First Monday in October is a 1981 American film based on the play of the same name

First Monday in October

First Monday in October is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The title refers to the day on which the United States Supreme Court traditionally convenes following its summer recess....

 by Jerome Lawrence

Jerome Lawrence

Jerome Lawrence was an American playwright and author.-Life and career:Lawrence was born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Sarah , a poet, and Samuel Schwartz, a printer. He worked for several small newspapers as a reporter/editor before moving into radio as a writer for CBS....

 and Robert E. Lee

Robert Edwin Lee

Robert Edwin Lee was an American playwright and lyricist. With his writing partner, Jerome Lawrence, Lee worked for Armed Forces Radio during World War II; Lawrence and Lee became the most prolific writing partnership in radio, with such long-running series as Favorite Story among others.-Life and...

, and directed by Ronald Neame

Ronald Neame

Ronald Elwin Neame CBE, BSC was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early career:...

. Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...

 and Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.-Personal life:...

 (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical) performed the principal roles.

In her review, Janet Maslin noted several narrative discontinuities in the film, as well as the casting of James Stephens

James Stephens (actor)

James Stephens is an American television and film actor best known as James T. Hart in the television series The Paper Chase .-Biography:...

 in a role very similar to his role in the television series The Paper Chase

The Paper Chase (TV series)

The Paper Chase is a television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr., as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart and his classmates at Harvard Law School.-Production:...

.

The film was destined for a February 1982 release; President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

's appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...

 as the first female Supreme Court justice on July 7, 1981 forced the film's release a month after the presidential nomination.

Plot

At the start of the story, the death of Associate Justice Stanley Moorehead has created a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. The new appointee turns out to be Ruth Loomis, a staunch conservative, who is confirmed as the first female US Supreme Court Justice. She and Associate Justice Daniel Snow, a committed liberal and many years older than Loomis, clash intellectually on just about every judicial issue before them. One case involves a pornographic film and arguments about freedom of speech. With time, the two characters develop a liking and respect for each other.

Cast

• Walter Matthau
  Walter Matthau
  Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
  
   (Associate Justice Daniel Snow)
• Jill Clayburgh
  Jill Clayburgh
  Jill Clayburgh was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.-Personal life:...
  
   (Judge, later Associate Justice, Ruth Loomis)
• Barnard Hughes
  Barnard Hughes
  Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...
  
   (Chief Justice James Jefferson Crawford)
• Jan Sterling
  Jan Sterling
  Jan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
  
   (Christine Snow)
• James Stephens
  James Stephens (actor)
  James Stephens is an American television and film actor best known as James T. Hart in the television series The Paper Chase .-Biography:...
  
   (Mason Woods)
• Joshua Bryant (Bill Russell)
• Wiley Harker (Associate Justice Harold Webb)
• F.J. O'Neil (Associate Justice Waldo Thompson)
• Charles Lampkin (Associate Justice Josiah Clewes)
• Lew Palter (Associate Justice Benjamin Halperin)
• Richard McMurray (Associate Justice Richard Carey)
• Herb Vigran (Associate Justice Ambrose Quincy)