Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Otto Preminger turned this 1959 courtroom drama, based on the popular novel, into terrific adult drama. James Stewart stars as a small-town lawyer who defends an army officer (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a bartender who assaulted his wife (Lee Remick). The taut script, large performance by Stewart, and then-daring elements of the story (words like "panties" are spoken in the context of discussing a sex crime) give the action a certain immediacy--which you don't find very often in today's movies about jurisprudence. Nice work by Remick and Gazzara, as well as George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, and real-life judge Joseph N. Welch, who plays the judge in this film. A very good experience all around. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com essential video

CLASSIC COURTROOM DRAMA

This Otto Preminger directed film is vintage Jimmy Stewart who plays a country lawyer recently voted out of the county prosecutors office he held for many years. Fishing seems to have replaced legal work and as the film opens his long time secretary (Arden) is asking for enough money to cover her pay check. He needs a case to bring in some fees. Laura Manion (Remick) shows up looking for a lawyer to defend her Army officer husband, Lt. Frederick Manion (Gazzara) who is accused of murdering a local bartender who apparently raped Mrs. Manion. Nothing seems to be like it appears. A lie detector test on Mrs. Manion says one thing and the forensic evidence taken after the alleged rape seems to say the opposite. They seem to be happily married but Mrs. Manion is often seen in public without her husband and in the company of other men. Lt. Manion seems a solid citizen soldier but is he always that way in private? Can Stewart defend him on the basis of temporary insanity? A great performance by Stewart as well as by everyone else with many surprise turns. As great as Stewart's performance is, the movie would not be what is without a terrific, albeit somewhat minor, performance by Joseph Welch as the retired judge who is filling in for the regular judge. With a dry sense of humor and perfect timing, he makes the courtroom scenes so outstanding. A genuine classic. [...] June 21, 2008

This is the movie for actual courtroom procedure viewing.

I was recommended this film as one of only a handful of films that adequately depicts real-life courtroom "skirmishes". Though the film rarely deviates from actual criminal procedures, the excellent screenplay and direction still delivers a fantastic, attention-grabbing thriller. The acting is superb (how could it be otherwise with exellent and hardworking Jimmy Stewart headlining) and the movie's pace keeps you vitally interested. This is one of my favorite movies. June 7, 2008

Anatomy of a Murder DVD

The movie was just as good as I remembered it. The acting was superb. It was interesting to see how our idea of "proper" attire has changed. April 8, 2008

Anatomy of a perfect courtroom drama

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1957)

To call Anatomy of a Murder the definitive courtroom film is, perhaps, not going quite far enough. Sure, there had been others, and there are certainly other classic courtroom dramas, but Anatomy of a Murder seems to be the basis for the outpouring of courtroom films and TV shows we have today; the bickering of the lawyers, the badgering of the witnesses, the bamboozling of the jury.

The plot is very straightforward, compared to Law and Order or CSI: a man (Ben Gazzara) kills his wife (Lee Remick)'s rapist. A down-on-his-luck lawyer, Paul Biegler (James Stewart) is handed the case soon after he lost the county prosecutor election to Claude Dancer (George C. Scott). Biegler takes the case, as much to get one up on Dancer as for the case itself, but while things, as Biegler believed, are not as open-and-shut as they seem, there's far more to the case than he originally thought, and none of it seems to be on his side.

It should go without saying that courtroom-drama-TV-show fans should consider this a must-see, but even if you never once watch Jerry Orbach flip a badge or William Petersen crack wise, this is a bang-up movie. The bast are phenomenal, every last one of them, and Wendell Mayes' script (adapted from Robert Traver's novel) is top-notch. Nowadays, the direction looks very familiar; that's because it's been done so much since. Despite that, however, the film still looks fresh and exciting. (My hypothesis is that this is because the film is in black and white, and we're used to seeing it in color with deodorant commercials interrupting it every fifteen minutes.) It's witty, it's intelligent, and it's got a cracking good mystery. Besides, how can you not like a film that was banned in Chicago? **** ½ March 25, 2008

Required Medium.

This movie (and book) have set the bar for contemporary thrillers to follow. Enough superlatives have been rightly bestowed upon this movie by previous reviewers. I will not attempt to trump them. Just know that this movie is one of my favorites and is required viewing in my introduction to criminal justice survey courses. Very well done. Obviously, a five star rating without hesitation or reservation. Please see the inspirational novel as well: Anatomy of a Murder.


--JP
Ports and Happy Havens

March 16, 2008

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