Civil Action (1998)

"The best film of the year!  CNN
"The best legal thriller ever!  USA Today
"A gripping film!  The New York Times

Editor's Note 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.

	Dan Hedaya
	James Gandolfini
	John Lithgow
	John Travolta
	Kathleen Quinlan
	Robert Duvall
	Stephen Fry
	Tony Shalhoub
	William H. Macy
	Zeljko Ivanek
	Jonathan Harr - Based on Novel By
	Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer
	Steven Zaillian - Director
	Conrad L. Hall - Director of Photography
	Wayne Wahrman - Editor
	Steven Zaillian - Executive Producer
	David Wisnievitz - Executive Producer
	Danny Elfman - Musical Score
	Henry J. Golas - Producer
	Rachel Pfeffer - Producer
	Robert Redford - Producer
	Scott Rudin - Producer
	David McGiffert - Producer
	David Gropman - Production Designer
	Steven Zaillian - Screenplay

Rolling Stone
"...A CIVIL ACTION is a whale of a tale about justice gone wrong..." 01/21/1999 p.84

Sight and Sound
"...A CIVIL ACTION has a lightness of touch uncharacteristic of the genre..." 03/??/1999 p.39-40

USA Today
"...The case itself remains a grabber..." 12/24/1998 p.4D

New York Times
"...[A] gripping, expertly acted film....It tells a finely nuanced tale of right, wrong and the gray area in between..." 12/25/1998 p.E1

Box Office
"...Elegantly stylized and crisply edited, the film also features a host of fine performances....[With] excellent work from composer Danny Elfman..." 02/01/1999 p.58

Chicago Sun-Times
"...A CIVIL ACTION is like John Grisham for grownups....[The film is] about the gulf between skill and justice..." 01/18/1999 p.28

San Francisco Chronicle 0 of 10
A Civil Action is about a case involving a leukemia cluster in a small town. Kids are getting sick and dying, and the residents hire a hotshot lawyer to represent them against a pair of giant corporations that have turned the town's drinking water into a carcinogenic punch bowl. That might sound like the premise for a tight legal thriller, but A Civil Action is based on a real-life case, and real-life cases aren't tidy. In place of the tension, climax and easy resolution of the old Perry Mason show, A Civil Action offers murkiness, bitter successes and frustration. Earnest documentaries on PBS specialize in those kinds of tales, but somehow writer-director Steven Zaillian finds a pulse here. He makes A Civil Action into a character study. It becomes a moral journey that happens to be set against a legal background. - Mick LaSalle