The courtroom drama

[Feraud]

Witness for the Prosecution. Tyrone Power is a married man accused of killing another woman for an inheritance. Co-starring Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester. A great ending!


The Ox-Bow Indcident. This one takes place outside the courtroom but three men are tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for stealing horses. Starring Henry Fonda, Henry Morgan, Dana Andrews. A favorite since I was a kid.

12 Angry Men. Fonda again starring with Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden. You can feel the stifling heat in movie set in a jury room. Jurors deliberate the fate of the accused based on solid evidence and testimony. Another great film.

Inherit the Wind. Spencer Tracy, Dick York, Harry Morgan, Gene Kelly, Frederic March.
Defense and prosecution argue the merits of a schoolteacher's lessons on society about Darwinian Evolution. The story is more reflective of small minded zealots than any detrimental effects of evolution on humanity.

Feel free to add your "must see" courtroom flicks.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Good ones, Feraud!

The one about "the gay valet": The Paradine Case.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The great Anatomy of a Murder with James Stewart and a young Ben Gazarra. This is the precursor of all of the Law & Order and other type procedural dramas. It is quite racy and intense for its time.

The Caine Mutiny, which is after all a courtroom drama more than anything else. How do different men see the same incident or the actions of a single man under stress.

Spoiler

I always thought it was a mistake to have Bogart crack in the courtroom; I would have left it all up in the air and made it up to the audience to decide.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Breaker Morant

Paths of Glory

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Judgment at Nuremberg
To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[WH1]

Agree on Breaker Morant

The Verdict with Paul Newman is a great one as well

 

[HadleyH]

"The Trial Of Mary Dugan" (1929)

MGM's first straight all-dialogue picture and Norma Shearer's first talkie. (By the way, it was this courtroom drama that helped Miss Shearer make the transition from silent films with huge success.)

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

"you want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

and...

 

[jake_fink]

Compulsion is only partially set in the courtroom, but it's good.