GREATEST COURTROOM MOVIES- PART 5

Justice, crime, and legal affairs are among the most emotional and sensational topics people talk about. That's why courtrooms are quite intense environments. A typical courtroom will have a plaintiff, defendant, a judge, lawyers, prosecutors, and witnesses. Both the plaintiff and the defendant are in need of justice. Sometimes, the lawyers find themselves caught between Scylla and Charybdis when they have to defend a guilty client and help him come out innocent. Of course, the lawyers know the truth. However, it's their job to offer a defense. The above description is what is experienced both in real courtrooms and even in courtroom movies. Courtroom films draw large audiences because of the way they employ plot twists to feature real-life court cases. Corrupt legal systems and miscarriage in justice usually form the main topics concern. Or there is that particular teenager who kills the parent or something of the kind. Indeed, courtroom movies cover lots of topics on crimes. Watching them, a person remains glued to the screen because of the riveting nature of these films. Here are seven examples of the greatest courtroom movies a person would ever watch.

A Time to Kill (1996)

Plot: the court drama film was drawn from the 1989 novel by John Grisham entitled A Time to Kill. The film features double tragedy. It all starts when a young girl is raped. The criminals who conduct this offense have to face the court. On their way to the court, the girl’s father plans to avenge and shoots these bigoted men. The father then turns to one untested lawyer to offer him defense in the court of law. The father is black, but the men he shoots are white. This makes the situation challenging for the lawyer, for he doubts that he can get the criminal acquitted given his race. Nonetheless, the father whose daughter has been raped has faith in the lawyer and somewhat believes justice will be found for his daughter.

Director: Joel Schumacher directed the movie.

Main Cast: A Time to Kill film’s cast includes Matthew McConaughey (as Jake Brigance), Sandra Bullock (as Ellen Roark), Samuel L. Jackson (as Carl Lee Hailey), Kevin Spacey (as Rufus Buckley), and Oliver Platt (as Harry Rex Vonner).

Commercial Performance: A Time to Kill movie realized tremendous commercial success. Its production budget cost $40million. After its premiere, the film grossed $152million.

Awards and Nominations: besides being a tremendous commercial success, the movie also did well critically. Many critics praised the film. It received a total of three wins and several award nominations. The movie received two NAACP Awards for Image Award – Outstanding Motion Picture and Best Supporting Actor in a film for Samuel L. Jackson. Matthew McConaughey won the MTV Movie Awards for Best Breakthrough Performance. Samuel L. Jackson received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards also nominated Brenda Fricker for Worst Supporting Actress. Akiva Goldsman also received the Razzie Award – Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million.

Trivia: Joel Schumacher had the privilege to direct several films for John Grisham. Besides A Time to Kill courtroom film, Joel was also privileged to direct The Client. The Client was produced two years before A Time to Kill and was also based on John Grisham's novel.

Presumed Innocent (1990)

Plot: Presumed Innocent film is yet another interesting thriller movie adapted from Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent novel. The film follows an attorney who assigns his deputy the role of investigating the death of a colleague. All the while, the attorney is unaware of the torrid relationship the two had. In the course of the investigation, evidence implicate the deputy who is at the center of the investigation. Political figures in the country pressurize for the arrest of the deputy and, in the process, sends the deputy's wife into devastation. Frustrated, the deputy opts for a crafty lawyer to defend him in the court. Crazy trial revelations await him.

Director: Presumed innocent movie was directed by Alan J. Pakula.

Main Cast: the film’s cast includes Harrison Ford (as Rozat K. ‘Rusty’ Sabich), Brian Dennehy (as Raymond Horgan), Raul Julia (as Alejandro ‘Sandy’ Stern), Bonnie Bedelia (as Barbara Sabich), and Paul Winfield (as Judge Larren L. Lyttle).

Commercial Performance: the film is one of the highest-grossing courtroom movies. It grossed $221.3million against its $20million budget.

Awards and Nominations: the movie was nominated for two awards; the Best Motion Picture Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Allan J. Pakula and Frank Pierson, and a USC Scripter Award for Alan J. Pakula, Frank Pierson for screenplay, and Scott Turow for the novel.

Trivia: Presumed Innocent film span two sequels due to its success. In 1992, a sequel named The Burden of Proof was released. It had two parts and focused on a defense attorney who, after the wife's death through suicide, sets to investigate her past. In 2011, another sequel was released. It focused on a man accused of killing his wife and the events surrounding the case. All the sequels were based on Turow’s novels.

The Accused (1988)

Plot: this is a court case that follows rape. A 24-year-old bar attendant is raped while the onlookers stand and cheer. She proceeds to the court to demand justice. Because of lack of enough evidence, the judge offers a plea bargain to the criminals. The plaintiff is hurt by this verdict. Against the District Prosecutor's orders, the judge renders guilty three onlookers. On further trial, the plaintiff cannot identify the onlookers who were spectating as the rape was going on. The situation remains tricky until one of the onlooker's fraternity brother comes out and testifies about what he can remember. The trial ends with the criminals not being paroled.

Director: The Accused legal drama movie was produced under the direction of Jonathan Kaplan.

Main Cast: The Accused principal cast includes Jodie Foster (as Sarah Tobias), Kelly McGillis (as Kathryn Murphy), Bernie Coulson (as Kenneth Joyce), Leo Rossi (as Cliff ‘Scorpion’ Albrect), and Ann Hearn (as Sally Fraser).

Commercial Performance: the film was a tremendous commercial success. It grossed $92.1million against its $13million budget.

Awards and Nominations: the film was critically acclaimed and won several awards. Jodie Foster won many awards for Best Actress, including from Academy Awards, David di Donatello Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, National Board of Reviews, and National Society of Film Critics’ Awards.              The People’s Choice Awards and the Political Film Society Awards              also nominated The Accused for Outstanding Performance.      

Trivia: besides the movie’s tremendous commercial success, critics also acclaimed the film. Rotten Tomatoes awarded the movie a 91% approval rating, while Metacritic assigned the film a 65 out of 100 average rating.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Plot: The Lincoln Lawyer is a legal thriller film with adaptation from Michael Connelly’s 2005 The Lincoln Lawyer novel. The movie originates from the first novel, which will be followed by others that feature a character called Mickey Haller. Instead of working in the office, Haller resorts to work as a chauffeur for a Lincoln Town car. Later, he is hired to offer defense for a client whose mother is a rich businesswoman from Los Angeles. Engrossing himself in the case, Haller comes to the realization that this particular case has interlinkages with a case he has handled before.

Director: the movie was directed by Brad Furman.

Main Cast: The Lincoln Lawyer film’s cast includes Matthew McConaughey (as Mickey Haller), Marisa Tomei (as Margaret ‘Maggie’ McPherson), Ryan Phillippe (as Louis Ross Roulet), Josh Lucas (as Ted Minton), and John Leguizamo (as Val Valenzuela).

Commercial Performance: the movie realized tremendous commercial success. It grossed $87.1million, a figure slightly more than twice the budgetary expenditure of $40million.

Awards and Nominations: despite the great commercial success, The Lincoln Lawyer thriller film did not receive much acclaim from the critics from whose hands the film went through. The records only reveal one nomination by the movie and no award. In 2012 during the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, The Lincoln Lawyer movie was nominated for the Best Action/Adventure Film Saturn Award.

The Rainmaker (1997)

Plot: the movie follows a struggling attorney who finds the career had when he starts working for a shady lawyer. While on duty, he comes across a paralegal. The attorney's son nears his death, but the Dot Black agency refuses his insurance benefits. He teams up with the paralegal, and the two fight the corrupt system. Meanwhile, the attorney involves himself in a love affair with another lady whose husband turns abusive and frustrating to the attorney.

Director: The Rainmaker’s director was called Frank Ford Coppola. He also wrote the film’s script.

Main Cast: the film’s cast includes Matt Damon (as Rudy Baylor), Claire Danes (as Kelly Riker), Jon Voight (as Leo F. Drummond), and Mary Kay Place (as Dot Black).

Commercial Performance: The Rainmaker movie did not do so well commercially. It slightly surpassed the budgetary quotation after premiering, grossing $47.1million against the $40million budgetary figure.

Awards and Nominations: the movie was widely critically acclaimed. John Voight received the Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards also nominated the film for three awards; Favorite Actor- Drama (Matt Damon), Favorite Supporting Actor- Drama (Danny DeVito), and Favorite Supporting Actress- Drama (Claire Danes). The USC Scripter Awards also nominated the film for the USC Scripter Award (John Grisham and Francis Ford Coppola). The American Film Institute recognized the film in its 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10: for the Nominated Courtroom Drama Films.

Trivia: the movie received several nominations but did not win any of these.

Amistad (1997)

Plot: the film follows a slave ship named Amistad, which sets sail from America to Cuba. Onboard, the slaves set out in an uprising. Due to the wrangles, the slaves get imprisoned in Connecticut. Releasing them becomes subject to debate. One of the slaves wants a shady lawyer to help in the case of fellow imprisoners. The case draws the attention of several allies, including John Quincy Adams.

Director: Stephen Spielberg directed the film.

Main Cast: the movie’s cast includes Djimon Hounsou (as Sengbe Pieh/ Joseph Cinqué), Matthew McConaughey (as Roger Sherman Baldwin), Anthony Hopkins (as John Quincy Adams), and Morgan Freeman (as Theodore Johnson).

Commercial Performance: Amistad movie grossed $44million against its $36million budgetary expenditure.

Awards and Nominations: the Academy Awards nominated the film for several positions, including Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kamiński), Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter), and Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams). Anthony Hopkins won the Best Supporting Actor Critics' Choice Movie Award. The film won several other awards.

Trivia: Amistad is known for historical inaccuracies. One of the elements of discrepancy in the movie is the portrayal of Amistad as the turning point for the American slave advent.

12 Angry Men (1997)

Plot: the film follows biased deliberations that a dozen jury commits in a case of murder. The case involves an eighteen-year-old boy who kills his father. The case escalates from a simple murder case to social injustice. One of the jurors stands between the other jurors who are corrupt. The verdict rendered by the twelve jurors will determine the young boy’s fate.

Director: the film was directed by William Friedkin.

Main Cast: the movie’s principal cast includes Mary McDonnell (as Judge Cynthia Nance), Tyrees Allen (as The Guard), and Douglas Spain (as The Accused).

Commercial Performance: 12 Angry Men movie had a budget of $1.75million. There are no records about how much the movie grossed. Therefore, speaking about the film’s commercial performance is impossible.

Awards and Nominations: during the 1997 Golden Globe Awards, the movie won a single award and two nominations. The nominations included Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for Terence A. Donnelly and Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television           Jack Lemmon.

Trivia: the 1997 12 Angry Men film is a remake of the 1957 movie entitled 12 Angry Men. The 1957 movie was adapted from the 1954 teleplay entitled Twelve Angry Men.

Conclusion

Courtroom films are among the most interesting movies. They explore various plot twists that have amazing sensational powers. With both the plaintiff and the defendant wanting justice, a courtroom can end up in an intensive argument. This article has featured seven examples of the greatest courtroom films a person would surely love to watch.

Movie Buffs Forever stocks classic movies on DVD from the 1940's to the early 2000's. Browse our vast collection of old, rare and out of print classic movies on DVD. 

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Why We Still Love DVDs