MovieChat Forums > The Paper Chase (1973) Discussion > The old, rickety sets representing the m...

The old, rickety sets representing the most expensive law school


in the country at the time.

Real or an inside joke?




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I'm not sure what "old, rickety sets" you're referring to.

Some of the exteriors were the real place. The interiors were, I think, shot elsewhere. The classroom looked about right in feel, if not every detail, for one of the old Langdell classrooms. By vague memory, I'd say the dorm scenes actually look nicer than the interior of real Gropius-designed dorms. Scenes in people's apartments were, of course, not at the law school at all.

Was HLS the most expensive law school in the country in 1973? I wouldn't have thought so, actually.

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Probably among the most expensive, but as you indicate, many expensive/prestigious law schools have/had old classrooms. Especially in 1973.

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The classroom was actually at the University of Toronto. Very little of the movie was filmed at Harvard. If you consider the movie was made in 1973, it would be possible that those were the same old hardwood chairs that had been there since the 1920s! Those old chairs were pretty durable.

In a lot of prestigious academic institutions of yore, accommodations could be spartan. You go into a classroom to sit your butt down, listen, and learn. There will be plenty of time for lounging in a leather armchair in the Harvard Club with a cigar and a brandy AFTER you graduate and get hired by that white shoe firm. But we're not there yet!

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I attended Harvard Law in the mid-'90s, and there were two classrooms exactly like the one in the movie -- the dais, the chairs, the windows, the kind of portraits on the wall -- everything. They were known as Langdell North (where I had Civ Pro) and Langdell South (where I had Secured Transactions). Langdell Hall was completely refurbished in the late '90s, so I don't know if those classrooms are still there. If they are, I'm sure all the desks are now wired for laptops.

The dorm looked very much like Hastings Hall (one of the dorms at HLS), although not quite an exact replica.




*****
You put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella!

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