The law and acting professions couldn’t appear to be more disparate if they tried; one is guided by a strict code of ethics, the other by a requirement for improvisation and certain liberality with the truth. Yet, for all their apparent differences, lawyers regularly describe their job as “putting on a performance,” which explains why many law schools would often employ actors to impersonate witnesses, defendants, and legal representatives in mock trials.
Similarly, actors are frequently stating that they’re after the truth. This is no coincidence (despite some movies having annoyed lawyers with factual and professional inaccuracies), as there is a performative yet truth-seeking quality to both actors and lawyers. Let’s take a look at the greatest intersection of these professions with some of the most breathtaking courtroom drama scenes of all time…
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5 Anatomy of Murder
Columbia Pictures
The practically deified James Stewart stars as a defense attorney, Paul Biegler, who represents a man accused of raping an innkeeper’s wife. In this 1959 screen adaptation based on author Robert Traver’s Anatomy of Murder, the prosecution calls a convicted felon to the witness stand, who testifies that the defendant had been bragging to him about pulling the wool over both his lawyer and jurors’ eyes.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Not only does this apparent revelation shock the court, but it provokes a stern response of Biegler who chastises the prosecuting attorneys’ credibility for attempting to use a convicted criminal as a reputable witness. It’s an intense, deeply moral moment in legal cinema.
4 A Few Good Men
1992’s A Few Good Men is an archetypal case of films’ sensationalist depiction of the courtroom, yet Rob Reiner’s dramatization achieves the desired effect. The film delivers an enthralling experience of a military trial with much more gusto and animation than the tedious procedure in real courtrooms.
In the film, Tom Cruise stars as defense attorney, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee. He’s pitted against a ferocious high-ranking officer in Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson), and in one of the tensest scenes of the entire movie, the two egotistical titans butt heads. In a line still repeated to this day, Jessup exclaims “You can’t handle the truth!” As Kaffee interrogates Jessup in the witness box, we are gifted the most memorable scene of the entire movie.
3 Skyfall
Sony Pictures
While James Bond has always technically operated within the boundaries of the law, the line between his escapades being legal and illegal is frequently blurred. Ironically, in Sam Mendes’ Skyfall, 007 (Daniel Craig), is complicit in quite literally perverting the course of justice, albeit by defending those at the mercy of the cunning villain, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem).
As Judi Dench’s M is subjected to a parliamentary inquiry in a legal setting, a shootout between the intruding Silva and Bond ensues, with M, Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), and the court’s political delegates caught in the crossfire. As with most Bond movies, a suspension of belief is required, yet aside from the film’s final action sequence, this is one of Skyfall’s most thrilling set pieces.
2 12 Angry Men
United Artists
Set within the confines of a jury room in a New York courthouse, Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film, 12 Angry Men is one of the best single-setting movies ever made, and is critically thought of as one of the finest pieces of filmmaking in cinematic history. Starring the venerated Henry Fonda and an incredible ensemble cast, the classic drama concerns the tale of 12 jurors presiding over a contentious murder trial, that is not as cut and dry as first thought.
While 12 Angry Men is essentially a film that is shot as just one, continuous scene, it would be remiss not to include the entire film here. From the start, Henry Fonda’s Juror #8 pleads with his fellow jurors that there certainly is reasonable doubt, to finish; when Juror 8 turns the entire case on its head and ensures a complete reversal of a guilty verdict. The movie in its entirety is utterly gripping, stunningly acted, and a damning indictment of the American justice system, exposing the flaws of the judiciary, and the ease with which miscarriages of justice can be reached.
1 To Kill a Mockingbird
Universal Pictures
The screen adaptation of Harper Lee’s best-selling classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, was actually translated almost perfectly to screen in this 1962 classic. A poignant tale of a Black man’s struggle as the book of the law is thrown at him after he is falsely accused of the rape of a white woman during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The man is controversially represented by a respected white lawyer, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck).
In Finch’s closing speech, his rhetoric and commanding presence demands the courtroom’s undivided attention as they sit in complete silence as he recounts his client’s arguments. Not only does Peck conclude with the conviction of a real public defender, but more significantly, this portrayal coincided with the American civil rights movement, and Martin Luther King and Black America’s fight for equality. The film speaks to another issue of systemic racism within the justice system, that simply by being Black one is treated less favorably in the courtroom.
