The Hill (1965)

No, it has nothing to do with Capitol Hill or any other famous real hill. I chose this film partly because I hadn't seen any work of Sidney Lumet's in a while, especially his early work, and partly because I hadn't seen any Sean Connery in a while. Neither is known for much in the subgenre in question.

The setting is a British Army prison camp in the Libyan Desert in World War II. Soldiers who committed various offenses wind up here, and depending on the judgment of the staff sergeant on duty, they may have to run repeatedly over a manmade hill. The first half to two-thirds of the movie has little plot beyond the general conflict between guards and prisoners, but when one climber drops dead (as summaries keep mentioning before long), the rest get restless in their desire to make the harshest screw answer for it, and the authorities bicker over how to handle the potential riot.

The Verdict (1982)

On the rare occasions that I watch a movie again, I usually don't bother to review it here. But this was a still rarer occasion: I had basically no memory of it. Only the ending even remotely rang a bell. Good thing I remembered enjoying it years ago.

Frank Galvin (late-middle-aged Paul Newman), a discredited lawyer who spends more time on drinking and pinball than cases, finally gets a good opportunity via a friend (Jack Warden). A hospital has left a woman comatose, allegedly through an anesthetic procedure botched by negligence. Everyone, including Frank, expects him to accept on the family's behalf a pretty generous settlement; but after seeing the patient himself, he decides he'd rather try to expose their malpractice. This is not easy, because the doctors and their lawyers are far more renowned -- and can fight dirty.