THE PAPER CHASE

year: 1974
cast: Timothy Bottoms, John Houseman
rating: **1/2

Any scenes involving Timothy Bottoms and fellow law students in a big lecture hall dealing with strict professor John Houseman (who won an Oscar), is terrific. And scenes with Bottoms and pals in the claustrophobic dorm, working to keep sane in a study group despite the progressing angst derived from their classroom experience, are okay. But when Lindsay Wagner is introduced way too quick (and easy) as a love interest, things go by the wayside: the banal dialog overriding what's really important, and what this film should have dealt with entirely: a battle of wits between the young students and the aged professor. Everything else leads the witness to a daytime soap, and not a very good one.