I challenge you to come up with a film with a worse courtroom scene than "Career Woman" at its opening. It begins in a courtroom and a defense attorney's theatrics and tricks manage to get the case against his client dismissed. But it's handled in the most ham-handed and ridiculous manner...so much so that I doubt if even Ed Wood Jr. Could have done this scene worse! It was so bad, my wife begged me to watch a different film...but with a few very positive reviews for "Career Woman" I decided to keep watching. I am apparently a glutton for punishment!
Fortunately, despite this hellishly bad beginning, the story then centers on a young lady watching this stupid trial. Carroll (Claire Trevor) is a new law school graduate and after the verdict, she leaves the courtroom and is going to go back to her childhood home in upstate New York. The sleazy lawyer in the opening scene tries to get her to stay and be with him, but she manages to leave the lecher behind and heads home.
Once home, you can see that this small town is not a particularly nice one. This becomes evident when Gracie accidentally kills her father when he is beating her. It clearly is a case of self-defense...but the wagging tongues in the community seem inclined to believe the worst of Gracie. And, in this climate, can Carroll possibly win the case when she defends this poor woman?
While the basic plot in this film is pretty interesting, the director and writers were apparently lemurs. Too many scenes are way overacted and the dialog stinks and watching the film was a chore. While I love old movies, this one is poor even for a B-movie.
