The Paper Chase (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Paper Chase


image_size =
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director = James Bridges
producer =
writer = James Bridges
narrator =
starring = Timothy Bottoms,
Lindsay Wagner,
John Houseman
music = John Williams
cinematography = Gordon Willis
editing = Walter Thompson
distributor = Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
released = 16 October 1973
runtime = 111 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0070509

The Paper Chase is a 1973 film starring Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, and John Houseman and directed by James Bridges. Based on John Jay Osborn, Jr.'s 1970 novel, "The Paper Chase", the film tells the story of Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard Law School, and his experiences with Professor Charles Kingsfield (played by John Houseman), the brilliant, demanding contracts instructor whom he both idolizes and finds incredibly intimidating.

Cast

* Timothy Bottoms as James T. Hart
* Lindsay Wagner as Susan Field
* John Houseman as Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.
* Graham Beckel as Franklin Ford III
* James Naughton as Kevin Brooks
* Edward Herrmann as Thomas Craig Anderson
* Craig Richard Nelson as Willis Bell
* Robert Lydiard as O'Connor (as Bob Lydiard)
* Lenny Baker as William Moss, Tutor
* David Clennon as Toombs
* Regina Baff as Asheley Brooks
* Irma Hurley as Mrs. Weasal
* Bill Moher as Philip
* Blair Brown as Miss Farranti
* Richard Whelan as Pruit

Plot

Expecting only the basic pressures of attending Harvard Law School, a serious, hard-working student named Hart (Timothy Bottoms) from Minnesota, finds himself the fearful adversary of the school's most imperious, sarcastic Contract Law professor, Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr. (John Houseman). Their relationship grows even more complex when the young man discovers that the woman he is dating is the professor's daughter (Lindsay Wagner). Edward Herrmann and James Naughton co-star as other law students. The film is an extremely faithful adaptation of the novel, but it adds to revelations not in the book: Hart's first name and middle inital (James T.), and the final grade that Hart got in Contract Law: an A (in both the novel and the film, Hart makes a paper airplane out of his final report card, and sends it sailing into the Atlantic Ocean without looking at it; in the film, a scene shows Kingsfield grading Hart's paper and awarding him an A).

Casting

John Houseman was cast as Professor Kingsfield only after director James Bridges tried and failed to interest James Mason, Edward G. Robinson, Melvyn Douglas, Sir John Gielgud, and Paul Scofield. Although Houseman had appeared in a small but important role in Seven Days in May, he had previously been known primarily as a radio (The Mercury Theatre of the Air; 1938's 'The War of the Worlds'), stage (Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre) and film ('Julius Caesar') producer, and this was his first major film role. It won him the 1973 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070509/trivia IMDB Trivia] ]

Locations

The hotel scene was filmed at the Windsor Arms Hotel.

References

External links

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