Posted by Randy Barnett:
Tribute to Anatomy of a Murder:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_09_20-2009_09_26.shtml#1253463241
On [1]Big Hollywood, Kurt Schlichter has a tribute to my all time
favorite lawyer movie: Anatomy of a Murder. Read the whole thing, and
watch the trailer, but here is a taste:
The plot is simple. Small-town lawyer Paul Biegler (Stewart), who
is more concerned with fishing than his practice, is talked into
meeting Army lieutenant Fred Manion, who is sitting in jail for the
murder of the man the soldier claims raped his wife Laura (The
hotter-than-hot Remick). Beigler takes the case, and faces off with
Claude Dancer (Scott), the ace prosecutor sent in from the big city
to chalk up yet another conviction. There is much more to the story
� the movie is a brisk two hours forty minutes long � but there�s
no sense in going into the details here. You just need to know
this: Jimmy Stewart goes up against George C. Scott in court. Case
closed.
The sparks fly in the courtroom under the direction of Otto
Preminger, the enfant terrible of 50s and 60s Tinseltown, but the
interesting part (at least for a lawyer) is that the film covers
all aspects of the trial, in and out of the courtroom. Cases are
often won not in front of the jury but hunched over a dusty book of
old cases (or, today, in front of a computer screen looking at
precedent online), and Anatomy doesn�t hesitate to show the hard
work involved in putting up a defense.
That sounds dull as dirt, but Anatomy is anything but. Stewart is
helped by his burned out, alcoholic mentor Parnell, played
perfectly by Arthur O�Connell. His character is funny, irascible,
sad and, in the end, redeemed. O�Connell even manages to steal
scenes from Jimmy Stewart while snagging a best Supporting Actor
nomination for himself (Stewart and Scott both earned Oscar
nominations as well).
Preminger was known for the pushing boundaries, and he does it
again here. This was 1959, and audiences must have been in for a
shock not only hearing a frank discussion of topics like sexual
climax and seminal fluid on the big screen but hearing it come from
the mouth of George Bailey himself. But it�s not exploitation �
it�s reality, and there is nothing wrong with adults viewing adult
subject matter.
References
1.
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/09/16/movies-we-like-anatomy-of-a-murder-1959/
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