The Paper Chase: Season One
by Ralph Senensky
List Price:
Our Price: $24.29
You Save: $25.66 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: James Keane, James Stephens, John Houseman, Tom FitzsimmonsDirector: Ralph Senensky
Brand: Vivendi Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1080 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-07
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Model: SF11214
Studio: Shout Factory
Product features:
- PAPER CHASE, THE - SEASON 1 (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of The Paper Chase: Season One
DVD Review: Mostly great 1st season of an outstanding series!
Summary: 5 Stars
Many thanks and cheers to Shout Factory for a long-overdue release of this fantastic series! I've loved "The Paper Chase" since I first saw the series as a teenager in the late `70s and unlike most shows from that era, it holds up remarkably well today. This is due primarily to strong ensemble acting, intelligent writing (for the most part), and of course John Houseman's signature role as tyrannical law professor Charles W. Kingsfield.
Even if you're discovering the series for the first time on this DVD set, it's easy to see why it has remained so highly regarded for the last 30 years. It was written and developed by James Bridges (director of the original film) and John Jay Osborn Jr. (author of the original novel), so it retains the tone of the movie. James Stephens as Minnesotan farm boy James Hart is a much more focused and empathetic character than the one played by Timothy Bottoms in the original film. He's initially naïve, but ingenious enough to overcome his first stumbling encounters with his idol Kingsfield in a way that earns the professor's respect and watchful eye for the rest of the year.
The other four key members of Hart's study group are well cast as very different personalities that click strongly as a team. The best episodes of the season are those that feature all five working as a team, but any combination of the characters is equally well played: Tom Fitzsimmons as privileged Franklin Ford III, who has to live up to the reputation of generations of lawyers in his family; James Keane as Willis Bell, who looks like the stereotypical "lovable lug/mascot" but who is very sharp and dedicated; Robert Ginty as Tom Anderson, the laid-back California type who's sometimes his own worst enemy; and Francine Tacker as Elizabeth Logan, the passionate and outspoken radical. You can actually get a pretty good snapshot of their characters in the opening credits montage. The five make a strong group that is respected by their class and admired by Kingsfield.
For the first half of the season, the last member of the study group is Jonathan Segal as Jonathan Brooks, a married student who has to struggle much harder than the others to keep up with Kingsfield. Brooks is a much weaker character overall, but his final episode where he crashes and burns ("An Act of Desperation") is one of the best of the season. Brooks' wife Asheley, though in the opening credits for the first 13 episodes, only appears in 2 or 3 episodes.
Because the main five student characters are so strong, the episodes that center on them are the best. The season stumbles when the focus shifts to the "guest law student of the week," whose conflict usually reflects some hot-button issue or social concern (the student whose studies are affecting his marriage; the mob boss' daughter (!) who falls for Hart; the handicapped student; the minority student who must fight to prove herself, etc.) And of course, we never again see these "guest students" before or after their showcase episodes, when logically we should be seeing them in the background during every classroom scene. Thankfully there are only a handful of these episodes; I guess the writers had to fill 22 episodes somehow. When the show returned for The Second Year and The Third Year on Showtime, there was far more emphasis on law school life and the main characters.
For the Showtime episodes, only Stevens, Fitzsimmons and Keane return from the student roster. It's never explained what happened to the characters of Anderson and Logan (though Anderson is name-checked in the series finale, "Graduation"), creating a huge unaddressed question in the series as a whole. Neither character would have just left after one year. In that sense, this First Season is the best of the three because even with a fair share of lesser quality episodes, it still has the chemistry of the entire study group.
The writers also deftly manage to humanize Kingsfield without weakening the character - letting us occasionally see the "man behind the curtain" that never takes anything away from the complete authority with which he rules the students and the entire university. This is a testament to Houseman, who was always concerned about maintaining the integrity of the character.
This is evident in the season's big clunker episode, "A Case of Détente." Here, Hart falls for a visiting Russian gymnast (Huh?) and nearly causes an international incident. Houseman reportedly hated this script so much he refused to appear in it, so they had to bring in Pernell Roberts (a few months prior to "Trapper John, M.D.") as a visiting professor. Roberts is good, but the episode is terrible!
Many obvious changes were made after the pilot episode, all for the better. In the pilot, the students are too button-down; Anderson and Bell are way too intense; and Logan isn't there - the female character, played by a different actress, is the prim O'Connor. Logan is a much stronger character. Hart doesn't work in Ernie's Tavern yet, but in a more stereotypical pizza parlor (with a pre-"Taxi" Marilu Henner as a waitress). The tavern has more character, and is more appropriate for the Harvard-esque setting of the series, so that's a good change too.
The season's half-dozen best episodes are:
Scavenger Hunt - The class is assigned a make-or-break final exercise that pits all the study groups against each other.
The Clay-Footed Idol - While researching an old case, Hart's group finds indications that a young Kingsfield might have been paid off to throw the case.
Moot Court - Bell and an overly disciplined "guest student of the week" face Hart and Logan in the annual Moot Court competition.
The Seating Chart - Bell and Hart are accidentally locked in Kingsfield's office closet over a long weekend when Bell tries to replace his goofy picture on the seating chart.
An Act of Desperation - A desperate Jonathan buys the question for Kingsfield's upcoming midterm, putting the rest of the unwitting study group in the position of having cheated too.
The Tables Down at Ernie's - Hart is pitted against Kingsfield when the study group tries to prevent the demolition of Ernie's Tavern.
I almost decided to go to law school just because of this series. Back then, and even more so today, it was great to have a TV series that focused on people devoted to the pursuit of excellence in ANYTHING, without cynicism or selfish motivations...and one that showed how amazing it would be to have someone like Kingsfield in your life who epitomizes everything you admire and want to strive for.
Please go out and buy this great series, whether for nostalgia's sake or even if you've never seen it. If you like it, e-mail Shout Factory and let them know, so they can see that there's enough support to release the rest of the series.
Description of The Paper Chase: Season One
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 04/07/2009Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Paper Chaseby John Jay Osborn Jr
Whitston Publishing Co Inc; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $92.95
Law & Order: Trial by Jury - The Complete SeriesUniversal Studios; Release date: 2006-04-25; DVD
Best price: $4.72
Price in other shops:
St. Elsewhere - Season 1Fox; Release date: 2006-11-28; DVD
Best price: $14.15
Price in other shops:
Under the HammerAcorn; Release date: 2011-06-21; DVD
Best price: $29.78
Price in other shops:
Hill Street Blues - Season 1Fox; Release date: 2006-01-31; DVD
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops:
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law Schoolby Scott Turow
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 1997-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.62
Price in other shops:
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law Schoolby Scott Turow
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2010-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.24
Price in other shops:
Rich Man, Poor Man: The Complete CollectionA&E; Release date: 2010-09-28; DVD
Best price: $32.99
Price in other shops:
The Paper Chase: Season TwoUniversal Studios; Release date: 2009-12-15; DVD
Best price: $24.96
Price in other shops:
The Paper ChaseTCFHE; Release date: 2003-06-03; DVD
Best price: $4.39
Price in other shops: