Order in the Court!

This little write up is prompted by having just watched Anatomy of a Murder. My Letterboxd review has my full thoughts for that film, so I won't repeat them here, but it led me to wondering just how many courtrooms dramas I have seen and which would I pull out as the best. Could I pull together a top five? A number one?

Anatomy of a Murder is good, and I think it'd just make the cut in my top five, but isn't my favourite. I actually prefer the film that inspired me to watch it, Anatomy of a Fall, which has a title inspired by the 1959 classic. But both films are comfortable with something I love to see in a film - ambiguity. And the right kind of ambiguity, that leaves satisfying curiosity rather than untethered threads. In both films, we learn the outcome of the court case but not the truth of the events, nor each and every characters motivations

I've certainly seen a batch of reasonable entries in the category. The 'good but not greats'. Fracture brings great performances from Hopkins and Gosling, with a snaking twisting plot. To Kill a Mockingbird, which doesn't quite hit the same heights as the brilliant novel. The Accused with hits but also clear misses in how it handles the subject matter. I am tempted to add The Trial of the Chicago 7 to that list, but four years on from viewing it hasn't stuck well in my memory. Whether that's the fault of the film, I don't know, but it isn't a good sign when a film is forgettable.

Perhaps a surprise to some, but I would put A Few Good Men in this batch as well. Yes, it might have the most iconic line from any fictional legal case - from across films generally, even - but I think my irritation at Tom Cruise's character prevented me from really loving this movie. I like it, don't love it. Whether you are supposed to like him or not, annoying characters are still annoying.

I've seen some stinkers as well. There may be be others that I have forgotten, I'm sure there will be, but King of the Stink today is The Whole Truth. Keanu Reeves starring as a defence attorney and a twisting plot that fails to make up for the weak scenes.

Some of my favourites in the genre feel like they could be challenged as really 'counting'. One of the greatest films I've ever seen, 12 Angry Men - the 1957 original and not the 1990s remake - sits not in the courtroom but with the jurors as the deliberate outside. And then possibly the most fun you can have in a courtroom: My Cousin Vinnie. Although, you could argue whether "courtroom comedy" should be a category on it's own. For me, these have a rightful spot in the grouping and would make my top 5 easily.

There's also a number of films that definitely don't have enough 'courtroom' in them to make the cut. For example, The Devil’s Advocate, another Keanu Reeves picture, focuses on the legal firm rather than any one of the cases. Erin Brokovich is about Erin and her life beyond just her major case, so the label feels a bit reductive. And a list that I checked (to see if I was forgetting any) had listed Miracle on 34th Street - but you'd have to mad to say that "courtroom drama" is the most appropriate label for that movie.

So what would I pick as my number one? Something that is unarguably a courtroom drama and that stands out above the rest. For me, this would have to be: Witness for the Prosecution. Investigation, misdirection, tension. Drama and humour both dolled out. I'm a sucker for Wilder's writing and this is one of my favourites of his. I could say more, but the best way to experience it - go and watch it for yourself.

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