The Lawyer is a 1970 American courtroom drama film loosely based on the Sam Sheppard murder case in which a physician is charged with killing his wife following a highly publicized and sloppy investigation. The film was directed by Sidney J. Furie and stars Barry Newman as the energetic, opportunistic defense attorney Tony Petrocelli and Diana Muldaur as his wife Ruth Petrocelli.,
The film is the source of the role that Newman reprised in the television series Petrocelli.
Plot
Tony Petrocelli is a Harvard-educated attorney of Italian heritage who practices in an unidentified part of the American Southwest. He works (and drives) at a frenetic pace, not only because he is a zealous advocate for his defendants (mostly drunks and other small-time criminal cases) but also because of the vast distances of western prairie that he must cross in order to meet clients, investigate his cases and make court appointments.
A major case lands in his lap when he is asked to defend a young, prosperous physician who expects to be charged with the bludgeoning murder of his socialite wife.
Cast
Barry Newman as Tony Petrocelli
Harold Gould as Eric P. Scott
Diana Muldaur as Ruth Petrocelli
Robert Colbert as Jack Harrison
Kathleen Crowley as Alice Fiske
Warren J. Kemmerling as Sergeant Moran (as Warren Kemmerling) Booth Colman as Judge Crawford Ken Swofford as Charlie O'Keefe E. J. André as F.J. Williamson William Sylvester as Paul Harrison Jeffery V. Thompson as Andy Greer (as Jeff Thompson) Tom Harvey as Bob Chambers Ivor Barry as Wyler Melendy Britt as Ann Greer John Himes as Myro McCauley Ralph Thomas as Mike Peterson Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Wilma Harrison (as Mary Wilcox) Gene O'Donnell as Judge Swackhammer Walter Mathews as Mr. Andre Ray Ballard as Mr. Canon James McEachin as Striker Robert L. Poyner as J.C. Hornby Michael Murphy as Intern in Legal Office (uncredited)