Editing ...And Justice for All (film) (section)

==Reception==
''...And Justice for All'' scores 78% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]], 58/100 on [[Metacritic]] and 23/30 on [[Zagat]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=...And Justice for All |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/and_justice_for_all/ |access-date=September 28, 2024 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]}}</ref><ref>[https://www.metacritic.com/movie/and-justice-for-all/ ...And Justice For All]. Metacritic.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Zagat |title=Zagat: The World's Best Movies... To Make Sure You Have Seen before Your Popcorn Runs Out |year=2010 |publisher=Zagat Survey |pages=4, 37|isbn=9781604783230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtqQouXZq6EC |access-date=2013-12-13}}</ref> ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine calls it a "solid but slightly clichéd courtroom drama" and rates it 3 stars out of 5.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=And Justice For All: Solid but slightly cliched courtroom drama starring Al Pacino |url=http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=130061 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014153627/https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=130061 |archive-date=October 14, 2013 |access-date=May 10, 2022 |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire Online]] }}</ref>

The film was a box-office success. Produced on a modest budget of $4 million, it grossed more than $33.3 million in North America, making it the [[1979 in film|24th highest-grossing film of 1979]].<ref name="the numbers"/>

[[Robert Osborne]] of ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' raved, "The film is loaded with virtues...it has all the makings of an enormously popular movie."<ref name=RO>Osborne, Robert. "And Justice for all." ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''. September 17, 1979. 2.</ref>

Roger Regent, a French critic, called it one of the most remarkable and important films of the season.<ref name="RR">Regent, Roger. “LE CINEMA.” La Nouvelle Revue Des Deux Mondes, 1980, pp. 222–29.</ref>

Dewey E. Chester of the ''[[New Pittsburgh Courier]]'' drew parallels to the [[Watergate scandal]] and the recent arrest of [[David S. Hayes|a state politician]] on a sodomy charge.<ref>Chester, Dewey E. "Pacino at His Best in '...and Justice for all': CINEMA." ''[[New Pittsburgh Courier]]''. Nov 17, 1979. A7.</ref>

According to ''[[Newsday]]'', most critics did not like the film.<ref name="NM">Mills, Nancy. "Pacino: The Most Silent Actor Since Valentino. Al Pacino's Eloquent Silence", Newsday. October 28, 1979. B1.</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' felt that the film was so overstuffed that it was an "anthology" held together by "one of those high-voltage Al Pacino performances that's so sure of itself we hesitate to demur." He concluded, "The closing courtroom scenes are constructed as a machine to make the audience cheer, and the machine works."<ref>Ebert, Roger. "[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/-and-justice-for-all-1979 ... and Justice for All]". ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. January 1, 1979.</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the general hysteria of the actors as if they had been directed to play "the last act of ''[[Three Men on a Horse]]''". He calls Pacino's character "a hyperventilating idiot" and speculates that everyone in the film has "such low thresholds of emotional distress that I wouldn't trust one of them to see '[[The Sound of Music (film)|The Sound of Music]]' unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian."<ref>Canby, Vincent. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/19/archives/screen-al-pacino-in-and-justice-for-allsorts-of-breakdowns.html Screen: Al Pacino in '...and Justice for All': Sorts of Breakdowns]". ''[[The New York Times]]''. October 19, 1979.</ref>

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said that the film's blend of comedy and drama was unsuccessful but not incompetent.<ref>"[https://variety.com/1978/film/reviews/and-justice-for-all-1200424563/ ...And Justice For All]", ''Variety''. December 31, 1978.</ref>

One critic mused that it was as "commercial as a 60-second [[K-tel]] ad and as utterly devoid of substance as a lawyer's opening statement."<ref>Kiely, John. "Toronto Film Festival Honors Hometown Boy", ''[[Waterloo Region Record|Kitchener-Waterloo Record]]''. September 15, 1979. 62.</ref>

''[[The Jewish Advocate]]'' compared the film unfavorably to ''[[The Hospital]]'' for its inability to match [[Paddy Chayefsky]]'s mordant screenplay. The reviewer described the ending as "a bad ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' television show".<ref>Markell, Cecille. "And No Justice for Al Pacino", ''Jewish Advocate''. December 6, 1979. A9.</ref>

''[[The Boston Globe]]'' lamented the film's inability to be a legal version of ''[[Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22]]'' and faulted the director. "'...And Justice For All' spills its potential drama all over the screen and Jewison never stops to clean up the mess."<ref>Blowen, Michael. "Pacino can't rescue 'Justice For All'", ''Boston Globe''. October 20, 1979.</ref>

The film has been read as a commentary on the outsider status of [[Jews]] in the [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants|WASP]]-dominated judicial system.<ref>Helfgott, Leonard M. “Crossing Over: Class, Race, and Ethnicity in the Baltimore Films of Barry Levinson.” ''Wealth and Poverty in Jewish Tradition'', edited by Leonard J. Greenspoon, Purdue University Press, 2015. 249.</ref> 

[[William Schoell]] pointed to Kirkland's reaction to Agee's suicide as one of the "strongest scenes Pacino has ever played", and gives the actor credit for "triumphing over an impossible script".<ref>Schoell, William (2016). ''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Al_Pacino/D3MHDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover Al Pacino: In Films and on Stage]'', 2d Ed. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. 52–4.</ref> Brian W. Fairbanks also called the film's screenplay "overly contrived".<ref>{{cite book |year=2007 |edition=2nd |first=Brian W. |last=Fairbanks |title=The Late Show: Writings on Film |chapter=Profiles: Al Pacino |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O6qFB-SU9tAC|page=230 |publisher=[[Lulu.com]] |isbn=9781411633902 |access-date=2013-12-13 }}</ref>

The film received two Academy Award nominations. Al Pacino was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]], and [[Valerie Curtin]] and [[Barry Levinson]] were nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1980 Academy Awards |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1980 |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=www.oscars.org |date=March 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Pacino was also nominated for a [[Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe]] for his performance.<ref name="imdb awards">{{Cite web |title=And Justice for All |url=https://goldenglobes.com/film/and-justice-for-all/ |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=Golden Globes |language=en-US}}</ref>