Class Action (film)

Class Action
Class Action
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Apted
Written by	Carolyn Shelby; Christopher Ames; Samantha Shad
Produced by	Ted Field; Scott Kroopf; Robert W. Cort
Starring	Gene Hackman; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio;
Cinematography	Conrad Hall
Edited by	Ian Crafford
Music by	James Horner
Production; company	Interscope Communications
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 15, 1991;
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$28,277,918

Class Action is a 1991 American legal drama film directed by Michael Apted. Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio star; Larry Fishburne, Colin Friels, Fred Dalton Thompson, and Donald Moffat are also featured. The film was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.^[2]

Plot[edit]

The story is about a lawsuit concerning injuries caused by a defective automobile. The suit takes on a personal dimension because the injured plaintiff's attorney, Jedediah Tucker Ward, discovers that the automobile manufacturer's attorney is his estranged daughter, Maggie Ward.

Jedediah Ward is a liberal civil rights lawyer who has based his career on helping people avoid being taken for a ride by the rich and powerful; he's pursued principle at the expense of profit, though he has a bad habit of not following up on his clients after their cases are settled.

Jed's daughter, Maggie, has had a bad relationship with her father ever since she discovered that he was cheating on her mother, Estelle, and while she also has made a career in law, she has taken a very different professional route by working for a high-powered corporate law firm and has adopted a self-interested political agenda.

Jed is hired to help field a lawsuit against ARGO, a major auto manufacturer, whose Meridian station wagons have a dangerous propensity to explode on impact when the left turn signal light is activated. While his research indicates that he has an all but airtight case against them, the case becomes more complicated for him when he discovers that Maggie is representing the firm he's suing.

Cast[edit]

Gene Hackman as Jedediah Tucker Ward
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maggie Ward
Colin Friels as Michael Grazier
Joanna Merlin as Estelle Ward
Laurence Fishburne as Nick Holbrook (credited as Larry Fishburne)
Donald Moffat as Quinn
Jan Rubes as Pavel
Matt Clark as Judge Symes
Fred Dalton Thompson as Dr. Getchell
Jonathan Silverman as Brian

Production notes[edit]

The central premise of the film is roughly analogous to the controversy surrounding the Ford Pinto and its fuel tank design. A 1977 article in Mother Jones alleged Ford was aware of the design flaw, refused to pay for a redesign, and decided it would be cheaper to pay off possible lawsuits. The magazine obtained a cost-benefit analysis that it said Ford had used to compare the cost of repairs (Ford estimated the cost to be $11 per car) against the cost of settlements for deaths, injuries, and vehicle burnouts. The memo in question was actually prepared by Ford in response to a NHTSA request for comment, it reviewed not Ford but the entire new car market and was not used to make product decisions at Ford.^[3]^[4] The document became known as the Ford Pinto Memo.^[5]

Locations[edit]

Scenes of the film were shot in the restaurant of the Beach Chalet in Ocean Beach, San Francisco and show historic 1930s murals of San Francisco life by Lucien Labaudt.

Reception[edit]

Class Action opened at #4 in its opening weekend with $4,207,923 and ended with a domestic gross of $24,277,858; a worldwide total of $28,277,918 was made and the film was a moderate box office success.^[1]

The film received generally positive reviews. It holds a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 26 critics.^[6] On Metacritic, it has a score of 58 out of 100 based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[7]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Class Action at Box Office Mojo
^ "17th Moscow International Film Festival (1991)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
^ Lee, Matthew T; Ermann, M. David (Feb 1999). "Pinto "Madness" as a Flawed Landmark Narrative: An Organizational and Network Analysis". Social Problems. 46 (1): 30–47. doi:10.1525/sp.1999.46.1.03x0240f.
^ Schwartz, Gary T. (1991). "The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case" (PDF). Rutgers Law Review. 43: 1013–1068.
^ "1971 Ford Pinto - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time". Time. September 7, 2007. Archived from the original on September 14, 2007.
^ Class Action at Rotten Tomatoes
^ Class Action at Metacritic

External links[edit]

Class Action at IMDb
Class Action at AllMovie
Class Action at the TCM Movie Database
Class Action at the American Film Institute Catalog
Class Action at Box Office Mojo
Class Action at Rotten Tomatoes
Class Action at Metacritic
Interview with Producer Robert Cort and writers Carolyn Shelby and Christopher Ames on the film's 20th anniversary at Abnormal Use

[boxofficemojo-1] Class Action at Box Office Mojo

[Moscow1991-2] "17th Moscow International Film Festival (1991)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2013-03-03.

[LeeErmann-3] Lee, Matthew T; Ermann, M. David (Feb 1999). "Pinto "Madness" as a Flawed Landmark Narrative: An Organizational and Network Analysis". Social Problems. 46 (1): 30–47. doi:10.1525/sp.1999.46.1.03x0240f.

[Schwartz-4] Schwartz, Gary T. (1991). "The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case" (PDF). Rutgers Law Review. 43: 1013–1068.

[50worst-5] "1971 Ford Pinto - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time". Time. September 7, 2007. Archived from the original on September 14, 2007.

[6] Class Action at Rotten Tomatoes

[7] Class Action at Metacritic

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