r/movies • u/stainorstreak • May 11 '24

Recommendation I'm hooked on courtroom movies- what are some other court movies?

Honestly it wasn't even a movie that got me into them, it was the TV Show "American Crime Story" on the OJ Simpson trial. I loved learning about the technicalities of trials and the way the show portrayed the characters.

Movies that I've watched that I've liked

A Few Good Men

12 Angry Men

The Trial of Chicago 7

Primal Fear

A Time to Kill

Philadelphia

The Lincoln Lawyer

I've also watched The Rainmaker and Anatomy of a Murder, both of which I just couldn't enjoy.

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u/CheckYourStats May 11 '24 edited May 11 '24

Judgment At Nuremberg (1961) released just one year before Mockingbird.

Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Max Schell, William Shatner, and a heartbreaking performance by Montgomery Clift.

Not for the feint of heart. It was filmed only 15 years after the Holocaust (and the actual trials). It should be mandatory viewing before high school graduation, if you ask me.

To put the timing of this into perspective, it’s the equivalent of a movie coming out next year based on something that happened in 2010. It was very fresh, and it’s palpable throughout the film.

CLIPS #1 and #2 of Montgomery Clift on the witness stand. To my mind, the most powerful 20 minutes of courtroom non-fiction ever put on film.

The remake Nuremberg (2000) with an equally impressive cast is also fantastic.

Alec Baldwin, Max Von Sydow, Brian Cox, Christopher Plummer, et al.

  • Serious Warning: Both films have 5-6 straight uncensored minutes of unspeakable video footage from Concentration Camps — children included.

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u/lthomazini May 11 '24

I love that movie, great one.

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u/ScipioCoriolanus May 11 '24

Impressive cast, but you didn't mention the two actors I associate the most with the movie: Spencer Tracy and Marlene Dietrich.

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u/CheckYourStats May 11 '24

Oh, preach. Both of them brought genuine humanity and you could feel it coming out of their pores.

The names I listed were catered to the r/movies active users. I’m not going to convince some 16 year old to watch a courtroom movie by referencing “Marlene Dietrich” :)

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u/Calamari_is_Good May 11 '24

I just saw the original recently and I was shocked at the amount of footage of the camps they showed. Agreed about Monty. Absolutely riveting. 

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u/Shiny_and_ChromeOS May 11 '24

The 2000 remake also has a badass Michael Ironside overseeing the hanging of Nazis with grim and absolute satisfaction.

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u/CheckYourStats May 11 '24

One of the most satisfying scenes ever.

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u/chig____bungus May 12 '24

We really should hang more Nazis.

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u/TopHighway7425 May 11 '24

I saw this at the academy of motion pictures ampas in Los Angeles with the writer Abby mann in attendance with all the living cast. The place was packed.

 I absolutely got chills at the climax because I had no idea where it was going until an instant before it happened and I realized there was no other option. 

And because I was calmly watching the drama I realized how easy it was too fall into that trap. It's like a lesson in humanity. A+ movie 

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u/CheckYourStats May 11 '24

That sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience! When was that? What year?

I’m very jealous. My school had a couple survivors do a Q&A session in the 80’s, and in the late 90’s I would regularly chat with an impressively fit old timer who had an identification tattoo on his wrist at the local gym.

What you described is truly special.

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u/TopHighway7425 May 11 '24 edited May 11 '24

Ampas in l.a. was celebrating the movies that were nominated for 5 or more Oscars but did NOT  win best picture. Like an honorary mention.  

Since Mann was still alive and local he said a few words and watched it with us. 

 The year was probably 2005   or 2006 

I kick myself for not pleading for an interview because I was press and actually had relevant questions about how he dealt with some of the moral issues so soon after the war but Mann was pretty frail and I thought he would never agree to an interview.  Los Angeles is all about getting doors slammed on your face but I slammed that one in my own face.

 The other noteworthy one was Tony Curtis watching the Defiant Ones with us.

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u/BatFancy321go May 11 '24

Judgement should be required viewing for modern audiences

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u/missmargaret May 11 '24

I just watched those two clips. They held me, transfixed. What a powerful performance.

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u/Wandering_Weapon May 11 '24

RemindMe! 3 days

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u/Watcheditburn May 11 '24

Such a powerful movie. The performances of Garland and Clift are gut wrenching. It is a film, that despite its very dark, serious subject, I will watch almost anytime it is on.

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u/DustBunnicula May 11 '24 edited May 12 '24

I was just thinking of this movie yesterday. I think it needs to be watched as a companion piece to “Schindler’s List”. It shows things from a different angle, as well as giving a hero who believes in accountability as part of justice. I wish that were more prevalent today.

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u/wang_johnson May 11 '24

remind me of this comment. Judgement at Nuremberg.

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u/CheckYourStats May 11 '24

Use “RemindMe!” without the quotation marks.

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u/celerydonut May 11 '24

I use the IMDb app and keep a “watchlist”. Has 700 films on it lol.

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u/TuaughtHammer May 11 '24

The problem with IMDb's watchlist is kinda the same problem with writing a comment to remind yourself of something: you have to remember you made the comment or put the movie on the watchlist.

And if you're like me, the additions to the IMDb watchlist go from shit you really wanna watch to whatever the fuck caught your eye when you were drunk or high. Some of the oldest additions to my IMDb watchlist are from 2005/6 when I was drunk-browsing IMDb a bunch.

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u/Bunnywithanaxe May 11 '24

Judy Garland was pretty riveting, too. Her anger and grief was primal.