"The Verdict" is Sidney Lumet's greatest film, an absolutely keen, sharply observed and absorbing character study of a troubled man who is ready to give up. It takes a lot for this drunk pathetic man, Frank Galvin (Paul Newman), to finally call it quits. He was once a prominent Boston lawyer who became an alcoholic ambulance chaser. The alcohol from day to day is all it takes for him keep living, not necessarily to keep living with any purpose. Frank frequents the same bar every day, has a beer with an egg in it and keeps moving, but to what end. It isn't clean living.
What is of paramount greatness in "The Verdict" is that the court case itself, which is a stunningly layered, fascinating case, could have been excised from the David Mamet script and just have focused on Frank Galvin. Frank's life is one of ruin, working out of a disheveled office with gray, scratched walls, an old burgundy red couch he can sleep on, and a desk with filing cabinets. His home life is not without discoloration or messiness - bars are on his windows, as if to keep himself shut out of life's miseries. Frank frequents a bar and plays the pinball machine and, in the opening title sequence, he is practically shrouded in darkness with the daylight barely illuminating him or the machine. An outside park is shown with few pedestrians (a similar shot later on where Frank is victorious at the pinball shows one person walking by). Director Sidney Lumet intended on having a Caravaggio-based, chiaroscuro look with a single source of light filling in the interior rooms such as the bar, the courtroom, etc. But whatever victory is in Frank's life involving the case of a comatose woman who was given the wrong anesthetic by two different doctors may be short-lived. Frank is a bit scared, a little unprepared for this case and rather than taking an enormous payout from the Archdiocese, he opts to go to trial and go up against the wealthy defending attorney Ed Concannon ("The Prince of Darkness" as played wonderfully and wittily by the great James Mason). Concannon plays tough, utilizing media and newspapers at his disposal along with a major research team of lawyers while Frank only has his former legal partner/mentor, Mickey Morrissey (absolutely brilliant and sympathetic work by Jack Warden) to help win the case. This dichotomy shows that finances have little regard when it comes to the little guy who can stand up for what is right. 
The ending can be seen for miles but it is not just a victory for Frank as an able lawyer again, it is a victory for him to rise above his liquor-drenched ashes and return to his former glory (his past was already tainted when he allegedly was involved with jury tampering). Frank is like a phoenix rising yet writer Mamet and director Lumet never stray from his alcohol-binging - a drink and a smoke at his favorite bar is his pastime. When he confronts the seductive Laura (Charlotte Rampling, alluring as a quietly effective femme fatale of sorts) who has an affair with Frank and he ends it (after finding out she works for Concannon) with physical violence, it is further proof that he is reawakened to how many lies there are in the search for justice - never trust anyone and that is his true redemption. Frank still believes in justice and we still believe he may have a drink in the future but he will try to remain sharp, hopefully avoiding funeral homes for potential clients. Justice may be blind but he's not.
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