Sepiatone Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Courtroom dramas always seem to fascinate movie goers and long time couch potatoes too. Many movies and tV shows have found success either focusing entirely on, or including courtroom scenes. MIRACLE ON 34th STREET really isn't a "courtroom drama" per se, but in spite of whatever else happens in the movie, that courtroom sequence is loved by all. There's no doubt there've been MUCH more courtroom drama movies made than I ever saw, and this thread isn't about what anyone THINKS is the "best" one made, but rather which ones you liked the best. The WHY isn't really important, but if you wish to go on about it, feel free. I'm just going to list the ones, out of the all the courtroom dramas I happened to catch over the years, that I like. Which one I like the BEST is, however, might be fathomable due to my listing them in order of favor--- ANATOMY OF A MURDER JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBURG THE STORY ON PAGE ONE INHERIT THE WIND ADAM'S RIB COMPULSION MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN THE LETTER WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION Any not on the list is probably due to my not seeing it, or not being that impressed with it. Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElCid Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 You probably overlooked To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Not a drama, but My Cousin Vinny (1992)is pretty good. The Verdict (1982) A Time To Kill (1996) Runaway Jury (2003) The Rainmaker (1997) A Soldier's Story (1984) The Young Philadelphians (1959) The Devil's Advocate (1997) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 You probably overlooked To Kill a Mockingbird. You're right, and I thank you. And in that one, it's hard for me to say I like one part over the other. But, on my list, I'd place it between NUREMBURG and PAGE ONE Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 If you're really into courtroom dramas Sepia, then here's a couple starring Gene Hackman that I think you'll enjoy if you haven't already seen them... CLASS ACTION (1991) ...and Hackman's penultimate movie role in... RUNAWAY JURY (2003) (...I liked them both...but then again Hackman has always been near the top of my list of favorite actors) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess of Tap Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Witness for the Prosecution is Agatha Christie and Billy Wilder at their best. Plus it's one of the most impressive performances you'll ever see Tyrone Power give. Indeed, it was his last completed cinematic performance. Rounding out the stellar cast are: Marlene Dietrich, Elsa Lanchester, Norma Varden, Una O'Connor, Henry Daniell and heading the whole thing up Charles Laughton. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Some that I like that haven't yet been named are: The Accused (1988) Amistad (1998) ...And Justice for All (1979) A Civil Action (1998) The Client (1994) Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) Music Box (1989) Primal Fear (1996) Sleepers (1996) Suspect (1987) True Believer (1989) All of these are relatively newer. The 90's were a big decade for legal dramas/thrillers, thanks to the literary success of Turow and Grisham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I add: Knock on Any Door - Bogart courtroom drama with John Derek There is also Leave Her to Heaven, but that movie would have been better without the courtroom ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Many may feel that it is not appropriate but I feel that: Guilty Conscience (1985) qualifies in spirit as courtroom drama. Anthony Hopkins is a high-profile criminal attorney who uses cross-examination by his alter ego to reveal faults in his plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpressman Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Not a drama but when Woody Allen the attorney starts to cross examine Woody Allen the defendant in "Bananas", I lose it! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Some that I like that haven't yet been named are: The Accused (1988) Amistad (1998) ...And Justice for All (1979) A Civil Action (1998) The Client (1994) Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) Music Box (1989) Primal Fear (1996) Sleepers (1996) Suspect (1987) True Believer (1989) All of these are relatively newer. The 90's were a big decade for legal dramas/thrillers, thanks to the literary success of Turow and Grisham. Yeah, but as I PMed another member; As this is a message board on the TURNER "CLASSIC" MOVIES website, I was headed in another direction. And although I also mentioned that otherwise I'd have made other entries to my OP list, I still overlooked, A FEW GOOD MEN Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 delete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I like "Philadelphia" with Tom Hanks (in his first Oscar-winning performance) and Denzel Washington, who could've been nominated for Best Actor, too. Also, "The Caine Mutiny," with great performances by Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Fred MacMurray, Van Johnson and Tom Tully. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 While the courtroom scenes are not very long they are memorable in A Free Soul (some say Barrymore won best actor because of the courtroom scene) and Illegal (where some say they tried to copy the A Free Soul scene). Also, three is the film TCM is showing right now; Boomerang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I also like the courtroom scenes from "A Passage to India" (1984), the last film by Sir David Lean. Has Judy Davis won an Oscar yet? Then there's "Jagged Edge" (1985), in which a high-powered attorney (Glenn Close) makes the mistake of getting involved with the murder suspect (Jeff Bridges) she successfully defended. The final lines by Robert Loggia, who plays her investigator, are unforgettable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
film lover 293 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Others not mentioned: "Fury" (1936)--Fritz Lang's first American film. "They Won't Forget" (1937). "Roxie Hart" (1942). "The Paradine Case" (1948)--Is about the British court system. "The Wrong Man" (1957). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Faiola Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 ODOR IN THE COURT Clark & McCullough GOING BYE BYE Laurel & Hardy DISORDER IN THE COURT Howard, Fine & Howard CRAZY HOUSE Olsen & Johnson Judge Edgar Kennedy: "Anything you say will be held against you!" Chic: "Marlene Dietrich!" Ole: "Maria Montez!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I add: Knock on Any Door - Bogart courtroom drama with John Derek There is also Leave Her to Heaven, but that movie would have been better without the courtroom ending. Oh c'mon James! How can you say that??? (...doncha like watchin' Vinnie Price chewin' the ol' scenery in that courtroom or somethin'?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 How about YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, and where Henry Fonda as ol' Honest Abe the defense attorney, gets the real killer to trip himself up in court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 How about YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, and where Henry Fonda as ol' Honest Abe the defense attorney, gets the real killer to trip himself up in court. So he was the first Lincoln lawyer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 The courtroom scenes in An American Tragedy and A Place in the Sun are both pretty ludricrous, if that counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 So he was the first Lincoln lawyer? Yes, and the court recorder kept the first Lincoln Log. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Many may feel that it is not appropriate but I feel that: Guilty Conscience (1985) qualifies in spirit as courtroom drama. Anthony Hopkins is a high-profile criminal attorney who uses cross-examination by his alter ego to reveal faults in his plans. And speaking of Anthony Hopkins and courtrooms... While the following wasn't either a big screen presentation nor made during the studio era(and so I apologize in advance here, Sepia), but Hopkins is absolutely great in the very well done 1974 television miniseries "QB VII", and as a doctor who in a British court sues for libel against a writer for publishing statements which imply the doctor was implicit of Nazi war crimes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 A couple of unearthly courtroom tales: In the 1946 Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger fantasy "A Matter of Life of Death," an RAF pilot (David Niven) escapes death, but is summoned by a celestial court to determine if he should stay on Earth. The prosecutor (Raymond Massey) is an Anglophobic American from the Revolutionary War era. In "Defending Your Life" (1991), Albert Brooks discovers that he can't get into Heaven without a court trial. Meryl Streep co-stars as a woman in the same boat. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 I for the first time last night saw BOOMERANG. Good courtroom drama, probably more than most more honest than many others with the implied political manipulation involved. But two things stuck out for me--- Until last night, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE was the OLDEST movie I ever saw KARL MALDEN in. And my favorite scene was early on that showed a guy, sitting on the fender of his car, smoking a cigarette next to a GAS PUMP! Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 "The Jagged Edge", because Glenn Close miraculously changes clothes in front of the jury without becoming completely naked. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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