The Paper Chase (film)
| The Paper Chase | |
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Theatrical poster.
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| Directed by | James Bridges |
| Produced by | Rodrick Paul Robert C. Thompson |
| Written by | James Bridges |
| Based on |
The Paper Chase 1971 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr. |
| Starring |
Timothy Bottoms Lindsay Wagner John Houseman |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
| Edited by | Walter Thompson |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3.6 million (rentals) |
The Paper Chase is a 1973 film starring Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, and John Houseman, directed by James Bridges.
Based on John Jay Osborn, Jr.'s 1971 novel, The Paper Chase, it tells the story of James Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard Law School, his experiences with Professor Charles Kingsfield (played by Houseman in an Academy Award-winning performance), a brilliant, demanding contract law instructor, and Hart's relationship with Kingsfield's daughter. Houseman later reprised his role in a TV series of the same name that lasted four seasons.
James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) starts his first year at Harvard Law School in a very bad way. In his contract law course with Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman), he assumes the first class will be an outline of the course. When Kingsfield immediately delves into the material using the Socratic method and asks Hart the first question, Hart is totally unprepared and feels so utterly humiliated that, after class, he throws up in the bathroom.
Hart is invited to join a study group with five other students:
While out getting pizza, Hart is asked by a woman, Susan Fields (Lindsay Wagner), to walk her home, due to her feeling uncomfortable with a man who had been following her. Hart returns to her house soon after and watches her from the sidewalk before knocking on the door and asking her on a date, after which they begin a relationship. Their relationship is complex; she resents the time he devotes to his studies, while he expects her to provide him with a great deal of attention and wants their relationship to have a firm commitment. When Hart and his classmates are invited to a cocktail party hosted by Kingsfield, he is stunned to discover that Susan is Kingsfield's married daughter. (She is, however, separated from her husband and eventually gets a divorce.) She and Hart break up and get back together several times.
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