At the end of the film Manion and his wife move away...leaving his lawyer unpaid.
But Manion is in the army, so how is it possible for him to just move away. At least, how could he move so far away that he couldn't be billed by the lawyer.
Does anyone know if the novel ended the same way?
"Does anyone know if the novel ended the same way?"
Hhhhhmmmmmm? I read the novel WAAAAAAAAAAYYY back in 1967, while I was on a family vacation to Florida. I believe the book ended the same way, with Paul Biegler getting shafted by Lt. Manion. At any rate, Biegler moved on to probating Barney Quill's estate. He was retained by Mary Pilant.
"You can't HANDLE the truth!" Jack Nicholson, "A Few Good Men."
As far as getting shafted on getting his bill payed, that part is not realistic at all. Most likely the Army would have had someone in the courtroom at all times to make sure that their officer was getting a fair trial. Also all Biegler would have had to do was notify the Lt.'s commander that the Lt. had not paid the bill and his pay could have been docked until the bill was fully paid. They never mentioned if Manion was sent to another base, went on leave, or went AWOL right after the trial. The military does not like it's members not paying their legal obligations, and will, if need be, separate individuals who fail to do so. Of course they get as much money out of them before the actual separation. I was in the Air Force for 24 years and have seen it happen.
shareYou're TOO literal. When a book (or movie) comes to the part called, "The End," well, that's ALL, folks! Let it remain in YOUR head!
"You can't HANDLE the truth!" Jack Nicholson, "A Few Good Men."
The novel did end with Manion and his wife taking off and leaving Paul unpaid. He could have sued for his money and gotten it out of the Army, but he decided not to. Paul wanted to win a big criminal case and get a lot of publicity for his private practice, so he felt that in a sense he had gotten what he wanted out of Manion. And Manion was such an unpleasant character he probably would be miserable for the rest of his life, so he would have some punishment for not doing the right thing about his bill.
http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/
One of the many things I find impressive about this movie is its willingness to take a sympathetic protagonist and fully commit to his big achievement, hard earned throughout the film, being to get an unlikeable slimeball off on a murder rap. And then not to get any comeuppance, but for the protagonist to benefit from the publicity.
Even more amazing that the writer of the book was a Michigan Supreme Court justice.
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Well, it was based on a real trial that the author was the defender in.
shareI read the book several years ago and, oddly enough, can't remember much about the ending. I do remember that Mrs. Manion was a more reserved character than portrayed in the movie and, I think, older. I've heard that Lana Turner was an early choice and could actually see her playing the book's Mrs. Manion. Another difference was that more was made of the relationship between the lawyer and the Mary Palante character. As I recall, he essentially fell in love with her in the novel.
shareIIRC, at one point while the 2 were trying to figure out how to come up with a legal defense, he told Biegler that he was pretty much broke and that he would have to take his chances with a court appointed attorney. Biegler replies:
"I think I'll hang around and make sure you're not convicted .." or something close to that.No doubt that the couple intentionally avoided Biegler and got the hell outta town ASAP - the least they could have done was stopped by Bieglers to say 'good bye' but
they instead got out of town obviously avoiding him in the process.
Also. after the trial was over and Biegler and Parn were heading to the couples trailer Biegler says to Parn:
'Well I got one good thing outta this case - a new law partner ...' Note that this quip came before they got to the empty lot.
It sounded to me that he wasn't expecting much but no doubt yes, he was hoping to get something out of the case - after all, it was a murder trial. So, I'm not saying he
didn't expect to get paid but I do think he had already decided:
"If I get payed I get paid, if I don't I don't..." Its not every day a small town lawyer gets a 'big murder trial'. If a small town musician gets a one night shot at playing Carnegie Hall but the pay check never comes ... well, there are some things in life that money just can't buy.
He possibly could, but the movie implies that he won’t. He has a new, sober law partner; and he’s about to help Barney’s daughter with her estate legal paperwork. So business is looking good, a big contrast with the opening when all he did was go fishing
So he could pursue the Ltd for the money. But I get the sense that he doesn’t want to go through the trouble; nor does he feel that it is necessary when business is looking up.
Basically, our protagonist is ready to look ahead, not back. He’s moving on from the Ltd and his wife