The 25 Greatest Legal Movies
Honorable Mentions
Among the Other Legal Films Our Jury Cited (in alphabetical order):
August 2008 Issue
THE ACCUSED (1988) Jodie Foster is a woman who is gang-raped in a bar and, when the rapists go free, goads a reluctant prosecutor to pursue the patrons who urged them on.
ADAM’S RIB (1949) George Cukor’s mannered comedy, with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as married lawyers who oppose each other in court.
BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956) Dana Andrews is a writer who sets himself up on a murder rap to reveal the shortcomings of circumstantial evidence.
THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) Humphrey Bogart is riveting in this adaptation of Herman Wouk’s complex novel about military authority and moral duty.
CLASS ACTION (1991) A father and daughter clash in and outside the courtroom as they square off in a volatile product liability case.
THE CLIENT (1994) Susan Sarandon is an underwhelming lawyer who finds herself representing a young boy who has witnessed a Mafia hit.
COUNSELLOR AT LAW (1933) John Barrymore is a workaholic lawyer who is in danger of losing his family in this William Wyler film.
THE COURT-MARTIAL OF BILLY MITCHELL (1955) Otto Preminger directs Gary Cooper in this tale of the real-life maverick general who thinks an airplane can sink a ship—and is court-martialed for proving it.
THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE (1997) A new attorney introduced into the world’s most powerful law firm discovers that its managing partner is morally challenged.
THE FIRM (1993) Tom Cruise is recruited by a prestigious law firm that he gradually learns has a very sinister background.
THE FORTUNE COOKIE (1966) Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon romp in this Billy Wilder comedy about a sleazy lawyer who talks a relative into feigning injury for the sake of a lawsuit.
GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996) The true story of efforts to bring to justice Byron De La Beckwith for the 30-year-old murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers.
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (2003) The Coen brothers reveal their take on divorce law. George Clooney is at his toothy best.
JAGGED EDGE (1985) Defense attorney Glenn Close gets close to a client, played by Jeff Bridges, who is on trial for the murder of his heiress wife.
JFK (1991) Oliver Stone takes on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s efforts to solve the Kennedy assassination. History yields to riveting storytelling.
LEGALLY BLONDE (2001) Reese Witherspoon became one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood after ridiculing the elitism of Harvard Law.
LIAR, LIAR (1997) A hilarious vehicle for Jim Carrey, who plays a lawyer who finds he is physically incapable of telling a fib.
MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) George Clooney shines in this look at the dark underbelly of big-firm law.
MUSIC BOX (1989) Hungarian immigrant Mike Laszlo, accused of being a war criminal, asks his daughter (Jessica Lange) to defend him in court. She learns more about him than she wants to know.
NORTH COUNTRY (2005) It’s one woman against the system: The extraordinary Charlize Theron plays a miner who sues the company.
THE PELICAN BRIEF (1993) A law student discovers a plot to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court justices in this John Grisham adaptation.
THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT (1996) Cameos abound in this portrayal of the trial of the renowned porn publisher.
PRIMAL FEAR (1996) Richard Gere is the attorney and Edward Norton a young altar boy accused of killing a priest in a story whose plot twists and turns.
THE RAINMAKER (1997) Another John Grisham lawyer fights the system, this time with Matt Damon starring and Francis Ford Coppola directing.
A TIME TO KILL (1996) An earnest retelling of the Grisham novel about a racially charged killing in the Deep South. Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock spark.
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October 2008 Issue - The Defense Rests
September 2008 Issue - The Jury
August 2008 Issue - The 25 Greatest Legal Movies
August 2008 Issue
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Comments
Posted by david silverman - Jul 22, 2008 02:09 pm CST
What about the movie, Absence of Malice, Paul Newman and Sallie Field? I think it deserves to be in the top 50. Which movie do you think should be bumped out, so this great movie can get in?
Posted by Jack McCullough - Jul 23, 2008 08:44 am CST
No Body Heat? The movie’s wrong about the Rule Against Perpetuities, but the characters, legal suspense, and the view of William Hurt as a small-town private practitioner and Ted Danson as a prosecutor are still great.
Posted by Nate - Jul 23, 2008 09:15 pm CST
Fracture is pretty good.
Posted by Joe Tornberg - Jul 25, 2008 10:17 am CST
Paths of Glory
Blood Oath
A Free Soul
I Want to Live
Posted by Michael Lee - Jul 29, 2008 10:02 am CST
Your forgot “The Merchant of Venice” I like the recent version with Al Pacino.
Posted by Gordon Glave - Jul 30, 2008 11:16 am CST
There is none greater than “QB7”. Queens Bench 7.
Now that is a movie masterpiece.
GG
Posted by Donny - Aug 1, 2008 09:05 am CST
What, no Judge Dredd? C’mon he WAS the law!
Posted by D.S. DeLuca - Aug 1, 2008 03:31 pm CST
Billy Budd should be in the top 25, I think. The law is the law and must be enforced, bleeding hearts (like mine) be damned, a position advocated by the person that most loves the man he must condemn. Liar Liar, Devil’s Advocate, Legally Blonde and the Client are “legal” movies only in the loosest sense that the characters are lawyers in a movie that is otherwise about something else.
Posted by Roger Lamson - Aug 2, 2008 06:47 am CST
The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941, Walter Houston, Edward Arnold, Jane Darwell