Greatest (and Worst) Courtroom Drama Moments

The summation of Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird.

I'm not a big fan of Boston Legal, but I've seen a few court scenes that are amazing, usually with Spader. Recently when he went up against a tobacco company and a while back against the Supreme Court.
The words that come out of his mouth are incredible.

I recently watched Anatomy of a Murder with James Stewart. What struck me about it was how graphic a movie it was, for 1959. Especially the courtroom scene at the end. Great movie.

The Verdict, with an outstanding performance (duh!) by Paul Newman. The climax is slightly deus ex machina-ish, but it's great drama.

Dale

"I want the truth."

"You can't handle the truth!"


A Few Good Men

You might want to try The Crucible because it takes place in the 1690's.

And I am VERY VERY proud to say that I did a Google search just now with just three search terms "court room movies" and the #1 result is from MY HOME TOWN'S PUBLIC LIBRARY!

http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/reading/courtroom.html


Also, I am particualrly fond of both Class Action and A Civil Action, both of which are on this list from this URL for my local library.

One of the things I very much like about A Civil Action is that it does the otherwise no-no of utilizing voice-over narration by the main protag (the prosecuting attorney played by John Travolta). We REALLY get inside of his head as he explains his struggle with the entire court proceeding.

The recent movie Vera Drake has very compelling British courtroom stuff at the very end. The film is primarilly about abortion, but the way the London law enforcement handled everything was quite impressive.

And almost ANY episode of the original Law & Order TV show --can't go wrong there.

Here's a small sidenote:

There is a 1980 made-for-TV version of A Tale of Two Cities you might want to look at.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081595/

It introduces the character of the barrister Sydney Carton to us by showing him in an actual court of law, and so we get an interresting glimpse at courtroom conduct via that one scene. It's only a few minutes of screentime in that courtroom, but I always found it compelling and it stayed with me for years.

The thing that's so great about The Verdict and A Few Good Men is that those climactic courtroom scenes were not just pivotal for the court case, but also defining moments for the lawyers.

Dale

I generally end up yelling at the television when courtroom scenes come on (I'm a trial lawyer, myself, so I end up catching the stupid mistakes. And arguing with the television. Which my roommate laughs at, by the way.)

As said before, any episode of Law and Order is pretty much on the money (my job is similar) so it's not a bad place to start if you're dealing with a criminal case.

Wanna know about the old-boys-network that really DOES exist? The scene in The Rainmaker where the judge and the defense attorney are passing Matt Damon back and forth trying to convince him to settle is a little overblown, but pretty accurate.

The movie that got me working with crime victims? The Accused, with Jodie Foster. Pretty accurate in a lot of ways.

I enjoyed the heck out of A Time To Kill. Good movie. Bad example of lawyering and trial work. Just not accurate.

ajkjd01 said:

I generally end up yelling at the television when courtroom scenes come on (I'm a trial lawyer, myself, so I end up catching the stupid mistakes. And arguing with the television. Which my roommate laughs at, by the way.)

As said before, any episode of Law and Order is pretty much on the money (my job is similar) so it's not a bad place to start if you're dealing with a criminal case.

Wanna know about the old-boys-network that really DOES exist? The scene in The Rainmaker where the judge and the defense attorney are passing Matt Damon back and forth trying to convince him to settle is a little overblown, but pretty accurate.

The movie that got me working with crime victims? The Accused, with Jodie Foster. Pretty accurate in a lot of ways.

I enjoyed the heck out of A Time To Kill. Good movie. Bad example of lawyering and trial work. Just not accurate.

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What about (I know, it's dated now, but still...) "Inherit The Wind" with Spencer Tracey.

Okie doke, I'm a memorizer of movie lines from way back so lemme take a crack at this one from The Voidict:

LINDSAY CROWSE
"When that poor girl went into a coma, Doctor Towler called me into his office. He said he'd had five difficult deliveries in a row, and he was tired. And he never bothered to look at the admittance form. And then he told me to change the form. He told me to change the one... to a nine! Or he said he'd fire me, I'd never work again! Who were these men? Who were these men?!? I wanted to be a nurse!"

or a rough guesstimate from And Justice For ALL:

AL PACINO
"The thing that bothered me, that I couldn't get out of my mind - that haunted me, was: Why? Why would she lie? If my client is innocent, she's lying! Why? What reason would she have to lie? Yesterday, I found out the reason. Because... She ain't lying! And ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that man is not gonna get my client today! No. Because: I'M gonna get him! My client, the Honorable Judge Fleming should go right to effing jail! He's guilty as effing hell, he said he'd like to do it again! Mr. Kirkland you're out of order! "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! That man is a slime! He is a slime, and if he is allowed to go free then something really wrong in going on here! Let's make a deal! Let's make a deal! I got an insane judge, what'll you give me? Wait! Wait! I have just concluded... my opening... statement..."

Suzanne Stroh said:

Gimme gimme! I'm working on a courtroom drama. It's set in 1810 in Scotland. But don't let that hinder you. Think men in wigs, boys in basic black frocks and butts on benches. Think furrowed brows. Think bursts of femininity. Think of your cousin Vinny.

Come on with your favorite Courtroom dramayana. I'm looking for defining character moments, great scenes, good pacing devices, subplots that work or don't work, memorable Scots in cinema, and your basic take on this venerable genre that ranks among AFI's 10 Top 10.

Another approach is to give me the worst crap you've ever watched in a courtroom drama, so I'm forwarned......

And with thanks in advance, I bequeath you my dog-eared copy of the funniest book ever written, "OJ's Secret Trial Notebook." Seriously. Google it.

Cheerio! as they say in the land of Calvin......

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There are some stirring courtroom scenes in the *original* "That Winslow Boy" and also some good stuff in "Witness for the Prosecution."

Also, if you didn't catch the early episodes of the recent John Adams miniseries on HBO, it had some quite interesting courtroom scenes featuring John Adams' defense of the British soldiers accused of the Boston Massacre that gave a wonderful sense of how those courts were actually arranged viz a viz how the witnesses, the accused, etc. were all in the same public room at the same time.

NMS

Another great is 12 Angry Men. The original, of course, because I think they had the audacity to remake it? Sheez! A really good one about jury deliberation. I was a jury foreman in a civil trial once and since I had a captive audience, I played all the characters in sequence. The other 11 people hung me.

But seriously, 12 Angry Men rang rather true with me, concerning our 3 days of deliberations. We started out rather polite, rather easygoing. Then things started getting passionate, very raw-edged at times. We had a hung jury. When we conferred with the lawyers afterwards, the two camps out in the lobby stayed with "their" lawyer only. Going down in the elevator to the parking garage, jurors from opposite camps didn't even want to look at each other.

Write_At_1st_Light said:

Another great is 12 Angry Men. The original, of course, because I think they had the audacity to remake it? Sheez! A really good one about jury deliberation. I was a jury foreman in a civil trial once and since I had a captive audience, I played all the characters in sequence. The other 11 people hung me.

But seriously, 12 Angry Men rang rather true with me, concerning our 3 days of deliberations. We started out rather polite, rather easygoing. Then things started getting passionate, very raw-edged at times. We had a hung jury. When we conferred with the lawyers afterwards, the two camps out in the lobby stayed with "their" lawyer only. Going down in the elevator to the parking garage, jurors from opposite camps didn't even want to look at each other.

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The one time I served on a jury in a criminal case it was a very enlightening experience for me, since I came out of the trial thinking that it was a slam dunk guilty verdict and when we got in the jury room the jury was literally split fifty-fifty and we ended up having to stay overnight and get schlepped out to a hotel at the airport before we finally reached a verdict (unlike 12 angry men -- the "guilty" contingent managed to sway the not guilty contingent and we got a conviction).

Actually -- I'd love to do a reverse version of 12 Angry Men -- call it One Angry Man -- Eleven people want to let the guy off, one guy is absolutely convinced that he's guilty and he manages to convince everybody else that he's right -- that, in fact, there *isn't* any reasonable doubt -- he *must* have done it.

NMS

Write_At_1st_Light said:

Another great is 12 Angry Men. The original, of course, because I think they had the audacity to remake it? Sheez! A really good one about jury deliberation. I was a jury foreman in a civil trial once and since I had a captive audience, I played all the characters in sequence. The other 11 people hung me.

But seriously, 12 Angry Men rang rather true with me, concerning our 3 days of deliberations. We started out rather polite, rather easygoing. Then things started getting passionate, very raw-edged at times. We had a hung jury. When we conferred with the lawyers afterwards, the two camps out in the lobby stayed with "their" lawyer only. Going down in the elevator to the parking garage, jurors from opposite camps didn't even want to look at each other.

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nmstevens said:

The one time I served on a jury in a criminal case it was a very enlightening experience for me, since I came out of the trial thinking that it was a slam dunk guilty verdict and when we got in the jury room the jury was literally split fifty-fifty and we ended up having to stay overnight and get schlepped out to a hotel at the airport before we finally reached a verdict (unlike 12 angry men -- the "guilty" contingent managed to sway the not guilty contingent and we got a conviction).

Actually -- I'd love to do a reverse version of 12 Angry Men -- call it One Angry Man -- Eleven people want to let the guy off, one guy is absolutely convinced that he's guilty and he manages to convince everybody else that he's right -- that, in fact, there *isn't* any reasonable doubt -- he *must* have done it.

NMS

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I'm told that back in the 1970's and 1980's (before cable was super prevalent) DA's all over the country absolutely hated when that film got shown on broadcast tv. Convictions always went down during the three months after the jury pool was exposed to it.

Inherit the Wind, with Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow, in the dramatization of the infamous Scopes 'Monkey Trial' in Tennessee in the 1920s. Riveting throughout.

caw