That was a bad ending (spoilers)

I just watched the movie for the first time and thought it was almost perfect for the genre & time.
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1. I think we can chalk this up to a typical Hollywood fault. You need a romance of some sort. Maybe since she had done 3 movies w/ Burt Reynolds in 3 years this was a chance to break that bond in the public eye so.

2. Regarding the DA, Gallagher(Newman) didnt really know the DA's role in pushing him in the first place. Either the DA was responsible and deserved it or he knew about it and did nothing to stop it and therefore deserved it. He did the latter and let an innocent man get smeared. All of this lead to Teresa's suicide. Everybody but Gallagher and Teresa were guilty as far I'm concerned. Regarding Saly Fields character, he said he knew someone in the press would get hold of the fake story. I think he really wanted her to stay out of it so that afterwards they could salvaged whatever it was that they had together.

3. Technically PN did nothing illegal, why should he get in trouble. DA's are essentially politicians. Quinn was appointed by the President and then doubly disgraced. His disgrace tarnishes the President eventually.

4. Rosen first tries to force an innocent man to become a governemnt informant, which was where all this trouble began. Then he illegally orders the tapping of of a Presidential appointee and the innocent man. He deserved to be fired. You can bet the FBI guy got a a serious spanking but illegal wiretaps happen all the time and Wilfords character knows that. PLus he probably understood the he was another person caught up in the B.S. that Rosen started.

5. Wilfords character wanted all this wrapped up neatly and quickly. Putting her in jail would just extend the dilemma. And I doubt she gets the editting job she was offered. She loses the guy , loses the Editing job, and she probably is cut back to crap coverage which gives her more time to sit around and think about what a mistake she made.

All in all this is typical of many older movies. The studios want everyone to feel good about life so they add a little sugar coating. Thats why I don't mind remakes. The sugar coating is usually the first thing that goes. If this were made today. Gallagher and Teresa would have been involved, making her death more tragic, We would see Carter disgraced and Gallghers plan would backfire with his 'uncle' believing he is snitch leading to him sharing a grave with Diaz. Full circle, Roll credits.

None of it makes sense. A Miami D.A. is NOT appointed by the President. A U.S. Attorney is, but he is called the D.A. in the film.

It is a STAR vehicle. The press criticized the film vociferously for its lack of fidelity.

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In response to weejogs: The reasons Gallagher turned around and kept company with Megan was that he was conning her in order to get back at everybody involved in both the irresponsible investigation and the newspaper's vile and cruel exposé that resulted in Melinda's suicide. So not only wasn't it far fetched a possibility, it made complete sense and the hidden motives were handled with so much expertise as to fool even you. I do agree with you however as to the paper thin motivations and actions of Sally Field. As to the DA, his mea culpa was in heading an investigation based on innuendo, personal bias and lack of evidence. He didn't have to commit a crime per se, just occupy the government's offices with false allegations and misleading and incompetent failure in its duties. The ending not only made complete sense, but it was rather nice to see Gallagher get even with the politicians Quinn and Rosen at work with their typical unfounded raisons d'être that many in that office involve themselves in.
The real villain that needed more comeuppance was Sally Fields' boss, McAdam. It was his insistence and persistence that led to the irresponsible report on the Melinda's abortion. It's funny that McAdam was the only one left unscathed when his involvement was the most heinous and cruel. But I guess reality's like that - the wrong people receive the bulk of the blame and punishment while others whose involvements are less prosecutable receive little to no recompense whatsoever..

As to comment one, I would like to have seen the Paul Newman character tell the Sally Field character exactly what he thought of her, her lack of ethics and her profession in general rather than extremely lame "Maybe we will see each other later". The character had already shown himself to be clever and adept, far too clever to seemingly become interested in the woman who had done a great deal of damage to his life.

1. Simple, they were attracted to one another. After his initial violent reaction to Theresa's suicide, he realized that it happened because both women were trying to help him in their own inept ways. Theresa sought out Meg and told told her the story, and Meg wrote it to help clear Gallagher. She did wrestle with including the abortion information in the article, but her editor convinced her that it was the only aspect of the story that made it believable.

Blaming Meg entirely for what happened was wrong, and Gallagher admits that when he goes to her apartment to give her a new blouse and says in effect "I took it all out on you...it isn't that simple. That's not an apology, I just want to set the record straight." He knew Theresa was unstable and fragile and that Meg could not have foreseen what happened.

Later, when Meg sends him the preview of her article exonerating him from the front page of the paper (which she most likely pushed for), not buried in the back, he had decided to put it behind them. That's why he is waiting for her outside her apartment that night.

2. The D.A. was not innocent. He allowed Rosen to continue his smear campaign against Gallagher out of ambition. He didn't call off the investigation because it was wrong, he only did it because Gallagher agreed to give him what he wanted directly, so he could cut Rosen out of the loop and take all the credit for solving the Diaz case. The only way to ensnare Rosen was to give him a new target. In both cases, Gallagher simply played on their blind ambition and let them hang themselves.

He walked out on Meg because she showed no faith in him and refused to stop being a reporter with him. He said to her, "You want to know the truth? Ask me as a person, I'll tell you...Ask me as a reporter, I got no comment." Even later, when she asks him, "Who are you?" he is taken aback and says "You mean you aren't sure yet?" she says "No". At this point he knows she is onto the story. She could have told him what she knew, and he most likely would have told her what he was up to. Someone else could have written the story, but she wouldn't do that. He asked her to take him on faith and she refused.

3. Gallagher wasn't incriminated at all. He hadn't done anything other than give two anonymous donations to an action committee. But he did it because he knew the FBI and Rosen were watching him, that they would find out, and would jump to the conclusion that he was laundering a payoff to the DA through the committee. But the DA had no idea he gave money to the committee, and Gallagher never accused him of knowing. That was the point of his "Prove it" statement to Rosen. He gave Rosen the rope to hang himself and he did.

However, the DA had been accused in the news of taking a bribe. Even though he would be "officially" cleared, much of the public still wouldn't believe it. He was now damaged goods ("You got a hell of a publicity problem"), and of no use as a DA anymore.

4. We don't know he wasn't. Wells told him he would talk to him shortly. But he was basically a decent guy, and watching him get fired wasn't as satisfying as seeing Rosen get the axe. He was really the malicious force behind the whole mess. Did you really need to actually see the FBI guy get fired too?

5. She didn't have a happy ending. The fact that she became part of the story and had been used as a dupe to push false stories damaged her reputation, and probably that of her editor.

It was clear that Wells wasn't going to try to put her in jail once the meeting had ended, so why would she be worried about it?

1. Gallagher seduced Carter. He did this deliberately, to get further leverage on her, and to make it look like he was sleeping with her in exchange for a sympathetic article.
2. The State Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is a Presidentially-appointed position of a federal jurisdiction. He is as guilty as Rosen, in that he allowed Rosen's bogus investigation of Gallagher to continue ('I should have shut you down earlier, Elliot... I'm shutting you down now.'). He foolishly entered into an exclusive arrangement with Gallagher, to protect his own ass, and get solo credit for the Diaz investigation.
3. The State Attorney's reputation is destroyed. He was being wire-tapped by his own people, for Christ's sakes! AAG Wells was only suggesting he resign... but it's a good suggestion. As for Gallagher, what evidence? It's all circumstantial, and further investigation would only further damage the federal law offices. Absence of malice works both ways.
4. Rosen gets fired because he's an amoral a-hole who forgot the rules. Who says his investigators don't get the boot as well? Wadell looks plenty worried in his final scenes; after all he's done, if I were him I'd be worried, too.
5. I'm pretty sure she has no future as a journalist in Miami, her specific fate is simply unimportant to the narrative. Like she said to Gallagher, 'You got us all.'; as Gallagher replies, 'You got yourselves.'.
'Goofy' and 'ridiculous' are characters in Disney animations; as descriptors of dramas they are quite useless. The film ends with at least five lives ruined, one ended outright, a union official still missing (and presumed dead), and the Federal Attorney's office in shambles. I don't think anyone is laughing, do you?