First Monday in October is a 1981 American comedy drama film from Paramount Pictures, produced by Paul M. Heller and Martha Scott, directed by Ronald Neame, that is based on the 1978 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee.

The film's title refers to the day that the Supreme Court commences its annual term, which continues until June or early July of the following year.

While he and Loomis are debating the complexities of the momentum engine and the Omnitech case after hours in the empty courthouse, Snow suffers a possible "heart episode" and goes to the hospital.

The New York Times critic Janet Maslin opened her review of the film with two questions: "What if the latest Supreme Court Justice were a woman?

Director Ronald Neame came under fire for a variety of errors, including a scene set in August with snow and slush and the discordant casting of The Paper Chase star James Stephens in a role very similar to his character in the television series.

"[3] Bruce Blackader of The Toronto Star believed that its box office could benefit from the timing, much like that of The China Syndrome, but said that "there's nothing truly memorable about First Monday In October (the title refers to the day when the court opens its sessions); it's only serviceably directed by Ronald Neame; and the ending is curiously weak and anti-climactic.

"[5] Robert C. Trussell of The Kansas City Star called it "a hit-and-miss film that hangs its uneven mix of political commentary, romance, comedy and drama on the timely premise of the first appointment of a woman to the US Supreme Court".

That may be taking too seriously a movie intended as repartee comedy and not social drama, but the humor's success is dependent entirely on the believability of the dueling justices.

[10] One positive review, however, came from Nancy Scott of the San Francisco Examiner, who gave the film a full four-star rating, and said, "Here we have a case of reality catching up with art—a movie about the first woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court.