The Lawyer (1970)

A Harvard educated Italian-American attorney (Barry Newman) practices law in a small Southwestern town where he's resented by the prejudiced locals. When he takes on the defense of a rich physician (Robert Colbert) accused of murdering his wife (Mary Wilcox), he has an uphill battle. Directed by Sidney J. Furie (THE IPCRESS FILE). Despite it's graphic violence and nudity, the film plays out a TV movie of the week. Indeed, it spawned a TV series named PETROCELLI (the name of Newman's character) also starring Barry Newman that had a two year run from 1974 to 1976 so the theatrical film seems like a TV pilot. The film's murder trial is based on the notorious Sam Sheppard murder case in 1954. If you're partial to courtroom dramas and whodunits as I am, there's enough here to hold your attention. The acting never rises above adequate and sometimes less than that. There are two awful performances that I found hard to watch: Harold Gould as the prosecuting attorney can't seem to get a grasp on his character so he continually pops candy into his mouth hoping that will define his character and then there's Jeff Thompson whose non stop grinning made him look mentally defective. With Diana Muldaur, Kathleen Crowley, William Sylvester, Michael Murphy and Ken Swofford.