Class Action

Legal Action (original title: Class Action) is a 1991 film about the world of law firms and the courts of justice. It was a film directed by Michael Apted and starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Plot

Jebediah Tucker Ward (Gene Hackman, voiced by Gerardo Reyero) is an idealistic lawyer married to Estelle Ward who handles the case of a man whose health has been permanently impaired as a result of a car accident due to a mistake. manufacturing of his car belonging to the automobile company Argo Motors. Ward claims a heavy compensation from the manufacturer of that car. When the trial is about to start, it turns out that the lawyer defending the automobile company is his own daughter Maggie (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, voice of Laura Ayala), from whom he has been estranged for a long time due to improper conduct that he did in another time.

Then Estelle dies and both of them, who loved her, have to unravel their past about it. At the same time Maggie finds out that the manufacturer actually made this manufacturing flaw and that they knew about it through one of their experts, Pavel, and that they did nothing about it for a while because of the replacement costs involved, which ranged to be greater than the losses caused by possible legal action by those affected. She further finds out that her superior is also involved in it and that she also misadvised the manufacturer about it and ultimately gave him the case in an attempt to intimidate Jed into not pursuing the case.

He eventually finds out, that, to cover up what he did, his superior later destroyed the report that he also had to deliver to his father by court order along with other documents regarding the matter and that the others decide not to do anything about it for their own reasons, despite the illegality of the action, in their desire to win the case and thus avoid great losses in money and reputation. He also doesn't have her mother to get advice from her on the matter. She only has his father, who is suffering from the death of his mother.

Finally she, with the help of her father, acts against her superior by uncovering his crime. Since she also perjured himself about it, he also loses his license as a lawyer. They can't act against her because he doesn't publicly reveal what the others did in exchange for leaving things as they are. In this way, Jed wins the trial, also winning 100 million dollars along the way. All this event leads to her father being able to redeem himself for what he did in the past through his help in it and also leads to father and daughter finally reconciling.

Cast

• Gene Hackman - Jedediah Tucker Ward
• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - Maggie Ward
• Colin Friels - Michael Grazier
• Joanna Merlin - Estelle Ward
• Laurence Fishburne - Nick Holbrook
• Donald Moffat - Quinn
• Jan Rubes - Pavel
• Matt Clark: Judge Symes
• Fred Dalton Thompson - Dr. Getchell

Production

The film's soundtrack was composed by James Horner.