I refer to the 1973 film, about first-year Harvard Law students, starring Timothy Bottoms, John Houseman, Lindsey Wagner, James Naughton, and Edward Herrmann, among others. A great film, and one which holds a great emotional importance to any law student of the past 35 years. They are all so pompous, self-importance, self-absorbed. And not that intelligent, despite all their protestations to the contrary.
John Houseman, as the fearsome Professor Kingsfield, is probably the most terrifying predator of modern film history. He makes Jason, Freddie Krueger, and the shark from Jaws seem like a bunch of pussies. There's one scene in particular, where he has a law student (played by James Naughton) on the ropes, and he's about to eviscerate him, when another student distracts him from the kill. He gives Naughton a look as he turns to the other student, a look that says "I'm going to melt the flesh from this pathetic loser, and then I'm going to return to you and eat your beating heart while you watch...don't go anywhere." It's absolutely chilling.
Lindsey Wagner, as the love interest and Kingsfield's daughter, is ethereal. She's got timeless beauty, the kind that should have transcended her role as The Bionic Woman.
If you haven't seen this gem of a film, get thee to your local video store with all due haste. If you have seen it but not recently, see it again.
Good book too!
ReplyDeleteAnd then there was the TV series that I used to watch as a tiny Karmafish.
ReplyDeleteI was never able to get through watching it. I naturally identified with the horror of first year, particularly K, but I just couldn't watch the entire thing.
ReplyDeleteThen you've missed the classic scene near the end where Hart tries to pass on answering a question, and Kingsfield calls him up to the front, hands him a dime, and tells him to call his mother and tell her he's unlikely to have a career in the law.
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