A Civil Action

Directed by Schindler's List screenwriter Steve Zaillian, this courtroom drama is based on a true story and non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr. The case revolves around an incident in 1979 in East Woburn, MA, where two drinking wells supplying water to the town were found to be contaminated with ...more

A respectable adaptation of a rather stuffy story, Steven Zaillian's account of a man who fought the law and the law won is never a bulls-eye, but has too many solid components to be written off as a misfire. Chief among them are John Travolta, sharp and nuanced as the head counsel, and especially Robert Duvall, who gives every scene he's in real bite. The storytelling is muddled at times, and the pacing is sometimes too lethargic, but Zaillian knows his way around the territory, and Conrad L. ...more