The Paper Chase

Mr. Hart...

will you recite the facts

of Hawkins vs. McGee?

I do have your name right?

You are Mr. Hart?

Yes, my name is Hart.

You're not speaking

loud enough, Mr. Hart.

Will you speak up?

Yes, my name is Hart.

Mr. Hart, you're still

not speaking loud enough.

Will you stand?

Now that you're

on your feet, Mr. Hart...

maybe the class will be

able to understand you.

You are on your feet?

Yes, I'm on my feet.

Loudly, Mr. Hart.

Fill this room with

your intelligence.

Now, will you give us

the facts of the case?

I haven't read the case.

Class assignments

for the first day...

are posted on

the bulletin boards...

in Langdell

and Austin Halls.

You must have

known that.

No.

You assumed this first class

would be a lecture...

an introduction

to the course.

Yes, sir.

Never assume anything

in my classroom.

Mr. Hart, I will myself give

you the facts of the case.

Hawkins vs. McGee

is a case in contract law...

the subject of our study.

The boy burned his hand by

touching an electric wire.

A doctor who was anxious to

experiment in skin grafting...

asked to operate on the hand...

guaranteeing that

he would restore it 100%.

He took a piece of skin

from the boy's chest...

and grafted it onto

the unfortunate boy's hand.

The operation failed

to produce a healthy hand.

Instead it produced

a hairy hand.

A hand not only burned...

but covered with

dense, matted hair.

Mr. Hart...

what damages do you think

the doctor should pay?

What did the doctor promise?

There was a promise

to fix the hand...

back to the way it was

before it was burned.

And the result

of the operation?

The hand was much worse than

before he went to the doctor.

How should the court

measure the damages?

What should the doctor

pay the boy?

The doctor should...

The doctor should pay

for what he did...

and he should pay

for the difference...

between what the boy had...

a burned hand...

and what the doctor

gave him, a...

a burned and hairy hand?

Mr. Pruit.

That's just

the screamer, men.

Screams every Friday and Sunday

night at exactly 12:00.

It's all right.

Nobody's ever seen him.

Not that I know of.

It's my third year now, and he's

been screaming since I came.

Right at the stroke of 12:00.

Story is it was Kingsfield.

Kingsfield drove him mad.

He's driven a lot of lawyers

mad over the 40 years...

since he's

been teaching here.

I just heard he ripped up

a one-L this morning...

so bad that the guy

lost his breakfast.

That's true.

That was me.

Hardly

a propitious start.

Well, let's see,

I guess I covered...

everything I'm supposed

to tell you about the dorm.

There's no cooking.

No hot plates.

There's intramural

football and basketball...

if you have the time.

Where's the pool?

It's across the square

behind Holyoke Center.

You a swimmer?

No. Just relaxes me.

There's one more thing.

All that stuff

about grades is true.

You gotta work

like hell. No kidding.

Nobody jokes

about grades.

Try getting a job

without them.

It's stacked against you if

you don't have the grades.

Don't think you're made

'cause you go to Harvard.

Maybe I better

start studying then.

That's it. Study.

If there's any law around

the dorm, that's it.

That's the main rule.

Remember, I'm here to answer

your questions, so just ask.

And I'm the only third-year

student you can trust...

so talk to me.

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Right. So long.

My name's Ford.

I'm across the hall.

I knocked, but

you didn't hear me.

Hi. My name's Hart.

I came to ask you

to join my study group.

What's a study group?

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