SEARCH
Justinian News

Class action against pro-Palestine academics at the University of Sydney ... Toltz v Riemer; Toltz v Keane ... Federal Court file >> 

Politics Media Law Society

My Role in Gough's Downfall ... Reporter-at-Large … Scoops that flushed out the deceit behind the Dismissal … Big anniversary chinwag in Canberra on November 11 … The combined forces of Kerr, Ellicott and cousin Garfield … Constitutional manipulation … Maurice Byers to the rescue ... Read more >> 

This area does not yet contain any content.
Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Knit one, purl one ... Iron Lady of legal rectitude endorses Gageler ... The chief justice wants judges on the straight and narrow ... The cardboard cutout model of legislative supremacy ... The evils of judicial activism ... Procrustes on the dance floor with the Legislative-Judicial Foxtrot ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


 Hard on the heels of Prima Facie comes Inter Alia ... More >>

Justinian's Bloggers

Berlusconi's dream world ... Revenge politics in Italy ... Independence of prosecutors under attack ... Constitutional assault ... The years of lead ... Investigations reopened into old murders ... High drama at Milan's Leoncavallo ... Rome correspondent Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >> 

"If we’re only picking people who have got completely lily-white records then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, endorsing Mal Lanyon, his pick for Police Commissioner, whose contributions to public life include shouting drunken obscenities at a paramedic who came to his aid, and commandeering a police launch for private entertainment on New Year's eve ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Schmoozing and betrayal ... Judge Water Softener rides into Integrityville mounted high on his horse ... Judicial review of corruption finding ... Intriguing submissions ... Unprecedented assistance to morals monitor ... The scale of the sub-rosa intrigue ... Plenty to think about ... Ginger Snatch reports ... Read more >> 

Justinian's archive

News Desk Special ... Angelic death notices from the bar ... Soapy slips on FOI changes ... Unusual interlocutory costs order for Chris Dale ... Judge ticks off Abbott in letters' page ... Knock About's festive salute to the coppers ... January 19, 2015 ... Read more >> 


 

 

« Solemn Mess | Main | David Jackson QC »
Wednesday
Apr222020

Films for lawyers in lockdown

Miss Lumière selects 10 of her favourite courtroom films ... An Atticus Finch/John Grisham free zone ... Not all is black and white ... Flaws in the legal process finely wrought on celluloid ... Most if not all are available on streaming services 

Twelve Angry Men (1957) 

Peeved about the High Court's Pell verdict? Here's why. Twelve angry (white, hairy, middleclass) men lock horns while locked together in a sweaty Manhattan jury room. They must decide the fate of a Puerto Rican teenager accused of fatally stabbing his abusive father. Tautly written and directed by Sidney Lumet with riveting performances by the 12 jurors who include Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam and E.G. Marshall. A bona-fide classic. 

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

A fruity Billy Wilder melodrama with equally fruity performances by Charles Laughton as London barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Marlene Dietrich as a suspicious near-femme-fatale and Tyrone Power as the accused Vole (Leonard) - from a spiffing short story by Agatha Christie. High-camp courtroom antics interspersed with superlative smoking scenes and a twist in the tail ending, make Witness first class, late-night entertainment.   

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Robert Bolt's witty, sumptuous account of the trial of the Lord Chancellor of England Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) on charges of treason, features one of the greatest courtroom scenes ever, full of silver-tongued sophistry. A gargantuan Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey is almost out-classed by a creepy young John Hurt as the perjurer Richard Rich. At one point More says to Rich: "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world, but for Wales?" Exquisite. 

The Trial (1963)

Welles is mostly stuffed behind the camera in this surrealistic vision of Franz Kafka's 1925 novel of the same name. Anthony Perkins (freshly unnerved and unnerving from Psycho) is Joseph K, a man accused of an unknown crime by an unnamed state, negotiating a bureaucratic legal nightmare. Welles employs all his weird, extravagant cinematic powers, including dollops of black humour, to masterful effect. 

Judgment at Nuremburg (1961)

And for the (almost) real thing, it's Stanley Kramer's tour de force about the 1948 trial of four Nazi judges by an American court in occupied Germany. Starring Spencer Tracy as a US judge, Richard Widmark as a haunted, firebrand prosecutor and the elegant, slippery Maximilian Schell as the defence lawyer, with lightly burnished cameo appearances from Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift. Like all good fiction, it conveys greater truths by resisting easy answers.

Breaker Morant (1980)

Based on a play by Kenneth Ross, this true story recounts the contrived injustice meted out by a British military court to three Australian soldiers accused of murdering German prisoners in the Boer War. Beautifully directed by Bruce Beresford and featuring Edward Woodward as Harry "Breaker" Morant, Bryan Brown in possibly his best ever role, and Jack Thompson as their passionate defence lawyer, Breaker Morant makes A Few Good Men look like stale popcorn. 

JFK (1991)

Oliver Stone's sweeping, controversial political thriller examines New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison's (Kevin Costner) attempts to uncover the alleged conspiracy to assassinate President Jack Kennedy. Playing fast and loose with fact and theory, Stone nevertheless succeeds in making a handsome, gripping film, full of politics and purpose. The final courtroom scene, involving the infamous "magic bullet theory" is worth the more than three-hour wait. 

In the Name of the Father (1993)

Set in Northern Ireland, Jim Sheridan's gritty, powerful film tells the true story of the men wrongfully convicted of the 1974 IRA Guilford pub bombings, which killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian. Daniel Day Lewis makes the oafish Gerry Conlon positively attractive, and Emma Thompson is thoroughly convincing as the campaigning lawyer who accidentally unearths the evidence (police lies, no less) that exonerates them. No blarney here, just the cold, heartless facts.

The Insult (2017)

Justice, Leb-style. Set in modern day Beirut, and written and directed by Ziad Doueiri, The Insult shows how a neighbourhood spat can escalate into a full-blooded courtroom stoush with national repercussions. The Insult is as eviscerating about the flaws of human beings as it is about the legal process. While much of the film is set in a courtroom, the drama resonates more widely. Like the Middle East, it's complicated. Close attention to the words as well as the actions, is rewarded. 

Joh's Jury (1993)

Boldly made by the ABC just two years after the perjury trial of former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, this savvy, insightful film is based on interviews with eight of the twelve jurors. (It was legal then). Director Ken Cameron engineers an enthralling, bare-bones examination of jury room politics and power, utilising the talents of many of the country's best actors. The brilliant Gerry Connolly as Sir Joh is an unfunny delight. 

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.