A Civil Action on DVD (1998)

Average rating: 66%

from 228 members

6 Critics reviews
9 Members reviews

Starring:	John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Stephen Fry, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya, Zeljko Ivanek, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lafayette, Clayton Landey, John Lithgow, Jay Patterson, Michael Byrne, Mary Mara, Sydney Pollack, Ned Eisenberg, Daniel Von Barge
Director:	Steve Zaillain
Studio:	PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	110 mins
Certificate:
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Dubbed:	Czech, German, Hungarian
Hearing-impaired:	English
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish
Released:	06/11/2000

Brief synopsis of A Civil Action

Jan Schlichtmann, a tenacious young lawyer, is confronted with the litigation of a lifetime in this unbelievable real-life story. Several families in the small town of Woburn, Massachusetts, have suffered the tragic losses of their children to the rare cancer known as leukemia. After having their claim rejected by most law firms in town, these citizens approach Schlichtmann with the possibility that the deaths of their children may have had to do with Woburn's drinking water supply being contaminated by a couple of local businesses. The rub lies in the fact that these businesses are offshoots of two of the most powerful national corporations in the country! Schlichtmann must push his skill and craftiness as a lawyer to the limit in order to oust his opponents, who are working with a limitless bankroll. Based on the great fact-based novel.

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Critics Reviews

Radio Times

John Travolta stars in this fact-based legal drama, playing an ambulance-chasing attorney who takes on potentially lucrative cases so he can settle out of court and collect his cut. Writer/director Steven Zaillian proved his talent for bringing emotionally rich drama to the screen with his Oscar-winning script for Schindler's List and his excellent chess prodigy drama Innocent Moves. Travolta's miraculous metamorphosis from cynical manipulator to self-destructive righter of wrongs may be a little hard to swallow (even if the events did actually happen), but there are classy performances all round, topped with a brilliant turn from Robert Duvall as Travolta's level-headed legal opponent.

Rating of 2
stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Engrossing, muted drama, taken from a true story, that is as much concerned with the cost of the awakening of an individual's social conscience as the case itself.

Time Out

Steven Zaillian scripted Schindler's List, and wrote and directed Searching for Bobby Fischer. His follow-up is a legal... Read more on www.timeout.com

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A Civil Action on DVD (1998)

Brief synopsis of A Civil Action

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