The Lawyer (film)
Encyclopedia
The Lawyer is a 1970 courtroom drama film loosely based on the Sam Sheppard
murder case, in which a physician
is charged with killing his wife following a highly-publicized and sloppy investigation. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie
and starred Barry Newman
as the energetic, opportunistic defense attorney Tony Petrocelli. The film is the source of the role Newman reprised in the TV series Petrocelli
.
A big case lands in his lap when he is asked to defend a young, prosperous physician who expects to be charged with the bludgeoning murder of his socialite wife.
Sam Sheppard
Dr. Samuel Holmes Sheppard was an American osteopathic physician and neurosurgeon, who was involved in an infamous and controversial murder trial. He was convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, in 1954, while residing in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Sheppard served...
murder case, in which a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
is charged with killing his wife following a highly-publicized and sloppy investigation. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie
Sidney J. Furie
Sidney J. Furie is a Canadian film director. Furie is perhaps best known for directing American Soldiers, The IPCRESS File, The Entity, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Lady Sings the Blues, The Boys, Gable and Lombard, Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York and the Iron Eagle films.Also...
and starred Barry Newman
Barry Newman
Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...
as the energetic, opportunistic defense attorney Tony Petrocelli. The film is the source of the role Newman reprised in the TV series Petrocelli
Petrocelli
Petrocelli is an American legal drama which ran for two seasons on NBC from September 11, 1974 to March 31, 1976.-Plot:Tony Petrocelli was an Italian-American Harvard-educated lawyer who grew up in South Boston and gave up the big money and frenetic pace of major-metropolitan life to practice in a...
.
Plot
Tony Petrocelli is a Harvard-educated attorney of Italian heritage who practices in an unidentified part of the American Southwest. He works (and drives) at a frenetic pace, not only because he is a zealous advocate for his defendants (which includes a regular run of drunks and other small-time criminal cases) but because of the vast distances of western prairie he must cross in order to meet clients, investigate his cases and make court appointments.A big case lands in his lap when he is asked to defend a young, prosperous physician who expects to be charged with the bludgeoning murder of his socialite wife.