Anatomy of a Murder is a courtroom drama/comedy starring Jimmy Stewart Lee Remick, Al O'Connell, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott, and Joseph Welch.
Attorney and former prosecutor Paul Biegler (Stewart) is in semi-retirement, drinking with his former colleague McCarthy (O'Connell), when he gets recommended for a case defending a man named Manion (Gazzara). Manion shot and killed a bartender who, allegedly, raped his wife Laura (Remick). Biegler takes the case after subtly suggesting that Manion rely on an insanity defense, and then finds an 1886 precedent that seems to support it.
The movie spends most of the time with Biegler looking for evidence to support his case, watching Laura flirt with him (and others), and lots of Duke Ellington playing. In the end, Manion is acquitted due to "irresistible impulse", but the defense raises the possibility that Laura and the victim were, in fact, having an affair and Manion caught them. A critical piece of information shows up dramatically - planted? Probably not, but the possibility is there, and Anatomy of a Murder doesn't give us the easy out of explaining the truth.
The movie has some interesting history; it's based on a book which was in turn based on a real case. The defendant really did lean on irresistible impulse, and really did get let off. But it's an interesting film in a lot of other ways. Joseph Welch plays Judge Weaver, and Welch was, of course, counsel for the US Army during the McCarthy hearings (he famously asked McCarthy "Have you no decency, sir?"). It's also kind of fun watching this movie now, when there's a very exciting trial (rather, several) ready to kick off and we can look forward to courtroom theatrics.
James Stewart goes from laid-back country lawyer to firebrand in court, but what I like is that the movie never lets you forget it's mostly an act. Sure, he's representing his client zealously, but there's nothing hanging on it for him personally other than the fee and the thrill. And at the end, when he gets stiffed on the bill, the case acts as motivation for him rather than being a big Primal Fear "holy shit" moment.
The movie has a lot of strong language for the time, and yet it's very weird to see a woman talking cavalierly about being raped (just in terms of how those scenes would play in a movie made today). The characters in the movie feel like people, and people are messy, and conveying that messiness is, even today, something movies have trouble with. Easy to see why Anatomy of a Murder got all the Oscar noms it did.
My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium
Next up: Child's Play
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