Anatomy Of A Murder

call HART crazy .. but

Today we watched this movie again. I’ll say it again and I will say it often ..

“They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To”

Plot Summary

Genres: Drama, Mystery

Tagline: Last year’s number one bestseller. This year’s (we hope) number one motion picture!

Plot Outline In a murder trial, the defendant says he suffered temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?

Plot Synopsis: Since being voted out of office as local prosecutor, Paul Biegler spends more time fishing than keeping up his law practice. But he does take on the defence of a lieutenant from the local army camp charged with murdering a bar-owner who raped his wife. The lieutenant is uncooperative, the wife a floozy, the judge from out of town, and the prosecution lead by a sharp city lawyer. It seems Biegler will need all his country wiles to make any sort of case of it.

Spotlight Review

Based on the famous Traver novel, ANATOMY OF A MURDER is an extremely complex film that defeats easy definition. In some respects it is a social document of the era in which it was made; primarily, however, it is a detailed portrait of the law at work and the machinizations and motivations of the individuals involved in a seemingly straight-forward case–and in the process it raises certain ethical issues re attorney behavior and the lengths to which an attorney might go to win a case.
Paul Biegler (James Stewart) is a small-town lawyer who has recently lost a re-election for the position of District Attorney and who is down on his luck–when a headline-making case involving assault, alleged rape, and murder drops into his lap. As the case evolves, there is no question about the identity of the killer. But a smart lawyer might be able to get him off just the same and redeem his own career in the process, and with the aid of an old friend (Arthur O’Connell) and his formidable secretary (Eve Arden), Biegler sets out to do precisely that. Opposing him in the courtroom is Claude Dancer (George C. Scott), a high powered prosecutor who is equally determined to get a conviction… and who is no more adverse to coaching a witness than Biegler himself. The two square off in a constantly shifting battle for the jury, a battle that often consists of underhanded tactics on both sides.

The performances are impressive, with James Stewart ideally cast as the attorney for the defense, Ben Gazzara as his unsavory client, and a truly brilliant Lee Remick as the sexy and disreputable wife who screams rape where just possibly none occurred; O’Connell, Arden, and Scott also offer superior performances. The script is sharp, cool, and meticulous, the direction and cinematography both effective and completely unobtrusive, and the famous jazz score adds quite a bit to the film as a whole. Although we can’t help rooting for Stewart, as the film progresses it seems more and more likely that Remick is lying through her teeth and Gazzara is as guilty as sin–but the film balances its elements in such a way as to achieve a disturbing ambiguity that continues right through to the end. If you expect a courtroom thriller with sudden revelations and twists you’ll likely be disappointed in ANATOMY OF A MURDER, but if you want a thought-provoking take on the law you’d be hard pressed to find one better. Recommended.