In America, there are only a handful of prestigious school which when mentioned, acquire the status of sacred centers of learning. Harvard Law school is one of those. In this film a young, naive, Midwestern, farm boy, James T. Hart, (Timothy Bottoms) enters with all the expectations of a wide-eyed innocent opening a present. His goal is to eventually graduate with all the honors associated with the prestigious school. But like running directly into a plate glass window, Hart discovers that acquiring said distinction is to be had only with diligence, hard work and a successful Socratic encounter with a no-nonsense professor, one, Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman who is superior in this role) To his credit, Hart accepts his quick losses with a determination, never to repeat his mistakes. Along the way, he meets Susan, (Lindsay Wagner) a major distraction, and unbeknown to him the professor's daughter. The film is quite interesting while in the arena of legalities and with a troublesome study group. However, his romantic interludes serve only to obstruct his personal ambitions to get his life "organized." Graham Beckel plays Franklin Ford III, Kevin Brooks is James Naughton and Edward Herrmann is Thomas Craig Anderson, all members of his circle of learning. A good film depicting academic life on the grounds of Harvard. ****
Review of The Paper Chase
