Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Top 10 Courtroom Films

When I was a newspaper beat reporter, one of my first big assignments was covering a murder trial. The case: A mother and her daughter had killed their mother/grandmother while she slept. Stabbed her 57 times. Planned it for two months. Sounds compelling, right? While the crime was sensational, the five days in court were not. This murder trial was tedious, dull, and not at all like the movies.

The funny thing is, I have yet to see a film that accurately portrays what it’s like inside a real courtroom. Yet we let these movies get away with it. Why? Because when done right, few things are more compelling than a solidly written courtroom drama.

View the full list at Movie Mezzanine

10 comments:

  1. I remember being really excited when I got summoned for jury duty a few years ago, but it was so boring and tedious. Nothing like the movies. Great list you have here. I love To Kill A Mockingbird. That's still one of my all time favorite books, and easily the best one I was assigned to read in high school.

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, jury duty is the worst because you reaaaally have to listen. I mean, a person's livelihood depends on you listening. But often what you listen to is conveyed in such a boring way.

      Anyway, glad you like the list. I definitely agree that To Kill a Mockingbird was the best book I read in high school. I hated the books they made us read.

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  2. Awesome list! I think my ten would be the same, except I'd probably bump A Few Good Men down to #4. I really need to revisit that film, though.

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    1. Thanks man. After rewatching A Few Good Men, I couldn't help but put it at 1. Love that damn movie.

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  3. So glad to see "Judgement at Nuremberg" here, I see it overlooked so many times in best courtroom dramas and best movies of the 60's. It is one of the few movies to make my jaw drop at what the filmmakers were doing, all the way in 1961. The examination of patriotism over doing the right thing is as staggering today as in the 60's. One of the first instances of using Holocaust footage in a major film too. A Few Good Men entertains the hell out of me as well, but JaN knocked me to the floor.

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    1. I agree with you, it's odd how little Judgement at Nuremberg is discussed now. I only chose to talk about Clift's scene here in an effort to be concise, but that movie really is magnificent all the way through.

      Nicholson is amazing in A Few Good Men. Wow.

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  4. Although it sounds a bit far-fetched given the amusing nature of My Cousin Vinny, I've heard it is one of the most accurate portrayals of a courtroom and legal procedure. Director Jonathan Lynn was adamant he wanted to get that aspect of the film as accurate as possible.

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    1. You know what's funny? Of the movies on my list, I bet My Cousin Vinny is the closest to a real courtroom and A Few Good Men is the most far fetched. My Cousin Vinny has its purposefully silly moments (and is sped up drastically from real life proceedings), but by and large, that's how it goes down.

      Thanks for the comment!

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  5. Yeah, there is nothing more tedious than sitting in the courtroom. When I was doing my legal training I kept going to autopsies when other girls didn't want to and they had to go to the court instead...it's macabre but at least it wasn't boring :) So glad to see Witness for Prosecution on your list, I recently seen it for the first time and it was amazing - I didn't see the twist regarding Dietrich coming at all!

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    1. Ha, that is an AWESOME story. I still don't think I'd have the stomach to watch an autopsy. My best friend is a doctor and has to see them all the time. He talks about it like it's nothing. Yikes.

      Dietrich definitely tricked me in that movie. I loved that reveal.

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