SYNOPSIS
A father and daughter, both attorneys, are on opposite sides in the courtroom. He’s on the prosecuting side and she’s for the defence. As father and daughter they become divided, and as attorneys, endangered by the truth. Gene Hackman plays Jedediah Tucker Ward an esteemed trial attorney who has built his reputation defending the underdog against the huge, impenetrable corporate power structure. His lawyer daughter Maggie, (Mastrantonio) has more conventional aims–namely becoming a partner in San Francisco’s largest corporate law firm. Jedediah believes that his daughter is selling out by working as a corporate attorney, but Maggie sees her father’s defence of the “common man” as an excuse for self-aggrandisement on the job and negligence at home. The festering antagonism between the two comes to a head when they meet in the courtroom for a class action suit against an American car manufacturer, where Maggie represents the car company and Jedediah represents the people.
