At this point in the history of cinema, no one doubts that lawyer movies are a recurring theme of the big screen.
The heroism of some of the great defenders of the law has always been very attractive, be it accuser or defender; although it is better if it is defender, of course, because there is nothing more seductive for the development of dramatic fiction than the false guilty defended with nobility of spirit and intelligence against all obstacles, by a modern hero, whose only weapon to fight against the weight of the system is the game of his own sharpness and perhaps the proper use of some little tricks learned in the exercise of the profession. Who does not remember, to give three classic examples, the old and cantankerous Charles Laughton in “Witness for the Prosecution” (Billy Wilder, 1957) or a young Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men” (Rob Reiner, 1992) and of course Gregory Peck playing Atticus Finch, America’s greatest hero, as he has been called, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Robert Mulligan, 1962)?
Along with the great proceduralists, the world of the courtroom has been a huge vein for screenwriters and writers in lawyer movies.
The closed atmosphere of the courtrooms (the Courtroom, in the Anglo-Saxon denomination) often “overheated”, literally and metaphorically, as in “You Will Inherit the Wind” (Stanley Kramer 1960) in which a disenchanted Spencer Tracy, playing a real lawyer who in his time was one of the most famous in the United States, faces the one who had been his partner in the well-known “monkey trial”, favors speeches and all kinds of declarations of principles on justice, freedom and fundamental rights. The heat also causes tensions among the members of the jury in the well-known “Twelve Men Without Pity” (Sidney Lumet, 1957) where an undaunted Henry Fonda convinces the other members of the reasonable doubts that are spreading in the murder case they are judging. Of course, the courtroom can become a circus as shown in the amusing “Adam’s Rib” (Georges Cukor, 1949) in which the prosecutor (Spencer Trace) and the defense attorney (Katherine Hepburn), who to make it more interesting, are husband and wife, confront each other. Of course, aware of the suspense that can occur in a courtroom, Hitchcock also dabbled in trial films with “The Paradine Trial” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1947) and also dealt with the subject sidelong in “False Guilty (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) and “I Confess” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1953). The list of classic directors who have dared with judicial cinema is enormous, but let us mention another great trial film directed by one of the great directors of classic Hollywood, “Fury” (Fritz Lang, 1936), in which Spencer Tracy, supposedly lynched after being mistaken for another, manages to bring some of the “lynchers” to trial, opening an interesting debate on guilt, mass action and the right to revenge. Lang had recently left oppressive Nazi Germany and knew very well what he was talking about.
Among other great lawyer movies, one cannot miss “Victors and the vanquished” (Stanley Kramer, 1961) about the famous Nuremberg trial of some of the Nazi leaders in Germany at the end of the war. The trial poses the dilemma of whether to punish or to forgive, to avenge the thousands of victims or to “turn the page” and try to forget the atrocities, giving way to a new generation of Germans born during and after the war. In this film, Spencer Tracy, a man who, as we can see, is accustomed to courtroom movies, plays the American judge in charge of the trial who, beyond the pressures of one or the other, tries to understand why what happened in Germany happened. It would be later Hannah Arendt, in her book on the Eichmann trial and her book on the banality of evil, who would give an explanation of what happened which, due to its crude objectivity and clairvoyance, did not satisfy anyone at the time. Part of this process can be seen in the film about the philosopher, by Margarethe von Trotta in 2012, who had also filmed together with Voker Schlöndorff in 1975 the novel “The Lost Honor of Katherina Blum” about false accusations, the right to honor and the influence of the press.
The truth is that cinema, since almost its birth, has dedicated a good number of its best movies about lawyers and beyond the classics that are always cited (the list is flexible and depending on who makes it, some are eliminated or others, but in general they are always the same and rightly so), there are many others that are not usually cited, or are less cited, and that are worth mentioning here. Let’s think of “The Music Box” by Costa-Gavras, 1989, in which a struggling Jessica Lange commits two of the great sins of a lawyer, to be fully convinced of the innocence of his defendant and to defend a family member, the third would be to fall in love with the client. In this case her father is accused of having been a sadistic Nazi collaborator in his youth. It is understandable that his daughter did not believe the accusations and with that conviction she presents her defense. The truth will be discovered over time. Regarding the defense of the innocent who is not so innocent, we should talk about “Anatomy of a Murder” (Otto Preminger, 1959) in which a hard-working James Steward tries to defend a military man against circumstantial evidence and, for the sake of brevity, let us quote “The Two Faces of Truth” where the figure of the “false innocent” appears again. Whether his client is innocent or not is of little importance to his lawyer in “Presumed Innocent” (Allan Pakula, 1990).
Also within that list of lawyer movies, a film with a young actor Al Pacino takes us away from the “glamorous” life of big trial lawyers and big law firms (like the one depicted in “The Cover-Up”, Sidney Pollack, 1993, in which the glamour eventually becomes terrifying) in a film about a “stand-up” lawyer who single-handedly confronts the dysfunctions of the justice system in “Justice for All” (Norman Jewison, 1979). In the end justice will be restored, not its imperfections, but as is often the case, at the cost of personal sacrifice. With “Self-Defense” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1997) a modest law firm faces all the power of one of those big American law firms, which more than law firms are corporations, and all its resources to expose the difficulties of the system and also its cracks through which justice can sometimes slip, as it happens in “Erin Brockovich” (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) in which an inexperienced and inexperienced woman, who is not a lawyer, is forced to face the difficulties of the system, 2000) in which an inexperienced Julia Robert can take on everyone, as in “Civil Action” (Steven Zaillian, 1998) in which the lawyers of a small firm end up ruined by the costs of a trial they cannot afford. The fact is that the system is full of weaknesses that generate many injustices and condition the performance of lawyers. In “The Jury” (Gary Fleder, 2003) the price of the tricks to get a like-minded jury is shown through a specialist in studying their habits, thoughts and weaknesses or how they can be influenced, something we knew since the aforementioned “Twelve Men Without Mercy” while in “Rashomon” (Arika Kurosawa, 1950) we also knew how influential and unreliable the witnesses could be. On the other hand, the “pressure” of the system that qualifies one or the other begins from the very moment one enters the university, as it is told in “Life of a Student” (James Bridges, 1973) in which the tough competition to be the best law student at Harvard University, perhaps the most prestigious of all, is shown. However, being one of the best lawyers will be of no use to Tom Hanks, who will be fired when his law firm discovers that he has contracted AIDS. Only a lawyer will dare to challenge the system in search of justice, without this making us forget that sometimes it is also the lawyers who abuse the failures of the system to take advantage of it, like the shyster lawyer who tries to swindle the insurance company played by Walter Matthau in “On a Silver Platter” (Billy Wilder, 1966). Whether or not they’re crooked, what is clear is that lawyers don’t always make things easy, and if not, let’s remember the hilarious scene of the Marx Brothers’ “part of the first part” in “A Night at the Opera” (Sam Wood, 1935).
We could not end this article on lawyer movies without briefly referring to European cinema and for that we would start with one of the most recent lawyer movies “The Officer and the Spy” (Roman Polanski, 2019) about the famous Dereyfus case and its repercussions on the French society. A first version of this case had already been filmed by Georges Méliès, one of the pioneers of cinema, in 1899. From the very beginning, cinema and law went hand in hand. Another famous trial was that of “Sacco and Vanzetti” (Giuliano Montaldo, 1971) or that of the famous lady-killer that Chaplin reinterpreted in “Monisieur Verdoux” (Charlie Chaplin, 1947). In any case, neither in Europe nor in the USA, being a lawyer is not an easy job and in “In case of disgrace” (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958) based on a novel by Simenon, Jean Gabin plays the mature lawyer who has to defend a seductive Brigitte Bardot, obtaining her acquittal although for him this will be the beginning of an unhappy adventure. Also “an intimate conviction” (Antoine Raimbault, 2018), the protagonist ends up turning the pursuit of justice into an obsession, which is not usually good advice for a lawyer. Regarding Italian cinema we could cite the amusing comedy, “The lawyer, the beautiful lady and her jealous husband” (Giorgio Bianchi, 1955) in which, as already intuited in the title, the legal aspects, except for the profession of the protagonist, will be of relative importance. Slightly more serious is the theme of the judicial world when it becomes a game in “La più bella serata della mia vita” (Ettore Scola 1972). From Italy we move to Spain, first with a co-production between the two countries with The Magistrate (Luigi Zampa, 1959) and then with “The Crime of Cuenca” (Pilar Miró, 1980) one of the greatest allegations against torture and the need for justice, fair at all times. Finally a recent curiosity, the Lebanese film “The Insult” (Ziad Doueiri, 2017) which shows how a small conflict can become judicialized and become of interest to an entire country.
The list of movies about lawyers would be endless (“The von Büllow Mystery”, “Young Lincoln” or “Criminal Impulse” as many others should be on the list) in this small writing that was intended as a quick review of some films that reflect the good and bad work of our profession. Respectable or risky profession, cinema has been able to find all its qualities and all its defects and of course, obligation of confidentiality aside, has been able to turn it into many great stories worthy of being told.
FILMOGRAPHY:
The following are some reference titles of lawyer movies, it is neither a complete nor an incomplete list, just a few titles for those who have the opportunity to see them.
1899 El Caso Dreyfus (The Dreyfuss Affair). Georges Méliès .
1935 Una noche en la ópera (A night in the Opera). Sam Wook.
With the Marx Brothers.
1936 Fury (Fury). Fritz Lang.
With Spencer Tracy y Sylvia Sidney.
1939 Proceso y muerte de Sócrates (Trial and death of Socrates) Conrado D’Errico.
With Rossano Brazzi y Ermete Zacconi.
El joven Lincoln (The Youn Mr. Lincoln) John Ford.
Con Henry Fonda y Ward Bond.
1947 Monsieur Verdoux. Charlie Chaplin .
Con Charlie Chaplin.
El Proceso Paradine (The Paradine Case). Alfred Hitchcock .
Con Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton y Louis Jourdan.
1949 La Costilla de Adán (Adam’s Rib). George Cukor.
With Spencer Tracy y Katherine Hepburn.
1950 Rashomon. Arika Kurosawa.
Con Toshiro Mifune.
1955 The lawyer, the beautiful lady and the jealous husband. Giorgio Bianchi.
With Alberto Sordi y Giuletta Masina
Yo confieso (I confess) Alfred Hitchcock.
Con Montgomery Clift, Ann Baxter y karl Malden
1956 Falso culpable (The Wrong Man) Alfred Hitchcock.
With Henry Fonda y Vera Miles
1957 Doce hombres sin piedad (Twelve Angry Men). Sidney Lumet.
With Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb.
Testigo de Cargo (Witness for the Prosecution). Billy Wilder.
With Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Taylor & Elsa Lancaster.
1958 En caso de desgracia (En case de Malheur) Claude Autant-Lara.
With Jean Gabin y Brigitte Bardot.
1959 Anatomía de un asesinato. Otto Preminger.
With James Steward, Ben Gazara & Lee Remick.
Impulso Criminal (Compulsión) Richard Flescher.
With Orson Welles, Diane Varsi & Dean Stockwell.
1960 You Will Inherit the Wind. Stanley Kramer.
With Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly, Frederich March
1961 Vencedores y vencidos (l juicio de Núremberg. Stanley kramer.
With Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Wickman, Montgomery Clifft, Julie Garland.
1962 Matar a un ruiseñor (To kill a Monkingbird).
With Gregory Peck.
1966 En bandeja de plata (The Fortune cookie). Billy Wilder
With Jack Lemmon & Walther Matthau.
1971 Sacco y Vanzetti. Giuliano Montaldo.
With Gian María Volonté & Ricardo Gucciolla.
1972 La più bella serata della mia vitta. Ettore Scola.
With Alberto Sordi, Michel Simon & Janet Agren.
1973 Vida de un estudiante (The Paper Chase). James Bridge.
With Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner & John Houseman
1975 El honor perdido de Katherine Blum (Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum) Margarette von Trotta, Volker Schlöndrofff.
With Angela Winkler & Dieter Laser.
1979 Justicia para todos (And justice for all). Norman Jewison.
With Al Pacino, Lee Stasberg, Jack Warden & John Forsythe.
1982 Veredicto fina (Veredict). Sidnet Lumet.
With Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason.
1990 Presunto inocente (Presumed Innocent) Alan J. Pakula.
With Harrison Ford Raúl Juliá & Greta Schacchi.
El misterio von Büllow (Reversal of Fortune) Barbet Schroeder.
With Glenn Close & Jeremy Irons.
1992 Algunos hombres buenos (A few good men).
With Tom Cruise, Deny Moore, Jack Nicholson.
1993 Filadelfia (Philadelphia) Johnathan Demme.
With Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington & Antonio Banderas.
La Tapadera (The Firm). Sydney Pollack.
With Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter & Jeanne Tripplehorn.
1996 Las dos caras de la verdad (Primal fear) Gregory Hoblit.
With Edward Norton, Richard Here & Frances McDomand.
1997 Legítima defense (The Rainmaker) Francis Ford Coppola.
With Matt Demon, Clare danes & Danny de Vito.
1998 Acción Civil (A civil Action). Steven Awillian.
With John Travolta & Robert Duvall.
2000 Erin Brockovich . Steven Soderbergh .
With Julia Roberts, Albert Finney & Aaron Eckhat.
2003 El Jurado (the Runaway Jury) Gary Fleder.
With John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman.
2012 Hannah Arendt. Margarethe von Trotta .
With Barbar Sokw, Axel Miber & Janet Mc Teer.
2017 El insulto (L’insulte), Ziad Doueir.
With Adel Koram & Kanel El Basha.
2018 Una íntima convicción (Une intime conviction). Antoine Raimbault.
With Marina Foïs & Olivier Gourmet
2019 El Oficial y el espía (J’accuse) Roman Polanski.
With Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Vincent Grass & Emmanuelle Seigner.
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