Directed by Sidney Lumet • 1982 • United States
Starring Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden
Twenty-five years after making his feature debut with the classic legal drama 12 ANGRY MEN, director Sidney Lumet returned to the courtroom with this gripping portrait of a man’s quest for redemption, a near perfect synthesis of writing (by David Mamet), directing, and acting. Paul Newman delivers one of his great performances as Frank Galvin, a washed-up, alcoholic Boston lawyer who struggles to pull himself together to bring an unpopular medical malpractice case to trial against strong opposition by the courts, the archdiocese, and his own clients—an uphill battle against the system that brings him to the brink of self-destruction.
Up Next in Courtroom Dramas
-
Runaway Jury
Directed by Gary Fleder • 2003 • United States
Starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin HoffmanOne of the best film adaptations of a John Grisham novel, this gripping legal thriller pits Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman against each other as, respectively, an upstanding Southern lawyer and th...
-
Inherit the Wind
Directed by Stanley Kramer • 1960 • United States
Starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene KellyOne of the twentieth century’s most spectacular trials—the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial, which pitted the theory of evolution against creationism in a battle over intellectual freedom—is vividly dra...
-
Witness for the Prosecution
Directed by Billy Wilder • 1957 • United States
Starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles LaughtonAgatha Christie’s masterful stage play gets a brilliantly entertaining screen adaptation courtesy of Billy Wilder, who deftly balances courtroom intrigue and black comedy for a triumph of st...
