Airing at 11:45 PM Eastern tonight is Anatomy of a Murder. Directed by Otto Preminger the film stars Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Arthur O'Connell, Ben Gazarra, George C. Scott and Eve Arden.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, this is a superlative courtroom drama, and is one of the bellwether films of the late 1950s/early 1960s which moved Hollywood towards breaking the Production Code (which eventually happened about a decade later.)

It may sound like nothing to people today, but the film mentions the word "panties" and talks about rape and, in a roundabout way, male ejaculation. This is a very mature and realistic film for its time, and it's not in the least predictable.

The film features Joseph N. Welch of McCarthy Hearings fame: "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" Welch plays the trial Judge in his only film role and I think he's great in it.

If you've never seen this film, you should. If you have seen it, it's time to watch it again.

Filmed in the Yoop. The basis for the movie is an actual homicide that took place in Big Bay. The Lumberjack Tavern. Still open for business. Other film locations still standing are the Mather Inn and the Mt. Shasta restaurant.
And the Marquette County Courthouse.
The filming was a major deal here.
A ground breaking and excellent courtroom drama. And the dog is good, too.

We visit Michigan's Upper Peninsula almost every September and have been to several of the filming locations.

We were visiting the Marquette County Courthouse where the trial scenes were filmed and were observing the interior architecture when an official came out of a courtroom and asked if she could help us.

I was half expecting her to be annoyed. When we explained that we were just sightseeing she invited us to see the inside of the courtroom.

She did say "If a man in a dress appears it's the judge and you'll have to leave".

Joseph Welch on the left. He died before I was born, but I would love to have met him.

I appreciate a heads-up like this. I’ve got it recorded and will watch it soon. Thanks

Thanks for the heads up. Saw your post late and tuned in about an hour into the film. Have seen it before but always good to see again.

Classic scene when GCS badgers the witness as to her relationship with the deceased. A good attorney should know the answer to the question before he asks it! His performance was exceptional as were many of the others. Great film.

Bad news is it was really late when I got to bed!

Great film, and very interesting source material. It’s always great to take the family out for lunch to a 70-year-old Murder scene and point out the bullet holes in the wall.

Our community theater group was set to stage this inside our historic courthouse in March of ‘20. Stupid chicoms. It’s back on the docket for March of ‘22. I was/am playing the part of DA Lodwick (Brooks West in the film).

The soundtrack is an outstanding suite of compositions by the late master Duke Ellington and was well recorded with his magnificent orchestra. It is very highly regarded and now available in likely remastered, newly pressed analog audiophile editions on LPs, see-able on ebay and available from many sources. For those who are stuck with older digital it's available on CD as well. Awesome soundtrack, deftly in harmony with Otto Preminger's film's progression.

This is indeed a great film. I normally wouldn't have probably given it a chance, but the book for which the movie was based upon, was written by John Voelker, who went by the pen name Robert Traver. Voelker was the lawyer who defended the man accused of murder in the real life version of this.

As a fly fisherman, I was first drawn to to Voelker's other works involving fly fishing. The man could really write. He became something of a legend in the fly fishing community. You'll note that when Jimmy Stewart's character is introduced, he is coming back from fly fishing. Voelker also served on the Michigan Supreme court for a brief time before resigning. He was a very unique and interesting man.

We watched it last night on Amazon Prime. Both my wife and I really enjoyed the film. So many nice touches--I liked the note from Manion at the end--irresistible impulse. A big middle finger to his lawyer.

Please recommend more of the top jury trial movies!

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Please recommend more of the top jury trial movies!

There are a handful of them which come immediately to mind:

Judgement at Nuremberg - Directed by Stanley Kramer. Spencer Tracy quite convincing as the trial judge. Burt Lancaster in an unusual role for him. A post-auto accident Montgomery Clift giving what I think is the best performance of his career. Maximilian Schell. Marlene Dietrich. The list goes on. It's not a film for everyone. Very weighty material, and quite long. Still, if you like courtroom drama, this is a great one.

Inherit the Wind - Again, Stanley Kramer directing and starring Spencer Tracy, although not as the judge this time. The film is based upon the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Frederic March. Gene Kelly. Not to be trite, but this is a film relevant to our modern times and current predicament.

Witness for the Prosecution - Directed by the great Billy Wilder and starring Charles Laughton who is, in my opinion, the finest actor of the 20th Century. If he were alive today, he'd be the finest actor of this century. Tyrone Power. Marlene Dietrich. Henry Daniell. The always delightful Una O'Connor, and Laughton's wife, Elsa Lanchester, a superb actress in her own right.

The Verdict - Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Paul Newman. James Mason. Jack Warden. It's a David Mamet screenplay. This is a screenwriter who strives to write dialogue in the way people actually speak. The film is a story about redemption and it's well worth your time. The joke Newman tells in a bar is a hoot.

The list goes on: Philadelphia, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Devil's Advocate (save that one for Halloween night), Breaker Morant and last but most certainly not least, Carl Theodore Dreyer's La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc.) This is a very late silent film from 1928. Some day, I may tell you guys about the effect this film had on me the first time I saw it. I won't get into it now because I'd end up writing ten paragraphs. I don't even know if I can convey my experience. Words are insufficient. Let's just call it a transcendent experience.

John Ford combined the Cavalry Western and the Courtroom:
Sergeant Rutledge.
Great movie!

Excellent example

Excellent movie. Again, thanks