Highest-Rated Movies about 'Defense Attorney'

Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Primal Fear (1996), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Midnight Express (1978), Just Mercy (2019), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), Remember the Night (1940), The Devil's Advocate (1997) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Defense Attorney movies.

#1. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Storyline: Britain, 1953. Upon his return to work following a heart attack, barrister takes on a murder case,. The case is defending American war vet Leonard Vole, a poor, out of work, struggling inventor who's accused of murdering his middle-aged lonely and wealthy acquaintance, Emily French. The evidence is circumstantial but points to Leonard as the murderer, butr the csse has constant revelations.

Plot Keywords: lawyer, courtroom drama, alibi, london england, defense attorney, brandy, monocle ...

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#2. Primal Fear (1996)

Storyline: When a young man, Aaron, is charged with the horrific murder of Archbishop Rushman, hot-shot Chicago lawyer Martin Vail takes on his defense at no charge. Aaron was a homeless street kid before he was taken in by the Archbishop. He's shy and speaks with a stammer. Vail is convinced that Aaron is innocent but after discovering a video that shows Aaron may have had good reason to want the Archbishop dead, he begins to question that conclusion. When Aaron lashes out at the psychologist examining him another personality, Roy, is revealed. With the trial already underway, Vail cannot change Aaron plea and so has to find a way to introduce his client's condition. Aaron has something of a surprise for him as well.

Plot Keywords: altar boy, murder trial, deception, manipulation, amnesia, stuttering, courtroom ...

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#3. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Storyline: Michael O'Hara, against his better judgement, hires on as a crew member of Arthur Bannister's yacht, sailing to San Francisco. They pick up Grisby, Bannister's law partner, en route. Bannister has a wife, Elsa, who seems to like Michael much better than she likes her husband. After they dock in Sausalito, Michael goes along with Grisby's weird plan to fake his (Grisby's) murder so he can disappear untailed. He wants the $5000 Grisby has offered, so he can run off with Elsa. But Grisby turns up actually murdered, and Michael gets blamed for it. Somebody set him up, but it is not clear who or how. Bannister (the actual murderer?) defends Michael in court.

Plot Keywords: hall of mirrors, chinatown san francisco, crooked lawyer, cross examination, crutch, double cross, drug overdose ...

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#4. Midnight Express (1978)

Storyline: On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught attempting to smuggle two kilos of hashish out of the country, the drugs strapped to his body. He is told that he will be released if he cooperates with the authorities in identifying the person who sold him the hashish. Billy's troubles really begin when after that assistance, he makes a run for it and is recaptured. He is initially sentenced to just over four years for possession, with no time for the more harsh crime of smuggling. The prison environment is inhospitable in every sense, with a sadistic prison guard named Hamidou (Paul L. Smith) ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason. Told to trust no one, Billy does befriend a few of the other inmates, namely fellow American Jimmy Booth (Randy Quaid) (in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), a Swede named Erich (Norbert ...

Plot Keywords: female nudity, chewing gum, cave, catacomb, camera, cafe, burning money ...

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#5. Just Mercy (2019)

Storyline: A powerful and thought-provoking true-story, "Just Mercy" follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan might have had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson.) One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx,) who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds-and the system-stacked against them.—Gregg Brilliant

Plot Keywords: camera, electrocution, hymn, singer, singing, song, church ...

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#7. Remember the Night (1940)

Storyline: Just before Christmas, Lee Leander is caught shoplifting. It is her third offense. She is prosecuted by John Sargent. He postpones the trial because it is hard to get a conviction at Christmas time. However, he feels sorry for her and arranges for her bail; he also ends up taking her home to his mother for Christmas. Surrounded by a loving family (in stark contrast to Lee's own family background), they fall in love. This creates a new problem: how do they handle the upcoming trial?—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Plot Keywords: morality, christmas present, gift, perfume, corset, dance, wedding dress ...

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#8. The Devil's Advocate (1997)

Storyline: Kevin Lomax, a ruthless young Florida attorney that never lost a case, is recruited by the most powerful law firm in the world. In spite of his mother's disagreement, which compares New York City to Babylon, he accepts the offer and the money that comes along. But soon, his wife starts feeling homesick as she witnesses devilish apparitions. However, Kevin is sinking in his new cases and pays less and less attention to his wife. His boss and mentor, John Milton, seems to always know how to overcome every problem and that just freaks Kevin right off.

Plot Keywords: deal with the devil, female full frontal nudity, supernatural power, based on novel, female frontal nudity, female nudity, female pubic hair ...

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#9. Submarine (2010)

Storyline: As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again.—Peter Brandt Nielsen

Plot Keywords: hugging, virgin, male virgin, redhead, haunted by the past, heroin, nameless character ...

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#10. The Talk of the Town (1942)

Storyline: In suburban Lochester, New England, three people end up living together in high school teacher Nora Shelley's rental house. The first is her new tenant, renowned Harvard law professor Michael Lightcap, who has rented the house for the summer while he writes his new book. The second is Nora herself. Despite having an auspicious first meeting, Lightcap hires Nora to be his live-in cook and secretary for a week until his manservant Tilney arrives. The third is Joseph, the property's gardener, who is currently laid up with a sprained ankle. In reality, Joseph is Nora's childhood friend Leopold Dilg, who has just escaped from prison. Leopold was being tried for the arson of the factory where he worked, and for murder for the death of the factory foreman Clyde Bracken, whose body was never recovered but who is assumed to have died in the fire. Despite the danger to herself, Nora hides Leopold since she believes his story that although he, as an activist, did speak out about the dangerous conditions at the factory, he did not set the fire, which he assumes was done by the factory's owner, Andrew Holmes, to collect the insurance money, all the while having Leopold as a scapegoat. Nora campaigned to get the job with Lightcap if only to be able to better hide Leopold in the house. Leopold escaped if only because he knew he would not get a fair trial due to the rabble rousing being conducted by Holmes against him. Lightcap and who he knows as Joseph end up getting along famously, although activist Leopold believes Lightcap's view of the law is too clinical for him truly to be a great lawyer or great judge, those thoughts arising if only because Nora and Leopold learn clandestinely that Lightcap is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Nora, Leopold and Leopold's lawyer, Sam Yates, try to get Lightcap involved in helping Leopold by showing him that Leopold indeed will not get a fair trial. In the process, Lightcap may in turn show Leopold and Nora that his current way of thinking has much merit.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, manhunt, lynch mob, political activist, love triangle, fugitive, frame up ...

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#11. A Hidden Life (2019)

Storyline: Based on real events, A Hidden Life is the story of an unsung hero, Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife, Fani, and children that keeps his spirit alive.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: world war two, train, train station, voice over, sentenced to death, defiance, prisoner ...

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#12. Monster (2003)

Storyline: The true story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos who was convicted of luring men to their death and eventually executed in 2002. In 1989, she was working as a prostitute and finally makes a friend when she meets and begins a relationship with a young woman, Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, she tries to find legitimate work but with little education and limited social skills, she fails at every turn. She starts working as a hooker hitching rides along the local interstate highway and after robbing a few clients has an encounter with a vicious client whom she kills in self-defense. After that however she just takes to killing clients taking their money and car. Once arrested she claims self-defense but is eventually convicted.

Plot Keywords: prostitute, lesbian, female killer, oral sex, hand job, rape, rape victim ...

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#13. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Storyline: Mick Haller is a defense lawyer who works out of his Lincoln. When a wealthy Realtor is accused of assaulting a prostitute, Haller is asked to defend him. The man claims that the woman is trying to get some money out of him. But when Haller looks at the evidence against him, he learns that this case might be linked to an old case of his.

Plot Keywords: police detective, deception, lying, park, photograph, surveillance footage, beating ...

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#14. Queen & Slim (2019)

Storyline: Slim and Queen's first date takes an unexpected turn when a policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation. When the situation escalates, Slim takes the officer's gun and shoots him in self-defence. Now labelled cop killers in the media, Slim and Queen feel that they have no choice but to go on the run and evade the law. When a video of the incident goes viral, the unwitting outlaws soon become a symbol of trauma, terror, grief and pain for people all across the country—stmc-25959

Plot Keywords: title directed by female, police officer, dysfunctional family, road movie, racist cop, police officer killed, smoking a joint ...

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#15. In the Fade (2017)

Storyline: Katja's (Diane Kruger) had met Turkish-born Kurdish Nuri Sekerci (Numan Acar) when she bought hashish from him during her student days. They got married when he was still in prison, although their parents were against the marriage. Since her son Rocco (Rafael Santana) is born, Nuri is no longer working as a drug dealer, because he studied business administration in prison and now runs a translation and tax office in Hamburg. One day Rocco and Nuri are killed by a nail bomb, which was deposited in front of the office. This has shredded everything. Because her husband was in prison for drug possession, the police investigated in the red light district. The investigators do not see that the tracks point in a completely different direction. Then they happen to be the real killers on the net. The main suspects are the neo-Nazi spouses André (Ulrich Brandhoff) and Edda Möller (Hanna Hilsdorf). But the trial is developing differently than Katja had hoped. Although her lawyer Danilo (Denis ...

Plot Keywords: trial, suicide attempt, terrorism, snorting cocaine, tattoo, neo nazi, drug use ...

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