy film" in that women play pretty much of the support role -- Kingsfield's daughter and the ever suffering Ashley who is disarming in her performance as she hands Hart the firearm her husband nearly uses on himself.

Yet, these guys are very real and the movie captured the men of my first year study group, except for the effete Bell who they would have chomped down for breakfast -- better that they had Tom Cruise from "The Firm" add even more colour to the colourless first year students than Bell, "as in liberty Bell."

Yet for its dated 1970's sexist subplots and sometimes silly characters, John Housman manages to hold it all together as the quintessential Harvard professor -- and don't get me wrong -- these grand old men are still alive and well and walk those halls working on those of us student who come into those classes with our "skulls full of mush."

To this day I am deeply moved when Kingsfield describes his "little questions" spinning the tumblers of our minds and in so doing how this process led us to learn how to teach ourselves.

Dated, quaint, and sometimes silly, this film never fails to move me to near tears and a recollection of what those magic years at Harvard were all about and what the process of learning, not just passing an exam, was all about.

I found myself compelled to write this review for a number of reasons: (1) I graduated from law school (although not Harvard), (2) My mother and James Bridges were childhood friends, (3) I've been an admirer of John Houseman's work for as long as I can remember, and finally (4) I've watched this movie several times and like it.

Timothy Bottoms stars as James Hart, a midwestern boy literally dumped into his first year of Harvard Law School. John Houseman is Professor William Kingsfield, a curmudgeonly contract law professor about whom Hart has ambivalent feelings of dread and admiration. Lindsay Wagner is Kingsfield's daughter, with whom Hart is having a relationship.

This picture brought the so-called Socratic method of instruction into the light of day and doubtlessly inspired many professors of subjects other than the law. It no doubt also inspired many impressionable young men to consider a career in the law (as it did me). But the reason to really enjoy this movie is neither of those...it's Houseman's electrifying performance that netted him an Academy Award for best supporting actor. This film also stands as a testament to the short but spectacular directorial career of the late James Bridges, who went on to direct "The China Syndrome" and "Urban Cowboy" among several other films.

It should also be remembered that this picture inspired a short-lived CBS television series of the same name in which Houseman reprised the Kingsfield role. The show spawned the careers of, among others, Jon Lovitz of Saturday Night Live fame and Jane Kaczmarek (of the TV series "Malcolm in the Middle") and after its rather short-sighted cancellation by CBS was picked by Showtime, who ordered new episides, giving the series another five years of life until discontinued in 1984.

Did this picture have an impact? Absolutely. Was it good? You bet! And to James Bridges, wherever you are "thanks for the career advice...and hello from my mom!"

I just watched this movie again, 20 years after I first saw it. I was in law school (not Harvard!) when it was released and I also had a Professor Kingsfield-type for contracts. The types of students, the competition, the panic about grades and exams, it's all here. I've asked some newer lawyers, and the majority said that it still reflects their law school experience. There may be some schools out there that are different, but I still think that anyone thinking of a legal career should watch this movie. One of the messages for Lawyer Wannabees is that even brilliant people may not have minds suitable to succeed in the law (Timothy Bottoms comments that a friend was really smart and wanted to go to Harvard Law but didn't do as well on the LSATs...lawyers all know someone similar, and can tell you about people who got into law school and then either fail on the curve or drop out -- there's a lot more to getting a J.D. than just being smart enough to get into a law school). Surprisingly, the age of the movie doesn't get in the way of the messages described so well in the other reviews. If I didn't know it was released in 1973, it would still appear pretty current (except for typewriters instead of computers and no cell phones!). No funky 60 cars, the clothes are pretty much back in style, and there are even similar hairstyles in my kids' high school and colleges today. Definitely recommended.

This movie is a must own, and a must watch for both prospective, current, and past law school attendees. Other than the truly corny love story, it is pretty pathetic, the law school related scenes are eerily realistic. Kingsfield is the exemplar of the tough, old-school, Socratic method law professor, and every law student should be familiar with his style. The only question I have about this movie is, when is it coming out on DVD?

Having attended Law School myself, I can vouch for the fact that it is typically a very special experience in one's life, perhaps not quite like any other. The first year of law school in particular is often a jarring and transformative experience. This is the theme of this film, which is a quite good, if perhaps slightly overdone, story about a small group of law students' first year in law school. Law school is shown to be a ruthless process of competition and weeding out, where the professors take students who have "a skull full of mush ...." and teach them how to "think like a lawyer...!"

John Houseman turns in a classic performance as Professor Kingsfield, the brilliant, stern, and unforgiving Contracts professor, whom law student Timothy Bottoms comes to idolize. Bottoms' attempt to succeed in Kingsfield's brutal Contracts classroom, where students are put on the spot and roasted on a daily basis, is the basic theme of this film.

Although (typical of so many Hollywood films) this film overdramatizes the law school experience, it nevertheless does capture the essence of what is usually a unique experience for those who undergo it. I doubt that there is an American law school student for the last 30 years who has failed to see this film--it is a legend among law students. And the wider American audience seems to have appreciated it as well.

An excellent film that most viewers will appreciate.

John Houseman was part of the entertainment world for decades, working with such heavyweights as Orsen Welles, but perhaps popularly he will be best remembered for his portrayal of Professor Kingsfield, a conservative, dour Contract Law professor at Harvard Law School, who, for all his professionalism and singleness of purpose, lets a bit of humanity creep out from beneath the surface. Houseman won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.

Timothy Bottoms played Hart, the idealistic young 1-L (first year law student) who comes to Harvard from the midwest primarily because of his fascination with Kingsfield. He forms friendships and relationship with a circle of friends, each of whom is eccentric, driven, and slightly certifiable (which fits most of the law students I've known). His problems increase as he meets and begins a relationship with Kingsfield's daughter (played by Lindsay Wagner).

This movie provided the inspiration for a television series, which followed some of the same characters from the film, in necessarily a different time-frame and different situations. Houseman reprised his role in this, and became a 'star' by this vehicle.

My favourite scene in the film has to be (being the bibiophile that I am) the time Hart breaks into the closed stacks in the library (which contain the personal papers of the professors) to look for Kingsfield's early work, including his original notes from when he was a student in Contracts. Hart's reflection on Kingsfield's philosophical musings ('Can one make a binding contract with God?' Kingsfield had written) almost convinced me to go to law school in America (and indeed, I took the LSAT and did well).

Houseman found the role of Kingsfield a double-edged sword, that, while fueling his stardom and exposure, also obscured the real person behind the role. He became typecast. Even when he went on speaking tours (coming once to my university to speak before a standing-room-only crowd at the auditorium) his Kingsfield routine was what the audience wanted; they tended to drift away as he spoke about his own life, and that was sad.

Make a contract with yourself to see this excellent film, and, should the series be repeated on cable, check that out too. You'll be glad you did, or your money back (contract void wherever prohibited).

AS I said Chase this Paper down, it is worth it if you love great films!

This small film won actor/producer John Houseman his best supporting Oscar for his playing the character of Professor Kingsfield. I start off with that fact because you can see this fact while the film unfolds before you. This movie is John Houseman tout de force all the way. Kingsfield plays a teacher's teacher..he runs the students thru their paces.

Timothy Bottoms plays Hart, a young law student who is dazed by all the excitement of his first year. He meets Susan ( who isa played by a very young, prew-Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner) who Hart finds out is Kingsfield's daughter.

It is an amazing character study of the first year of law school and those who teach them. Note this film also has the talents of James Naughton and Edward Herrmann in their early tv/film careers.

Worth every second of film. It barely date himself, and it was released in 1973

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

I saw this movie as an undergraduate and found it even more resonant when I got into graduate school. Although I did not study law, this movie will feel all too real for someone in an intensive post-undergraduate program. The life of the post-Bachelor's individual is truly terrifying. It's not for the weak of heart. The Paper Chase captures the world of academic stress wonderfully. All the issues are represented here: Do I have time to date? If I do, will a lover understand the need to pull an all-nighter on the weekend to finish a paper? Do my professors really expect me to finish this reading? For the serious student, life is far more like the Paper Chase than Back to School or Animal House. It's lonely, hard work, and your girlfriend will hate you sometimes for ignoring her so you can hit the books. And your professors will sometimes leave you twisting in the wind if you can't carry your own weight. Some grad school advisors are indeed like Kingsfield, thus the Houseman character is not a myth. John Houseman gets most of the good lines in this movie, but not all. Take the student lines like "Nothing makes you hornier than studying" or the exchange between Hart (I found it funny that even Hart's girlfrend calls him by his last name) and the failing Kevin that goes (I'm paraphrasing here), Hart: "They're just grades, Kevin." Kevin: "You know better than that. It's a grade, it's a number, but it determines futures." Paper Chase is at times painful to watch, as Hart endures flak on all sides--from his girlfriend to Kingsfield to his "supportive" study group. Hart does well because he's the classic good college student: an ambitious overachiever. He isn't the smartest necessarily, but he cares the most. But in the end, Kingsfield shows that no one ever will get inside his head. The struggle between professor and student is the heart of education. No college film treats colleges as honestly or intelligently as the Paper Chase. Watch it on the same bill with one of the slob college movies. Animal House is for the heathen in us. Paper Chase is for the Puritan.

I am an older student who just finished my first year of law school. The film is right on when it depicts the battle for your soul--will you be master of your fate and choose to do the work, or will you be driven by fear and insecurity and be enslaved to it? I experienced a little of both, and I do not want to spoil the film by revealing more to any who are trying to decide whether to buy or rent it. I heartily recommend it to anyone struggling with a self-imposed challenge.

I would have wished that the film show more of the process of learning to "think like a lawyer" and what that actually means - turning the facts of the case over and over, looking for points to the advantage of either side, and weighing the relative strength of those arguments. However, I do commend the film for showing a little bit of the feeling I quite unexpectedly experienced of being part of a line going back to the Magna Carta, examining the value of a human being and her freedom and the needs of society and searching for the ever-evolving meaning of justice.

As for the relationship between Kingsfield and Hart--my main professor was nothing like Kingsfield, but I did experience something eerily similar, right down to the last scene.

One last aside-A previous reviewer noted the absence of the Carbolic Smoke Ball case from his edition of West--it is certainly in mine and is a very important case with regard to defining the law of a public offer.