Favorite movies about courts and lawyers
Glenn Reynolds gives out a call:
I’m interested in movies and TV about law and lawyers ”” not just stuff with a legal setting, but stuff that revolves around lawyers and what people think of them. Any suggestions?
Movies about what people think about lawyers would be few and far between, and probably X-rated. As for movies that feature lawyers in general, Glenn’s already got “The Verdict,” “Absence of Malice,” “Twelve Angry Men,” “Judgment At Nuremberg,” and “The Paper Chase” listed. But I’ve a few more suggestions:
(1) “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Who wouldn’t want Gregory Peck as father or lawyer and all-around nice guy? “Mockingbird’s” a perennial favorite of most people, although I have to say it always for some reason bored me nearly to tears.
(2) “Adam’s Rib”
Dueling married lawyers Tracy and Hepburn are fine fun here.
(3) “Witness for the Prosecution” and “Judgment at Nuremberg”
These are two gimmees, but both are less about law and lawyers than about trials.
(4) “Compulsion”
An old chestnut about the Leopold-Loeb murder trial, a fictionalized account in which the character meant to represent Clarence Darrow is a big player.
(5) “Inherit the Wind”
Again we have Spencer Tracy, who plays another figure meant to represent Clarence Darrow. In the movie, though, it’s Frederic March as William Jennings Bryan who absolutely steals the show with a performance that is uncanny in its force, although hammy. He even looks uncannily like Bryan. Here, you be (as it were) the judge.
First the real Darrow and Bryan (note that Darrow looks nothing like Spencer Tracy):
And now here’s Frederic March in the movie as the Bryan figure:
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I started out writing about lawyer movies, but I end up thinking about Darrow. He was an early interest of mine, and when I saw “Inherit the Wind,” Tracy’s friendly and avuncular down-home persona as Darrow struck a jarring and false note for me in terms of the historic record, although it undoubtedly made good theater.
As a child, I had a book of Darrow’s summation speeches to the jury, which I read till it was dog-eared (yes, I’ve said before I was a weird kid). The guy was a genius of sorts, very eloquent. Another thing that drew me to Darrow’s addresses to judge and/or jury was that he loved to use poetry in them (I wonder how many lawyers that’s true for nowadays).
Darrow was a very complex figure, a “progressive” and outspoken atheist who defended a great many shady characters and was tried for bribing a jury himself. But man, the guy could deliver a summation that could wring tears from a stone—or even, at times, a judge.
As for poetry, it turns out that for a significant period, Darrow worked with lawyer-poet Edgar Lee Masters (the two were in the same law firm; both were self-taught lawyers, not an altogether-unheard-of path to law back in those days), author of “Spoon River Anthology.”
Masters and Darrow didn’t always see eye-to-eye; their relationship is described as “strained.” But Masters wrote this poem about Darrow:
This is Darrow, Inadequately scrawled,
with his young, old heart,
And his drawl, his infinite paradox,
And his sadness, and his kindness,
And his artist sense that drives him to shape his life
To something harmonious, even against the schemes of God.
Neo:
Thank you for reminding me about “Inherit the Wind” and Clarence Darrow (two early interests of mine as well). No doubt you’ve also read Irving Stone’s “Clarence Darrow for the Defense”; if not, you’d love it.
I find myself wondering how your admiration for Darrow has weathered the times, as your political ideology evolved. Personally, I think of him as a great man who did great things, with whom I would no doubt disagree on various issues (were I somehow able to discuss them with him).
But it doesn’t all come down to politics, does it? After all, both Bryan and Darrow were lifelong Democrats. (In fact, I believe Darrow ran for Congress in 1896, the same year Bryan first ran for President.)
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
FWIW, regarding “self-taught” lawyers:
In California, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming and Washington, it’s still possible to “read the law” under the tutelage of an attorney or judge, and thereafter take the bar exam to become a licensed attorney. I’ve known some Virginia attorneys who did it that way and I think they were as competent as those who attended law school instead. Plus, they didn’t incur huge student loans.
I would add A Civil Action to the list. Travolta and Duvall. With the added benefit of being based (more or less accurately) on a true story.
And the documentary Murder on a Sunday Morning.
Off topic, I know – but thanks for the remind about Edgar Lee Masters and the Spoon River Anthology. I loved, loved, loved the Anthology when I discovered it, all those brief, unique lives, told in verse – around the 6th or 7th grade – Neo, you weren’t the only tween with eccentric tastes in reading!
A Few Good Men.
Chinatown.
Erin Brockovich.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) with Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, George C. Scott.
Reference the Scopes Trial and Inherit the wind; there was far less conflict between defense and prosecution than the play suggests. In fact both defense and prosecution were on friendly if not very friendly terms. Scopes even took a member of the prosecution team to his favorite swimming hole during the trial.
Another interesting tidbit about the trial; the Darwinist case was widely unpopular in Tennessee. There was an anti-Darwinist rally one evening that was organized by the KKK followed by another the next evening organized by black organizations at the same stadium (in either Nashville or Memphis).
Other Tennesseans were so upset by the anti-evolution effort that they tried to get the heliocentric theory outlawed as well.
One vote here for “The Verdict”, with Paul Newman.
Bob from Virginia: I haven’t seen “Inherit the Wind” in quite some time, but I remember it showing Darrow and Bryan as being somewhat friendly outside the courtroom.
Us history image bank, progressivism 1889-1920
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/image_bank_US/1889_1920.html
William Jennings Bryan
William “Billy” Sunday
Ida Tarbell
Eugene V. Debs
Clarence Darrow
Helen Keller
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Suffragist posing as a police officer
Govenor Edwin P. Morrow signing Kentucky resolution ratifying 19th amendment
Robert M. LaFollette
W.E. B. DuBois
Mary Church Terrell, one of the founding members of the NAACP
Walter F. White, an officer of the NAACP
A McKinley, Roosevelt campaign color poster, 1900
Last picture of McKinley before he was assassinated.
Theodore Roosevelt
Anthracite miners at Scranton, 1900
Poor people fishing for coal, 1902
Chicago meatpacking plant workers, 1905
Cartoon ridiculing William Jennings Bryan
William Howard Taft
1912 political cartoon satirizing Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Woodrow Wilson at Princeton, 1896
Woodrow Wilson, 1912
Clarence Darrow wrote
“Argument in Defense of Communists”
Among those arrested in January 1920 were twenty members of the Communist Labor Party, one of two newly formed left wing parties that emulated the revolutionary example of the Russian Bolsheviks. Charged under a wartime sedition law, the Communists faced long jail terms. In their defense, well-known civil liberties attorney Clarence Darrow argued that the government targeted the Communists for their beliefs rather than any criminal activities.
and the start of the progressives idea of no oppression, and that morals are oppression.
[ie, society oppresses sociopaths and criminals the most… ]
Leopold and Loeb
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb
“Leopold and Loeb”, were two wealthy University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in 1924, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
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The duo were motivated to murder Franks by their desire to commit a perfect crime. Once apprehended, Leopold and Loeb retained Clarence Darrow as counsel for the defense. Darrow’s summation in their trial is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment and retributive, as opposed to rehabilitative, penal systems.
he and the ACLU made sure that communist groups were ok. that sedition was protected by the first amendment.
it paved the way for Couglin, Aryan brotherhood, ms13, crips, bloods, nation of Islam, and tons more.
it basically went like this. the organization cant be stopped as it does no harm, any harm done is an individual, and the collective cant be blamed…
it helped pay the way for the take over of the teachers union by communists… Bella Dodd was head of that union AND head of CPUSA…
and it also paved the way for the kind of legal assembly like ACLU, as long as they don’t act a certain way…
I am for socialism, disarmament and ultimately for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.
–ACLU founder Roger Baldwin
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Baldwin described himself as an “affluent, Harvard-educated Bostonian” whose ancestors included Mayfl ower pilgrims.4 His grandfather, William Henry Baldwin, was described as an “iconoclastic and non-conformist anti-Christian crusader.”5 His aunt Ruth was a member of the So-Baldwin counted among his friends, Margaret Sanger,16 a eugenicist who founded Planned Parenthood, establishing the early link between the ACLU and abortionists.18* Although abortion can be an extremely fi nancially lucrative practice today, in its early days, it was primarily pushed by eugenicists, individuals who study and promote proposed ways of improving the human species through selective breeding. Eugenics was practiced by the Nazis in Germany in pursuit of their goal of a “master race” by suppressing the birthrate of “inferiors” such as the poor, the handicapped, and racial minorities.19 In fact, Adolf Hitler admired Sanger.20 And Baldwin spoke almost glowingly of her: “She was a frail, beautiful, unassuming woman. She never thought of herself as important, even on the public platform, but she always had a quiet insistence on the rightness of what she was doing.”21 Sanger’s role in forming the foundations of the Baldwin—ACLU philosophy is unquestionable.
Another one of Baldwin’s early friends was the radical anarchist Emma Goldman, whom he considered a mentor.22 Goldman has been described as a consistent promoter of anarchism, radical education, free love, and birth control.23 Her advocacy of these causes led to her nickname “Red Emma.”24 She conspired to kill Henry Clay Frick of Carnegie Steel,25 founded the anarchist Mother Earth magazine,26 and was eventually deported to Russia in 1919.27 According to the online exhibit of Goldman’s papers, her ideas led to the “founding of the American Civil Liberties Union,”28 and her career served as an inspiration for Baldwin.29 – The ACLU: Against America from the Beginning – CH01
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In 1920, Baldwin also created three other organizations, including the International Committee for Political Prisoners to aid deported aliens, which he would later describe as “a network of correspondents in the various countries, and we had contacts with the Communist movement and with the Socialist International in New York, plus a very strong committee.”
When asked by his biographer Peggy Lamson if this committee included ACLU members, Baldwin replied, “Yes, a lot of the same crowd.”47 …………….
the only legal movies i kind of liked a lot..
was the paper chase…. 🙂
[legal eagles was ok… but these old movies have a lot of progressive and other propaganda running through them. which is why they are not as loved as other movies by the same actors, and tend to tell the story from the angle of helping or loving communism… remember the move of the frankfurt school members to each media area and then heavy influence. ]
[edited for length by n-n]
Another trial favorite is The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.
Also Neocon, true in the movie Darrow (Drummond) and Bryan were old friends, but their teams appeared pretty antagonistic, which of course made the drama. The reality would include comedy.
In fact the town fathers planned the whole thing as a publicity stunt to improve the local economy. They asked Scopes if he would mind being arrested for teaching evolution while having lemonade at the local drugstore and he , innocently as it turned out, gave the go ahead. The trial just snowballed into something they never planned on.
More tidbits about the trial (OK I find it fascinating). Bryan was terrified of the then current misuses of Darwinism. In his eyes it was a philosophy justifying barbarism. He knew that the Germans and others used Darwinist arguments to justify militarism and cruelty. If points were awarded for good intentions, Bryan would be a clear winner. He was not the narrow minded religious fanatic portrayed in the play.
A favorite of mine, “The Caine Mutiny.” Humphrey Bogart, Fred Mac Murray, Van Johnson, Jose Ferrer, E,G. Marshall, as well as two new faces that seemed would catch on, but didn’t; Robert Francis and May Wynn.
I’d add A Man for All Seasons.
“Paths of Glory” and “Breaker Morant” both feature military trials.
One of my uncles is a history buff and discovered that my father’s old, long-time office at the northeast corner of Dearborn and Randolph in Chicago was the same as Clarence Darrow’s. That was a pretty big discovery for a couple of Chicago lawyers.
““Mockingbird’s” a perennial favorite of most people, although I have to say it always for some reason bored me nearly to tears.”
I’d say its a case of cultural affinity or lack thereof. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ takes place in the South and the pace of life (and talking) is much slower than in New Yawk 😉
Next time you watch it neo observe the pace of conversation when, if I recall correctly, Gregory Peck is talking to his daughter on the porch.
In the South, friends can sit on the porch and have a conversation… with but a few words said every 5 minutes. No awkwardness, just settin, ‘cogitating’…
I suspect its the opposite of the pace of NY wherein your boredom lies neo.
Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford.
How about “A Few Good Men” and “Witness for the Prosecution”, with Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich
There was a great made-for-TV movie back in the 70s called The Law. It starred Judd Hirsch, and was really excellent–very realistic. I haven’t seen it in decades, and don’t even know if it is available anymore, but, unless my memory is worse than I think it is, it is definitely worth viewing.
The Verdict, one of my favorites!
Also Philadelphia with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. A bit obvious but good.
Another favorite, The Rainmaker, written by John Grisham, directed by Coppola. What a cast! Matt Damon, Von Voight, Mickey Rourke, Danny DeVito, Clare Danes, Virginia Madsen, Roy Scheider, Danny Glover, Dean Stockwell. About a neophyte laywer taking on a seedy Health insurance company on the case of Leukemia patient. Great performances. Loved Mickey Rourke as a shady lawyer but all performances were aces.
Another was The Firm, starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman. Also a Grisham book.
Another is Runaway Jury, starring Gene Hackman again, John Cusack and Dustin Hoffman.
And Murder in the first, with Kevin Bacon, Christian Slater and Gary Oldman, very loosely based on a real story.
I love courtroom dramas and lawyer films because they are usually about strategy and out-thinking your opponent.
QB VII
What? No votes for “Legally Blond”?
Best – Anatomy of a Murder
I second the nomination of The Law. I haven’t seen it since the 70s but I thought at the time it was one of the best films ever made for television.
Three other favorites: Young Mr Lincoln (Henry Fonda) and Judge Priest (Will Rogers), both directed by John Ford, and Trial, one of the few Hollywood films to criticize domestic communists.
Best by far: Orson Welles: ‘The Lady From Shanghai’. One of the most famous scenes in movies: shootout in the house of mirrors. Bannister was an attorney.
Clarence Darrow may not look like Spencer Tracy, but William Jennings Bryan sure looks like Peter Boyle.
I second, third, fourth, and so on the votes for To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember thinking, back in the day, that the movie was far heavier on the trial than the book, which was more about the childhoods of 3 Southern kids–one of whom, incidentally, was rather explicitly drawn on the young Truman Capote.
While it’s not precisely a courtroom drama, I’d add Advise and Consent to the list, based on the confirmation hearing scenes.
betsybounds,
I’m with you on TKAM. I think the book is fascinating because the daughter comes to see what her father is trying to teach her. And one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Atticus is sitting on the porch listening to the kids trying to remember their mother. You can feel his loneliness and his sense of responsibility for the kids. I wish the childrearing aspects of the book were emphasized more–how he brings the kids to deal with a world that is often not completely black and white. It’s about helping them find an inner compass. And yes, you do have to read it at a southern pace.
expat,
You’re right on what TKAM is about. It’s also about letting your inner Boo Radley out, and what neighbors are for: “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.”
It’s also about constancy, how you don’t find it in many places, but how that’s part of what you find in father. I love the ending: “He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”
I saw George C. Scott on broadway in “Inherit The Wind”. It was his last performance before he died. i consider myself fortunate to have enjoyed that performance. my 9 year old daughter was with me….she does not realize how lucky she was to enjoy Mr Scotts last performance!
Just saw “Sergeant Rutledge”, John Ford’s flick about the Buffalo Soldiers and roughly the same theme as TKAM.
Released the same year as Lee’s novel.
Jeff Chandler and Woody Strode.
Some cheesy stereotyping, but surprisingly forthright.
Less courtroom time than TKAM, and flashbacks are western, cowboys&indians as told by John Ford.
Well, let us not forget the “vampire genre”!
I’m sorry I didn’t see this thread sooner, because the real story of the Scopes trial is far more fascinating than the fictional “Inherit the Wind” version, which is only occasionally and tangentially accurate.
The true story of the trial is essentially the movie Preston Surges never made. “Summer for the Gods,” by Edward J Larson is the only historically accurate book I’m aware of. After learning the true history of the trial, I found “inherit the Wind,” a movie I’d previously enjoyed, nauseating.
If you spend some time learning the true history of the trial,or just read Larson’s book, you will be amply rewarded.
For my money Bryan was a far more complex, important, and interesting character than Darrow. There is an excellent, Pulitzer winning, book on the Scopes Trial — “Summer of the Gods” by Ed Larson. I recommend it highly. People forget that Bryan won that case and did not suffer politically for prosecuting it. Bryan was also three-time Democratic candidate for President, and Secretary of State in the Wilson administration who resigned in protest against entry into WWI [he was a pacifist and anti-imperialist]. He was a champion of women’s rights, of labor causes, and protector of the small producer. “Inherit the Wind” is, from beginning to end, a libel on one of America’s greatest political figures. And regarding good poetry, I would recommend you check out Vachel Lindsay’s “Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan” written about Bryan’s 1896 campaign for president.
“Other Peoples’ Money”.
Not exactly a lawyer movie, but it does deal with corporations and the reasons for corporate behavior being what it is, so it’s kind of peripherally related to the Law, and the final scene, with Gregory Peck vs. Danny Devito, is truly one of the classic face to face showdowns of all time, worthy of comparison to any courtroom drama’s final summations.
And it does contain this lovely little gem of a quote about lawyers that makes my post fully OT even if you disagree with me on the above:
“Well, for someone who has nothing nice to say about lawyers, you certainly have enough of them around.”
“They’re like nuclear warheads. They have theirs, so I have mine. Once you use ’em, they f*** up everything.”
– “Other People’s Money” –
By my lights, 12 Angry Men is far and away the best courtroom film/play of all time.
The Man in the Glass Booth — most electrifying play I’ve ever seen. Movie version was pretty good, but didn’t have the shock effect of the play. Interestingly enough, it was written by an actor — the late, great Robert Shaw.
The request was for “I’m interested in movies and TV about law and lawyers – not just stuff with a legal setting, but stuff that revolves around lawyers and what people think of them.”
So:
True Colors
“I think you got it backwards pal: first you go to law school then you become a scumbag with no regard for the truth.”
Not a particularly good movie, but it is about lawyers and it’s not favorable, unlike too many of the movies above which idealize lawyers.
I going to warn people about “Summer of the Gods”; although an excellent history the writing is dry. My advice read it for information and understanding, not pleasure. But it is the last word on the Scopes Trial.
People forget that Bryan won that case and did not suffer politically for prosecuting it.
He did indeed win the Scopes trial; Darrow appealed based on a technicality (that the $100 fine was determined by the judge, not the jury). But how could Bryan have suffered politically from the Scopes trial? He died in his sleep in Dayton, right after the trial ended.
My Cousin Vinny