I watched the movie while reading the script. You can learn a lot by doing that. For example, when watching the movie, the clear Transition point is the first riot/police response in Grant Park. That happens precisely in the middle of the 135 minute-long movie. In the script, Judge Hoffman orders the trial into recess for the weekend after hearing the undercover agent's testimony (with flashbacks) about this violent event on 98. There are 62 pages left in the script.
That means that the first 98 pages take about 70 minutes of movie time... while the last 62 pages take up about 55 minutes of movie time (exclusing closing credits).
As I'm reading the script and watching the movie, I'm thinking one of two things: Either Sorkin added a lot of content in the movie *not* in the script or... he slows down the pace in the second half of the movie.
104: Kunstler tells Bobby Seale that Fred Hampton has been killed.
111-122: Mistrial declared for Bobby Seale ---> Kunstler going to call Ramsey Clark as a witness. To me, this feels like a midpoint of Act Two Part B (Reconstruction Test).
130: Hoffman rules Clark's testimony cannot be heard by the jury / Dellinger is hauled out of court. This feels like the All Is Lost reversal: Kunstler was so close to having the truth conveyed to the jury - that the police began the riot and there was no conspiracy - only to have that yanked away. If this were a 120 page script, this probably happens at about 95 which is around where Act Two ends (conventionally).
Then something interesting happens. At the beginning of Act Three, the Protagonist forces go On The Offensive. But here, there is a tape of Hayden which is cross-cut with flashbacks to a 2nd significant altercation with cops back during the Democratic convention. It ends up where Hayden - who may have been the one member of the defendants who could have swayed jurors - cannot testify. But then a twist...
Put Abbie Hoffman in the witness stand. So what is played as a negative - the 2nd police assault, members of the Chicago Seven beaten, and Hayden's potential testimony undercut - actually leads to a surprising shift into the Final Struggle: Hoffman on the stand... then Hayden who has a choice: Make a favorable statement to Hoffman at the sentencing.
And then the protest: Hayden reading the names of American soldiers killed in Vietnam (which pays off that recurring bit of adding the names of the fallen soldiers to the list).
In fact, the last 60 pages of the script *do* slow down in the movie. A much slower pace than the first nearly 100 pages. Perhaps reflecting the gravitas of what transpires.
In sum, the story has what may be termed a "conventional" structure, but as is possible with that structure, some nice plot twists and character moments.
