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A Civil Action is a drama film which was directed by Steven Zaillian, that stars John Travolta and Robert Duvall, and that is based on the book by Jonathan Harr.The families of children who died sue two companies for dumping toxic waste: a tort so expensive to prove...
24 July 1965, Brooklyn, New York, USA
24 July 1940, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
22 August 1954, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
1 January 1964, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
19 October 1945, Rochester, New York, USA
9 October 1953, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
21 February 1958, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
13 March 1950, Miami, Florida, USA
13 January 1957, New York City, New York, USA
23 October 1961, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
26 November 1942, Queens, New York, USA
5 June 1950, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
18 February 1954, Englewood, New Jersey, USA
12 March 1949, Chicago, Illinois, USA
24 September 1953, Chicago, Illinois, USA
18 May 1976
November 22, 2009
This is a case in which the material really is better served in book form.
February 14, 2001
As proficient a job as writer-director Steve Zaillian and his team do, A Civil Action has unmistakably unraveled by its close.
January 01, 2000
Schlichtmann may have gone through this conversion in real life, but I just didn't buy it the way Zaillian presents it.
June 01, 2006
Based on a true story, this is an intelligent legal thriller, very much in the mode of 1970s issue-oriented films, that may be too subtle and complex for the damands of today's market.
January 01, 2000
I'm all for films that don't flow from the usual Hollywood test tubes, but A Civil Action is basically the standard formula with a dash of downbeat.
April 09, 2005
I expected a harder hitting indictment against the uncaring power of corporate America. Instead, we get a middlin' courtroom drama that lacks the intensity of such films as the 1982 Sidney Lumet/Paul Newman film, The Verdict.
February 28, 2005
the film is slightly overlong and the ending is anti-cathartic.
December 06, 2005
While Travolta is passable as Schlichtmann, it is the outstanding work from Duvall, Macy and briefly Tony Shalhoub that drive the story.
July 30, 2007
The movie becomes one more David-and-Goliath morality play.
February 05, 2005
... hints at the complex moral issues that vein the story.
February 09, 2006
Delivering the verdict two thirds into the movie is anti-climactic, while Schlichtmann's belated atonement feels beside the point.
January 01, 2000
A slick, shameless job that takes way too long to make its point (namely, we need the EPA).
