Nathan T
As good as any courtroom drama out there. Still great and relevant.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/15/24
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Jack V
The beginning is a little drawn out and the movie could've been shorter for sure, but otherwise it's a perfect courtroom thriller! The courtroom scenes are all so captivating, with the two equally clever lawyers taking shots at each other non-stop. The case is fairly complex too and all the characters are well written.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/02/24
Full Review
John E
Anatomy of a Murder was directed by Otto Preminger and released in 1959. It made my must-see 2023 film list because it is often cited as being one of the best American courtroom dramas ever made.
The film starts off with a jazzy upbeat score by the legendary Duke Ellington. The music's lack of intensity and drama establishes a mood that will run throughout the film. You see, this movie isn't really about who's innocent or guilty, this film is about the spinning of narratives that our legal system is predicated upon. While the viewer is firmly vested in finding out what the final verdict will be, the true story is the "sport" of the courtroom.
Lieutenant Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara) is accused of murdering an innkeeper named Barney Quill. Manion had been told by his wife Laura (Lee Remick) that Quill had raped her. District Attorney Lodwick (Brooks West, the only one-note actor in an otherwise outstanding ensemble) wants to convict Manion of first-degree murder. The State of Michigan sends big-city D.A. Claude Dancer (George C. Scott in one of his earliest film roles) to assist Lodwick. Lt. Manion hires a lawyer named Paul Biegler (Jimmy Stewart) to represent him. Once Biegler accepts the challenge of Manion's case, he's determined to fight for Manion's plea of temporary insanity and for the win. Presiding over the game, oops, I mean trial, is Judge Weaver, our referee. (As an interesting side note, Judge Weaver is played by the real-life Judge Joseph N. Welch who was known by many for taking on Senator Joseph McCarthy in the Army-McCarthy hearings.)
Anyone having served on a jury knows that real trials do not play out with the same speed and lack of repetition that a movie trial does. But setting that aside, this is a fascinating spectator vantage to the dual of legal machinations. Preminger doesn't make Manion a particularly likable person, so you aren't automatically rooting for him. Laura's rape is never shown so the viewer, like the jury, is left to decide if it was a real event. Most of the central characters (much like each viewer) have differing positions of what is right or wrong given the facts presented. Ethics, showmanship, sportsmanship and credibility are what this legal battle comes down to… not justice. The intensity of this case (based on actual events), through Preminger's guidance, was extremely compelling and immensely rewarding. So much so that one barely notices that the film's full run time is 160 minutes. This movie fully lived up to its reputation and deserves the accolades it still receives.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
06/20/23
Full Review
Farah R
Anatomy of a Murder is a gripping courtroom drama thanks to its realistic depiction of a trial and Jimmy Stewart's performance.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/20/23
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Shioka O
It's a courtroom classic, lengthy. James Stewart looks too nice for this character!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
10/01/22
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Audience Member
There are some truly great courtroom dramas ("Witness for the Prosecution" "The Verdict" "To Kill a Mockingbird"), but I would argue that Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of the Murder" is the best cinematic courtroom drama of all time. Jimmy Stewart plays a lawyer in a sleepy resort community in the upper peninsula of Michigan who's hired to defend serviceman Fredrick Manion (Ben Gazarra in his only second film appearance) for gunning down a local bar owner who he believes raped his wife, Laura (Lee Remick in only her fourth film appearance). There's no mystery who did the murder, but the case hinges on whether Gazarra was in his right mind at the time or was in the grips of an "irresistible impulse" at the time of the murder. "Anatomy" features an amazing cast of young actors. Stewart, Arthur O'Connell, and Eve Arden are veteran Hollywood actors of the group, and besides Gazarra and Remick you also have a young George C. Scott in his second film role and also early roles for Kathryn Grant, Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton. Perhaps the most interesting casting is of Joseph N. Welch as the trial judge, who's best know as the real-life lead counsel for the Army in the Army-McCarthy hearings where he uttered the famous line "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" This was Welch's first and only acting role, but he's terrific. The folks behind the camera are just as impressive. Produced and directed by Hollywood veteran Otto Preminger ("Man with the Golden Arm" "Advise & Consent" "Laura"), Saul Bass ("Vertigo,"Ocean's 11" and "Goodfellas") made an ultra cool title sequence, how can you not love the knockout jazz score by Duke Ellington. Ellington even makes a cameo as "Pie-Eye" during a dancehall scene. There's a lot that sets "Anatomy" apart from other courtroom dramas. I'm no lawyer, but I've read multiple times how this film is one of the more accurate representations of courtroom proceedings, taking it's time to go through pre-trial research, interviews, and investigations, jury selection, and getting into the minutia of nitpicking objections or manipulating juries throughout the trial. It takes its time to show the court proceedings from start to finish and is almost the entirety of the film. That immersiveness is only part of what makes this film such a classic. The verbal sparing between Stewart, who plays himself up as a simple country lawyer to the jury (when he's anything but), tying fishing lures throughout the trial, setting himself up as the little guy going up against big city prosecutors, the most formidable of which is the great George C. Scott. Their back and forth are simply magic to watch. These courtroom scenes make it the kind of film where if your'e flipping channels and happen upon it, there's no way you can turn it off. And the verbal sparing is not limited to the courtroom. The dialogue between characters outside the courtroom is just as riveting, which gets at what the film is really about, how people endlessly play games with one another. There's always something beneath the surface, or an agenda, or even outright lies in just about every interaction. Sometimes it's just playing around with one another, like when Stewart plays coy about what's he has in a brown bag (it's booze) with a colleague, or Remick flirting with Steward in order manipulate him, or the more consequential moments whether Gazarra was gripped by an irresistible impulse or if he was committing pre-meditated murder. This cynical theme of "don't trust what anyone says or does at face value" is given emphasis when Stewart's Paul Biegler states, "As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad. People are many things." This is a must see film that everyone should watch at least once.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
Full Review
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