University of Virginia Library

Wahoos Cop Out

About the time the second beer
can hit the stage, I figured that this
was going to be one hell of a movie
and I might as well sit back and dig
the audience reactions which, I was
sure, were going to be just as
interesting as the film. As cheers
greeted the opening credits, I
relaxed in anticipation of the
experience. Alas, my expectations
were all for naught. The film began
and spontaneity was supplanted by
sedateness. The Wahoos had let me
down.

In all fairness, however, I must
say that they were not to blame.
"The Lawyer" is not bad enough to

warrant a joyous barrage of catcalls
and wisecracks. However, it is not
good enough to licit interested
concentration either. Consequently
the previously boisterous audience
could only relapse into the shady
area of mild interest.

The film may be categorized as a
courtroom drama for indeed a large
part of its action takes place in such
surroundings. However, the legal
proceedings contain anything but
drama, serving mainly as a stage for
the cute histrionics of the brotherly
lawyers. Both of the advocates
prove to be occasionally entertaining
but more often than not, their
sly humor becomes irritating and
the viewer impatiently waits for a
solution which never comes.

I found myself dreading the
moment when one of the witnesses
would break down and confess, a la
Perry Mason. The director, Sidney
J. Fure, mercifully spares us in this
respect but how successful is his
own ambiguous twist? I think the
lawyer's alternative story convinces
the audience of the "real" criminal's
guilt and consequently we feel
robbed when the case remain
unsolved. The director has chosen
the lesser of two evils, but in so
doing has not cased our curiosity.
No doubt, unsolvable cases exist
but why pretend that this one is
unfathomable?