Movies - Home Page
"A to
Z" List of Law-Related Movies
Movies Organized by
Substantive Law Subject
Comedies
Court Martial Movies
Courtroom Dramas
Documentaries
Inspirational Lawyer
Movies
Prison-Related Movies
Top 10
The
Accused (1988). Starring:
Kelly McGillis, Jody Foster. Courtroom drama
involving rape victim Sarah Tobias (played by
Jody Foster) who at times seems to be the one
on trial. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 stars).
Adam's
Rib (1949). Starring:
Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn. A courtroom
drama/comedy where Katherine Hepburn and
Spencer Tracy, as husband and wife, are on
opposite ends of a criminal prosecution where
she defends a women charged with murdering her
husband with Spencer Tracy prosecuting the
case. Conflict of interest? Read a movie
review by Tim
Dirks.
Amistad
(1997): A historical drama, directed by
Stephen Spielberg, that tells the true story
of African slaves who mutiny against their
capture and transport aboard La Amistad,
a slave ship. Focusing largely on the
courtroom scenes in which the slaves are
charged with mutiny, the story ends in
a decision from the US Supreme Court
ruling that the slaves were wrongfully
kidnapped and in their rights to mutiny and
ordered them freed (realize this summary does
not do justice to the movie or the story).
Reader Roger Ebert's review
here.
Anatomy
of a Murder (1959). Starring
Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara,
directed by Otto Preminger. A courtroom drama
involving a murder trial where the accused, a
lieutenant in the army, is charged with
murdering a bar owner who had raped his wife.
Will the defence of temporary insanity
prevail? Multiple Academy Award nominations.
Read an
online review from Time Magazine.
And
Justice for All (1979).
Starring Al Pacino, directed by Norman Jewison
(a University of Toronto graduate). Al Pacino
defends a judge who is charged with rape, a
judge with whom he has had run-ins in the
past. A good examination of the justice
system, corruption and legal ethics. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3 stars).
Available
here at Netflix.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
(2009). Starring Michael Douglas, Jesse
Metcalfe, and Amber Tamblyn. An extremely
implausible story (and Hollywood remake of
a better 1956 version). It tells the
story of a journalist who suspects that the
publicity-seeking District Attorney (played by
Michael Douglas) has too good of a conviction
rate and might be causing evidence to be
planted at crime scenes. What the journalist
does next is stupid (in allowing himself to be
framed for murder in order to see if the D.A.
will plant evidence against him).
Stereotypical courtroom scenes with a "You
better be going somewhere counsellor" judge..
Read the Rotten Tomatoes reviews
here.
Billy
Budd (1962). Starring Peter
Ustinov, Terence Stamp. The story, based on
Melville's novel, of Billy Budd, accused of
mutiny on the high seas of the murder of the
ship's Master-of-Arms. Read the original New
York Times review
here.
Body of Evidence
(1993). Starring Madonna, Willem Dafoe, Joe
Mantegna, Anne Archer, and one of Julianne
Moore's earlier movie roles. A fairly
implausible story of an accused (play by
Madonna) charged with murdering a wealthy old
man for his money (through sex). Joe Mantegna
plays the prosecutor; Willem Dafoe plays her
lawyer. Many stereotypical courtroom scenes.
See the original New York Times review
here.
Breaker
Morant (1980). Starring
Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson. An excellent
Australian court-martial movie set in the time
of the Boer War. Three Australian lieutenants
are treated as scapegoats when prosecuted for
executing prisoners of war. Strong performance
by their defence lawyer. Read the original New
York Times review
here. Available
here on Netflix.
Caine Mutiny
(1954). Starring Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer,
Van Johnson, and Fred MacMurray. Based on the
novel by Herman Wouk. This movie tells the
story of an alleged mutiny aboard a Navy
destroyer—minesweeper in the Pacific in World
War II, with Humphrey Bogart playing Captain
Queeg. Read the original New York Times review
here. Available
here on Netflix. Also made into a "made
for TV movie" in 1988 directed by Robert
Altman and starring Eric Bogosian, Jeff
Daniels and Brad Davis.
Capturing
the Friedmans (2003). Directed by Andrew
Jarecki. A captivating documentary of a high
school teacher, his wife and their three sons
and their involvement in the criminal justice
system when the father and youngest son are
charged with sexual crimes involving children.
The movie's tagline – "Who do you believe?" –
is reflected in the questions raised by the
director regarding the prosecution and defence
of the accessed. Read Roger
Ebert's online review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Available
here on Netflix.
The
Central Park Five (2012). Directed by Ken Burns,
Sarah Burns and David McMahon. This
documentary tells the stories of five young
black men who in 1989 were charged and
convicted of a grisly rape in Central Park,
New York, despite their claims of innocence
based on what were alleged false confessions.
Read Roger
Ebert's online review (3.5 out of 4
stars).
The
Chamber (1996). Starring
Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman and Faye
Dunaway. Based on John Grisham's novel, the
story of a young lawyer who defends his racist
grandfather who is on death row for murdering
two Jewish boys. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).
A
Civil Action (1998).
Starring John Travolta, Robert Duvall. A well
told story based on Jonathan Harr's book of a
true story involving a class action lawsuit
against environmental polluters that involves
multiple ups and downs including the potential
bankruptcy of the lawyer (played by John
Travolta) handling the case. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Class
Action (1991). Starring Gene
Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. An
unlikely scenario where father and daughter
act on opposite sides on a products liability
case involving cars that explode. He is the
liberal plaintiff's lawyer, representing the
underdog, she is a corporate type, acting for
the defendant. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Compulsion (1959): This
is one I was surprised I had never seen. Orson
Welles stars as a defence lawyer in what IMDB
describes as: “Two wealthy law-school students
go on trial for murder in this version of
the Leopold-Loeb case.” Read the
original New York Times review
here.
The
Conspirator (2010). Directed
by Robert Redford and starring James McAvoy,
Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood
and Tom Wilkinson. James McAvoy plays the
young lawyer assigned to defend Mary Surratt
(played by Robin Wright), the mother of the
alleged co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth in
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, arrested
for failing to provide the location of her
son.
Conviction (2010). Directed
by Tony Goldwyn and starring Hilary Swank and
Sam Rockwell. Tells the true story of Bette
Ann Waters, a single mother whose brother was
(as it turns out) wrongfully convicted of
murder. Her "conviction" in her brother's
innocence leads to her returning to school -
and eventually law school - to help overturn
her brother's wrongful conviction through DNA
evidence (with the help of Barry Scheck of the
Innocence
Project. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
A
Cry in the Dark (1988).
Starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. Based on
the true story of an Australian mother who is
charged for the murder of her daughter despite
her claim that a dingo stole her baby from
their tent. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Eight
Men Out (1988). Cast of
many, directed by John Sayles. Tells the true
story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox players
who took bribes to lose the World Series.
Involves court room scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).
Available
here on Netflix.
Evelyn
(2002). Starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianna
Margulies and Aidan Quinn and directed by
Bruce Beresford. Set in Ireland in 1953, this
movie tells the story of an unemployed father
(played by Brosnan) who loses his children to
a Church-run orphanage and his efforts to go
to court to get them back. Roger Ebert's
review
here (3 out of 4 stars). Available
here on Netflix.
A
Few Good Men (1992).
Starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Demi
Moore, many others. Tom Cruise plays a Navy
lawyer charged with the duty of defending two
Marines charged with murder who say they were
acting under orders of a colonel (played by
Jack Nicholson). Good court room and trial
prep scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 stars out of 4).
First
Monday in October (1981).
Starring Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh. A
reader of SLAW noticed my list of law-related
movies had initially omitted this movie (which
I have not yet seen), which stars Jill
Clayburgh playing the first female judge on
the United States Supreme Court (which,
coincidentally, was the same year that Sandra
Day O'Connor sat as the first female judge on
that Court). According to descriptions, Walter
Matthau plays the curmudgeonly Liberal judge
on the Court when supposed comedic friction
ensues between the two of them. Read
Janet Maslin's largely unfavourable 1981
review in The New York Times.
Fracture
(2007): I saw this movie when it came out and
thought it was a bit silly. It is a
courtroom drama of a young prosecutor, played
by Ryan Gosling, prosecuting his last murder
case before jumping ship to become a
plaintiff’s lawyer. The prosecution is of a
wealthy businessman, played by Anthony
Hopkins. It seems like an open-and-shut case,
but is not. To avoid any spoiler alerts, I
won’t say anything more. Read Geoff Pevere's
review
here. Available
here on Netflix.
Ghosts
of Mississippi (1996):
Rob Reiner directed this courtroom drama,
based on a true story of the trial of a white
supremacist (played by James Wood) accused of
murdering civil rights activist
Medgar Evers in 1963. Alec Baldwin plays
the prosecutor who brings charges years after
the murder with the support of Evers’s spouse,
played by Whoopi Goldberg. Read Roger Ebert's
review
here.
Guilty as Sin
(1993). Sidney Lumet directs Starring Rebecca
as a female defense attorney defending Don
Johnson, accused of murdering his wife. Fairly
typically Hollywood portrayal of lawyers and
the legal system and the ethical dilemmas
facing criminal lawyers. Read Roger Ebert's
3-star review
here.
I
Am Sam (2001). Starring Sean
Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer. A nicely told story
of a child custody case involving Sean Penn,
as the father, who has the mental capacity of
a 7-year old. When is 7-year old daughter is
taken by child welfare authorities, he hires a
lawyer (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) to act on
his behalf. Some good courtroom scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).
In Cold Blood
(1967). Based on Truman Capote's "fictional"
re-telling of a true crime story of two
drifters who brutally murder a farm family
during a botched robbery. One of the criminals
is played by Robert Blake, who himself
was later charged (but acquitted) in the
murder of his wife. Read Roger Ebert's
review
here. Available
here on Netflix.
Inherit
the Wind (1960). Starring
Spencer Tracy, Frederic March. Loosely based
on the true story of the 1925 "Scopes monkey
trial" involving the prosecution of a teacher
for teaching Darwin's theories of evolution.
Read an
online review. Available
here on Netflix.
Intolerable Cruelty
(2003). In one of the lesser-known or less
popular
Coen Brothers' film, George Clooney
plays a famous and wealthy divorce lawyer who
gets entangled on the other side of divorce
proceedings with a wealthy socialite played by
Catherine Zeta-Jones. Read Roger Ebert's 2.5
star review
here.
Jagged
Edge (1985). Starring Glenn
Close, Jeff Bridges. A fairly absurd murder
mystery / trial movie in which the defence
lawyer (played by Close) start to fall in love
with her client (played by Bridges), who is
accused of murdering his wealthy wife. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Available
here on Netflix.
The
Judge (2014 film). Starring
Robert Duvall as the judge and Robert
Downey,Jr as his son, a lawyer who ends up
defending his father in court. Despite having
these two strong lead actors, the movie was
not well-received, in party due to its
schmaltzy story line. Not necessarily
recommended.
Judgment
at Nuremberg (1961). Spencer
Tracy, Burt Lancaster. A strong dramatization
of the Nazi war crime trials. Maximilian
Schell won the Oscar for his portrayal of the
defence lawyer. Read the original New York
Times movie review
here.
Jury Duty
(1995). Okay. I seriously debated whether to
include a Pauly Shore movie and may regret its
inclusion. However, the cast includes Stanley
Tucci. The story, if it matters, is the
comedic notion - stretched for 86 minutes -
that the Pauly Shore character realizes it is
in his interest as a jury member on a criminal
trial to stretch the duration of the trial to
continue to earn his "per diem" stipend. Janet
Maslin's
original New York Times review pretty
much somes it up with this comment: "If you
have odd socks that need matching, you've got
something better to do than watching Jury
Duty."
Kramer
vs. Kramer (1979). Starring
Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep. A well-told
child custody case in which the characters
played by the two lead actors are involved in
emotional litigation over who will get custody
of their young son. The movie cleaned up at
the Academy Awards. Read the original New
York Times review
here.
Let
Him Have It (1991). Based on
a true story in the early 1950's in England
where two young men are tried for and found
guilty of the murder of a policeman. One of
the young men avoids the death penalty because
of his age but the other is hanged, despite
his having the mental capacity of a young
child. Gripping courtroom scenes (based on
actual transcripts). An excellent movie. Read
Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Liar,
Liar (1997). Starring Jim
Carrey. A young boys wish that his father not
be able to lie for 24 hours comes true but
haunts his father (played by Carrey), a lawyer
whose court appearances require him to "bend
the truth" on behalf of his client. Some
fairly funny courtroom scenes involving
Carrey. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Murder
in the First (1995).
Starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon and
Gary Oldman. Christian Slater plays a young
lawyer who takes on the case of a prisoner of
Alcatraz who is wrongfully put into solitary
confinement for years and becomes insane as a
result. Strong courtroom (and prison) scenes
Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 of out 4 stars).
My Cousin Vinny (1992).
Starring Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei (and Fred
Gwynne as the Judge). A funny courtroom drama
in which a bumbling and newly-called New York
lawyer (played by Pesci) is asked by his
nephew and his nephew's friend to save them
from wrongful murder charges in a "redneck"
Alabama court system. Lots of good laughs as
the Pesci character brings his "northern"
street smarts to the South. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at
Robin Hood Hills (1996). A documentary by Joe
Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the
prosecution of 3 teenagers in Arkansas for the
brutal murder of 3 young boys. The movie
raises doubts about the guilt of the accused
and the criminal justice system in general.
Read the original New York Times review
here.
Paradise Lost 2: The Revelations (2001). A follow-up
documentary to the 1996 film (immediately
above) that follows the appeals of the three
accused. Read Roger Ebert's 3 star review
here.
Paradise
Lost 3: Purgatory (2011).
Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce
Sinofsky. The third and final documentary in
this alleged wrongful conviction of the West Memphis
Three that documents a more recent
appeal based on new DNA evidence and other
facts not previously available. Read
Roger
Ebert's online review (3.5 out of 4
stars).
People
vs. Larry Flynt (1996).
Starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and
Edward Norton as the lawyer. Directed by Milos
Forman. A bio-pic that tells the story of Hustler
founder Larry Flynt and his "battle" to defend
his freedom of expression (to publish men's
magazines and to parody public figures). Some
nice courtroom scenes and discussions of the
issue of freedom of expression. Some viewers
may find other content objectionable. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).
Available
here on Netflix.
Philadelphia
(1993). Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington.
Tom Hanks plays a successful lawyer fired by
his law firm because he has AIDS. The only
lawyer willing to act for him in his wrongful
dismissal action against his old firm is an
ambulance-chasing type lawyer played by Denzel
Washington. Well-acted (Hanks got Best Oscar
for his performance) and good courtroom
scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Available
here at Netflix.
Red Corner (1997).
Richard Gere stars as an American
television executive in China who ends up
being charged with the murder of a Chinese
girl he meets in the bar the night before, Bai
Ling plays his defence lawyer with the movie
focusing on the "challenges" within the
Chinese criminal legal system. Roger Ebert,
who was not a fan of this movie, describes it
in part as "a xenophobic travelogue crossed
with Perry Mason." Read his 2 star review
here. Available
here at Netflix.
Rules
of Engagement (2000).
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson. A
court-martial drama in which a lawyer/military
man (played by Tommy Lee Jones) agrees to
defend his colleague (played by Jackson) who
is charged of breach of duty for a botched
embassy rescue mission. At issue in the trial
are the "rules of engagement" and the
pressures that soldiers face when under enemy
fire. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).
A
Time to Kill (1996).
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock,
Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey. Another of
several movies based on a John Grisham novel.
This one tells the story of a young lawyer
(played by McConaughey) who takes on a case in
the South defending a black man who is charged
with killing the two white men who raped his
daughter. Standard Grisham fare, well-acted
and relatively entertaining as a courtroom
drama. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).
Town Without Pity
(1961). Kirk Douglas plays a military lawyer
assigned to defend 4 American soldiers in
Germany charged with the rape of a young
German girl. The central tension arises when
the lawyer must resolve his guilt in deciding
whether he needs to destroy the victim's
alleged promiscuous reputation contrasted
against his duty to protect his clients from
the death penalty. Read the New York Times
review
here.
Trial and Error
(1997). A fairly silly comedy in which Michael
Richards, who plays an actor, agrees to step
in and "act" in place of his friend, a lawyer
played by Jeff Daniels, who is sick/hungover
and cannot appear in court. Hilarity ensues
since, as can be imagined, the Michael
Richards character of course knows nothing of
trial procedure or the law. Roger Ebert's 3
star review is
here.
Trial By Jury
(1994). British actress Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
plays a single mother/store owner who sits on
a jury for a criminal trial of a mob boss
played by Armand Assante. The tension arises
when the mob boss threatens to kill her son
unless she votes to acquit. Much drama and
suspense ensues. Read the original New
York Times review
here.
To
Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. A
solid dramatization of Harper Lee's novel
telling the story of Atticus Finch and his
daughter Scout and how Atticus defends a black
man wrongfully charged with rape in a
racially-biased environment. Peck won the Best
Actor Oscar. Read the original New York
Times review
here.
12
Angry Men (1957). Starring
Henry Fonda and others. Directed by Sidney
Lumet. A well done drama that takes place in
the jury deliberation room where a jury must
decide the fate of a young man accused of
murdering his father. The case seems open and
shut until the jury begins to deliberate. Read
the New York Times review
here. There is also a
1997 remake directed by William Friedkin
and starring Jack Lemmon.
The
Verdict (1982). Starring
Paul Newman, James Mason. Directed by Sidney
Lumet. A good courtroom drama involving Paul
Newman as a down-and-out lawyer who is forced
to "crash" funerals and wakes looking to drum
up business. When he takes a medical
malpractice case on a contingency basis, he
encounters a strong defence from the
defendant. Make sure to yell "objection" in a
loud voice during some of the courtroom scenes
where rules of civil procedure are ignored in
favour of dramatic tension. Read Roger Ebert's
4 star review
here. Read the original New York
Times review
here.
West of Memphis (2012). Directed by Amy Berg.
Like the Paradise Lost documentaries discussed
above, this film documents the ordeal of the West
Memphis Three. Read Roger
Ebert's online review (4 out of 4
stars).
Whose
Life Is It Anyway? (1981).
John Badham directs Richard Dreyfuss who plays
an artist paralyzed in a car accident. The
movie, based on a play, raises issues of
euthanasia and the right of a patient to die
and the role of the government or doctors in
prolonging life. Actor Bob Balaban plays the
lawyer who represents the main character who
seeks to be discharged from the hospital where
he is being kept alive. Read Janet Maslin's
original New York Times review
here.
The
Winslow Boy (1999): For
some reason, I never saw this David
Mamet-directed movie, based on the play by
Terence Rattigan that loosely tells the story
of
George Archer-Shee, a British naval
cadet accused of stealing a postal order in
1910. In the movie – as in real life – the
family defends the honour of the young lad who
is eventually exonerated. However, in what was
a first of its kind, the family then goes on
to petition the U.K. Parliament for
compensation for the wrongful prosecution.
Read Roger Ebert's review
here.
Witness
for the Prosecution (1957).
Starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and
Charles Laughton. Based on the novel by Agatha
Christie, Charles Laughton plays the lawyer
defending Leonard Vole, charged with the
murder of a rich, middle-aged widow. The
problem, however, is that the accused's alibi
rests with his wife, who has decided to be a
witness for the prosecution. Read the original
New York Times review
here.
Young
Mr. Lincoln (1939):
John Ford directs Henry Fonda as the young
Abraham Lincoln in his early career as a
lawyer, telling the tale of his defence of two
men charged with murder. Read the original New
York Times review
here.
Last updated:
January 2016
| Legal
/ Terms of Use
| Ted Tjaden © 2010-2016
|