Explore riveting courtroom films that bring intense legal battles, moral dilemmas, and powerful performances straight to your living room.
DVD ANATOMY OF
Anatomy of a Murder
A small-town Michigan lawyer takes on a difficult case: that of a young Army lieutenant accused of murdering the local tavern owner who he believes raped his wife. A gripping, envelope-pushing courtroom potboiler, Anatomy of a Murder was groundbreaking for the frankness of its discussion of sex. More than anything else, it is a striking depiction of the power of words. With its outstanding supporting cast and influential jazz score by Duke Ellington, it’s a Hollywood landmark.
DVD FEW GOOD MEN
A Few Good Men
Cruise stars as a brash Navy lawyer who’s teamed with a gung-ho litigator in a politically-explosive murder case. Charged with defending two Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier, they are confronted with complex issues of loyalty and honor – including its most sacred code and its most formidable warrior
DVD MY COUSIN
My Cousin Vinny
Two carefree pals (Macchio and Whitfield) traveling through Alabama are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortunately, Vincent Gambini (Pesci) is the cousin of one of them and he is a lawyer. Vinny is a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who just passed his bar exam after his sixth try and has never been in court. When cousin Vinny arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend (Tomei) to handle his first case, it’s a real shock–for both Vinny and the Deep South. Also available to stream on hoopla.
DVD PHILADELPHIA
Philadelphia
The powerful story of two lawyers who join together to sue a prestigious Philadelphia law firm when the firm fires one of them because he has AIDS.
DVD RUNAWAY JURY
Runaway Jury
After a man dies in a shooting incident, his wife files a lawsuit against the company that manufactured the gun. Her lawyer argues that the firm in question knew the shop which sold the weapon was not following federal regulations. As the case goes to trial, the firearm manufacturer takes no chances on the outcome, and they hire Rankin Fitch, a “jury consultant” who makes it his business to see that he knows enough about the jurors to be able to guarantee the result of the trial.
DVD TO KILL A
To Kill a Mockingbird
Gregory Peck plays a southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The way in which it captures a time, a place, and above all, a mood, makes this film a masterpiece. Also available to stream on hoopla.
DVD TWELVE ANG
12 Angry Men
A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system as riveting as it is spare, the iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the initially dissenting member of a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. What results is a saga of epic proportions that plays out in real time over ninety minutes in one sweltering room. One of the most radical big-screen courtroom dramas in cinema history. Also available to stream on hoopla and Kanopy.
TV DVD AMERICAN CRIME
American Crime Story: The People Vs. OJ Simpson – Told from the perspective of the lawyers, it explores the chaotic dealings behind closed doors and how prosecution overconfidence, defense shrewdness and shocking courtroom twists led to one of the most earth-shattering verdicts of all time. It is based on the best-selling book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin.
DVD ANATOMY OF
The Good Fight: Season 1
When her friend’s multimillion-dollar investment scam ruins Diane Lockhart’s plan for retirement, wipes out her savings and taints her reputation, she is literally at a loss. In Season 1 of The Good Fight (from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King), a disgraced Diane is forced out of her own law firm and joins another distinguished company as a junior partner. She recruits Maia Rindell, a promising young attorney with her own baggage: Maia’s parents are blamed for running the con that defrauded Diane and other members of Chicago’s business elite. Diane is reunited with her ex-employee, Lucca Quinn, who’s made a name for herself since leaving Lockhart/Gardner. Under the pressure to both rebuild and maintain their lives, this fearless team of women all have something to prove, and nothing to lose.
FRE DVD ANATOMY OF
Anatomy of a Fall
When Sandra Voyter, a writer who turns the material of her life into autofiction, is put on trial for the suspicious death by defenestration–or was it suicide?–of her husband, it opens up an inquiry that will turn a troubled home inside out.
BH/DH: June 2024
