First Monday in October

1981
AA
1h 38m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.

Play trailer2:58

2 Videos

12 Photos

Comedy Drama

For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 nominations total

Videos2

Trailer 2:58

Trailer

Clip 1:03

First Monday in October

Clip 1:03

First Monday in October

Photos12

+ 5

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The Justice Dan Snow character played by Walter Matthau is based on real-life Justice William O. Douglas, who was appointed to the Supreme Court at the age of 40. Douglas was one of the great liberals in High Court history who believed so nearly absolutely in the First Amendment protections of free speech that he did not attend screenings of pornographic films (a plot device in the movie) as he believed that the movies or any form of expression could not be censored under the U.S. Constitution. Thus, he did not need to see the film as he was going to automatically vote against censoring it.

Goofs
Justice Loomis views a pornographic film to decide it it has "redeeming social or artistic importance". This is an outdated standard for obscenity which was superseded by the so-called "Miller test" in 1973.

Quotes
Justice Dan Snow: She wants me to disqualify myself because I won't go down there and sit through that pile of crap?
Chief Justice Crawford: Uh, well, uh...
Justice Dan Snow: So its crap. What if it is crap? That's not the point. Crap's got the right to be crap.
Chief Justice Crawford: Drop the legal language, Dan.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Continental Divide, Mommie Dearest, Only When I Laugh, Body Heat, First Monday in October (1981)

Soundtracks
Hornpipe
(uncredited)
from "Water Music"
Music by George Frideric Handel
Arranged by Ian Fraser

User reviews28

Review

Featured review

4/10

Certainly timely in 1981, but with little entertainment value...

The US Supreme Court elects its first Madam Justice, an attractive, widowed judge from California; the first issue on the docket is whether a Nebraska zealot pining for family values can ban a pornographic film (it's title: "The Naked Nymphomaniac"). Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's script, based upon their play, is cognizant of the effects of a female voice on the Supreme Court, but doesn't give Jill Clayburgh's Ruth Loomis anything but obvious points to make. She is a Woman, hear her Roar! The cutesy repartee with fellow Justice Snow (an uncomfortable-seeming Walter Matthau) matches her women's-lib quips with his scratchy retorts, and no matter how truthful Loomis' arguments may be, everything in this version is underlined with whimsy. It's a poor substitute for strong political comedy, coming off more like a Hepburn-and-Tracy cast-off unearthed in a filing cabinet. *1/2 from ****