Legal Movies |
Here are some of my favourite movies with a legal flavour. They are all recommended viewing.
A Few Good Men
(1992) Director: Frank Illcapra and Robert Rainer. Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack
Nicholson. Based on a play by Sorkin. A half-hearted defence of two marines by a
Navy Lieutenant (Cruise) turns a bit more serious when he comes into contact with
the Colonel Jessup (Nicholson).
A Man for All Seasons (1966) Director: Fred
Zinnemann. Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson
Welles, Susannah York, John Hurt, Nigel Davenport, Vanessa Redgrave. Based on
Robert Bolt's play about Sir Thomas More's conflict with King Henry VIII when
asked for his support to break with the Pope and form the Church of England. Won
six Oscars: Best Actor, Director, Picture, Screenplay, Cinematography, Costumes.
Breaker Morant (1979)
Director: Bruce Beresford. Bryan Brown, Edward Woodward, John Waters and
Jack Thompson. Adapted from a play by Kenneth G. Ross based on a true incident.
Whle following orders during the Boer War a group of soldiers kill a missionary.
The British don't want an incident which could cause Germany to enter the war and
put on trial for murder the leader of the patrol Lt. Harry Morant (Woodward). The
defence (Thompson) is given only 24 hours to prepare the case. Won a number of
AFI awards.
The Caine Mutiny (1954) Director: Edward
Dmytryk. Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferer, Van Johnson, Robert Francis, May
Wynn, Fred MacMurray, E.G. Marshall, Lee Marvin, Tom Tully, Claude Akins.
An adaption of Heman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Naval officers mutiny
against Captain Queeg (Bogart) and are court-martialed.
Class Action (1991)
Director: Michael Apted. Gene Hackman, Elizabeth Mastrantionio, Matthew Clark,
Laurence Fishburne. A father and lawyer who are both lawyers find themselves on
opposite sides in a court case.
Judgment at Nuremburg (1961) Director: Stanley
Kramer. Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy
Garland, Maximilian Schell, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner. US judge (Tracy)
presides over German war criminal trial of German officer (Lancaster). Won Oscars:
Schell as defence attorney, Screenplay.
Kramer v Kramer (1979) Director: Robert
Benton. Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry, Howard
Duff, George Coe, JoBeth Williams. Adapted from Avery Corman's novel.
Husband and wife's separate and a court battle ensures over the custody of their
son. Oscars: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director.
Philadelpia (1993)
Director: Jonathan Demme. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards,
Robert Castle, Rober Maxwell, Charles Napier. An attorney (Hanks) takes his firm
to court for wrongful termination after being fired once they discover he has AIDS.
Lawyers are such an understanding open-minded lot.
Presumed Innocent
(1990) Director: Alan J. Pakula. Harrison Ford, Greta Scacchi, Raul Julia, Bonnie
Bedelia. Mystery, courtroom drama. Adaption of attorney/author Scott Turow's
book. The chief prosecutor (Ford) finds himself charged with murder of an assistant
prosecutor with whom he has had an affair.
Reversal of Fortune
(1990) Director: Barbet Schroeder. Jeremy Irons, Glen Close. Dramatization of the
notorious murder trial of Claus von Bulow, who was accused of attempting to
murder his wealthy wife by injecting her with an overdose of insulin. Oscar: Best
Actor (Irons).
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) Director: Robert
Mulligan. Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Brock Peters,
Robert Duvall (film debut), Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Paul Fix, Collin
Wilcox, Alice Ghostley, William Windon. An adaption of Harper Lee's novel. A
Southern lawyer Atticus Finch (Peck) defends a black man (Peters) accused of rape.
Oscar: Best Actor (Peck), Screenplay.
12 Angry Men (1957) Director: Sidney Lumet.
Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Bagley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack
Warden, Martin Balsam, John Fieldler, George Voskovec, Rober Webber, Edward
Binns, Joseph Sweeney. One man struggles to persuade a jury not to hastily convict
of a boy on trial.
The Verdict (1982) Director: Sidney Lumet. Paul
Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, Edward
Binns, Julie Bovasso, Lindsay Crouse, Roxanne Hart, James Handy. From a novel
by Barry Reed. A Boston lawyer who has hit bottom (Newman) who takes on a
difficult negligence case. Some good tips for lawyers on "ambulance chasing".
A bit of a mixed bag this lot. Some old classics and some not so old.
The Accused (1949)
Director: Jonathan Kaplan. Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson, Leo
Rossi, Ann Hearn, Carmen Argenziano, Steve Antin, Tom O'Brien, Peter Van
Norden. Inspired by a true story. The prosecutor (McGillis) handles a rape case
without alot of sympathy until the victim (Foster) demands retribution. Jodie Foster
won an Oscar for her performance.
Adam's Rib (1949) Director: George Cukor.
Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne, Jean
Hagan, Hope Emerson, Polly Moran, Marvin Kaplan, Paula Raymond, Tommy
Noonan. A comedy about a husband and wife lawyers are on opposing sides in a
murder case.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Director: Otto
Preminger. James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'connell, Eve
Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott, Orson Bean, Murray Hamilton. Court
room drama. O'Connell plays a drunken lawyer. Joseph Welch as a judge (was the
lawyer in the Army-McCarthy hearings who later became a judge in real life) and
Scott as the prosecuting attorney. Stewart plays the witty, easy going and cagey
defence lawyer.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) Director:
Robert Altman. Eric Bogosian, Jeff Daniels, Brad Davis, Peter Gallagher, Michael
Murphy, Kevin J. O'Connor, Daniel Jenkins. An adaption of Heman Wouk's
Pulitzer Prize winning novel for TV. Naval officers mutiny against Captain Queeg
(Davis) and are court martialed.
Inherit the Wind (1960) Director: David Greene.
Kirk Douglas, Jason Robards, Jean Simmons, Darren McGavin, Megan Follows,
Kyle Secor, John Harkins. Average adapted from the Broadway play.
Jade (199?) Director: William Friedkin.
David Caruso, Chazz Palminteri, Linda Fiorentino. Sex, money, power, car chase,
this thriller has it all. Corelli (Caruso) is a District Attorney who gets into the thick of it.
Why are none of my clients as good looking as Trina (Linda Fiorentino).
Jagged Edge (1985) Director: Richard Marquand.
Jeff Bridges, Glenn Close, Peter Coyote, Robert Loggia, John Dehner, Leigh
Taylor-Young, Karen Austin, Lance Henriksen, James Karen. Thriller-courtroom
drama. A lawyer (Close) will only defend wealthy publisher accused of murdering
his wife (is that a crime?) if she believes he is innocent.
M (1933) Director:
Fritz Lang. Peter Lorre, Ellen Widman, Inge Landguit. Set in Berlin in 1931.
Gangsters catch a child murderer to take the heat off themselve, mark "M" on his
back and put him on trial in a kangaroo court. This film made a star of Peter Lorre
who was previously seen as a comedian. This movie was remade in Hollywood in
1951.
A Man for All Seasons (1988) Director: Charlton
Heston. Charlton Heston, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Richard Johnson, Roy
Kinnear, Martin Chamberlain. Based on Robert Bolt's play about Sir Thomas
More's conflict with King Henry VIII when asked for his support to break with the
Pope and form the Church of England. Made for TV Heston only just beforehand
having performed in the stage play in London.
Nuts (1987) Director:
Martin Ritt. Barbara Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach.
A prostitute accused of manslaughter wants to stand trial, despite pressure from her
lawyer and her family to plead insanity and be institutionalized. Barbra Streisand
produced and scored the film.
Paths of Glory (1957) Kirk Douglas, Ralph
Meeker, Adolphe Menjou.
Primal Fear (1996) Richard Gere
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) Daniel
Vigne, Gerard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye.
The Trial (1963) Director: Orson Welles. Anthony
Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli, Orson Welles, Akim
Tamiroff. From a Kafka novel. A man in a nameless country is arrested for a crime
that is never explained to him. Not everyones cup of tea.
Witness for the Prosecution (1958) Director: Billy
Wilder. Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Elsa Lanchester, John
Williams, Henry Daniell, Una O'Connor. Adapted from an Agatha Christie play.
Courtroom suspense set in London. Dietrich is the wife of the alleged killer
(Power). Laughton plays the defence lawyer and Lanchester the nurse.
The Wrong Man (1956) Director: Alfred
Hitchcock. Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold J. Stone, Nehemiah
Persoff. A semi-documentary based on the true story of a New York musician
(Fonda) wrongly accused of robbery.
I am sorry but all the illegal movies I had listed here have been cut out by the censor.
Mr. Menance: The
Film Reviewer (a man who guarantees not to have seen any of the films he reviews)
Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for this page. Email me if you think I have left any good movies out.
