The Paper Chase (film)

All you want to know about The Paper Chase (film)

For other uses, see Paper Chase.
The Paper Chase
Directed by James Bridges
Written by James Bridges
Starring Timothy Bottoms,
Lindsay Wagner,
John Houseman
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Gordon Willis
Editing by Walter Thompson
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s) 16 October 1973
Running time 111 min.
Country USA
Language English

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.

Contents

Cast

Plot

Expecting only the basic pressures of attending Harvard Law School, a serious, hard-working student named Hart (Timothy Bottoms) a recent graduate of the University of 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 initial (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.[1]

Locations

The hotel scene was filmed at the Windsor Arms Hotel.

References

  1. ^ IMDB Trivia

External links

v • d • e
Films directed by James Bridges

The Baby Maker (1970) • The Paper Chase (1973) • The China Syndrome (1979) • Urban Cowboy (1980) • Mike's Murder (1984) • Perfect (1985) • Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
This 1970s drama film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paper_Chase_(film)"

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