Not the kind of courtroom drama where a blinding revelation and a surprise witness save the day.

Based on a real-life lawsuit after people were harmed by contaminated water, this centres on a small-time lawyer, Jan (John Travolta), who became obsessed with the case and blind to the dangers it presented.

The plaintiffs are after an apology rather than money. Jan, however, is intent on winning the maximum compensation and, declining a possible chance to settle for $50million, determines to take the case down to the wire.

He has the lawyer for one of the two firms implicated, but the other (Robert Duvall) is more wily. 'You've been around long enough,' he warns Jan, 'to know a court of law is not the place to look for the truth.'

The case gets down and dirty sometimes, but things begin to bite when Travolta and his associates face mounting debts and the possibility of defeat. Duvall wins the acting battle too and was nominated for an Oscar.