A good, solid court-room yarn, full of enough incidental humour to lighten the drama, and old-fashioned in all but the language. Streisand gives her best-balanced dramatic performance to date as the high-class, mid thirties hooker who has withdrawn to such an extent after killing one of her clients that the authorities are convinced she is mentally unfit to plead and should be put away. Enter her knight in shining armour (Richard Dreyfuss) in the shape of a pugnacious legal-aid lawyer (she has broken her previous lawyer's nose) who is determined to root out some causes. Before long, in traditional Hollywood style, skeletons are not only out of cupboards but cascading all over the court-room floor. Director Ritt has a few problems keeping it going at a lively enough pace, but a veteran cast has seen this kind of thing on the Perry Mason show and has the know-how to bring through to an emotional conclusion.

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