12 Angry Men (1957), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Inherit the Wind (1960), In the Name of the Father (1993), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), In Cold Blood (1967), Breaker Morant (1980) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Judicial movies.
Storyline: The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case of murder soon becomes a detective story that presents a succession of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room.
Plot Keywords: jury, dialogue driven, courtroom, single set production, racism, all male cast, ensemble cast ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Giovanna is taken to the Inquisition court. . After the accusation of blasphemy continues to pray in ecstasy . A friar thinks that Giovanna is a saint, but is taken away by the soldiers. Giovanna sees a cross in the shadow and feels comforted. She is not considered a daughter of God but a daughter of the devil and is sentenced to torture. Giovanna D 'Arco says that even if she dies she will not deny anything. The eyes are twisted by terror in front of the torture wheel and faint. Giovanna is taken to a bed where they are bleeding. Giovanna feels that she is about to die and asks to be buried in a consecrated area. Giovanna burns at the stake while devoted ladies cry.
Plot Keywords: trial, character name in title, female protagonist, saint, close up, breast feeding, teenage girl ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: It has been three years since the most important Nazi leaders had already been tried. This trial is about 4 judges who used their offices to conduct Nazi sterilization and cleansing policies. Retired American judge, Dan Haywood has a daunting task ahead of him. The Cold War is heating up and no one wants any more trials as Germany, and Allied governments, want to forget the past. But is that the right thing to do is the question that the tribunal must decide.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Plot Keywords: year 1945, nazi germany, courtroom drama, war crime, nazi, judge, death penalty ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Teacher B.T. Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin's theories. Famous lawyer Henry Drummond defends him; fundamentalist politician Matthew Brady prosecutes. This is a very thinly disguised rendition of the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial" with debates between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan taken largely from the transcripts.
Plot Keywords: courtroom drama, based on play, 1920s, religious zealot, jury, evolution, lawyer ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Young Belfastian Gerry Conlon admits that he was in London at the time of the incident. He also admits that he is not a model citizen, having committed a petty robbery while in London. He does however profess his innocence when it comes to the bombing of the Guildford Pub in London in 1974, the event which killed several people inside. A self-professed non-political person, he and his three co-accused, dubbed the Guildford Four, are thought to be provisional members of the IRA. Their self-professed innocence is despite each having signed a statement of guilt which they claim were signed under duress. Their case includes having provable alibis for the time frame of the bombing. And eventually, Joe McAndrew, a known IRA member, admits to the bombing. Dubbed the Maguire Seven, seven others, primarily members of Gerry's extended family including his father Giuseppe, are accused of being accessories to the bombing. Following on the work initiated by Giuseppe, Gerry works on a campaign to ...
Plot Keywords: prison, father son relationship, based on true story, prisoner, wrongful arrest, prison guard, prison warden ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), a lieutenant in the army, is arrested for the murder of a bartender, Barney Quill. He claims, in his defense, that the victim had raped and beaten up his wife Laura (Lee Remick). Although Laura supports her husband's story, the police surgeon can find no evidence that she has been raped. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler (James Stewart), a humble small-town lawyer and recently deposed district attorney. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and also that his wife has a reputation for flirting with other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura had been drunk and was picked up by the bartender and then Her husband killed him and beat her up when he discovered they had been together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, tries to find evidence that will save Manion.
Plot Keywords: murder trial, rape victim, rosary, catholicism, underwear, u.s. military, law ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In meeting in Kansas, ex-cons Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are breaking several conditions of their respective paroles. The meeting, initiated by Dick, is to plan and eventually carry out a robbery based on information he had received from a fellow inmate about $10,000 cash being locked in a hidden safe in the home of the farming Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. After the robbery, they plan on going to Mexico permanently to elude capture by the police. Each brings a necessary personality to the partnership to carry out the plan, Dick who is the brash manipulator, Perry the outwardly more sensitive but unrealistic dreamer with a violent streak under the surface. Perry literally carries all his dreams in a large box he takes with him wherever he goes. The robbery does not go according to plan in any respect, the pair who ultimately hogtie and execute all four members of the Clutter family, only coming away from the home with $43 in cash. As Perry and Dick go on the run, a murder ...
Plot Keywords: true crime, murder of family, gallows, based on true story, reporter, capital punishment, hanging ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
Plot Keywords: court martial, based on true story, based on play, shaving, bigotry, report, note ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy. When he has learned to adjust his life to these new responsibilities, Joanna resurfaces and wants Billy back. Ted, however, refuses to give him up, so they go to court to fight for the custody of their son.
Plot Keywords: divorce, marriage, child custody, female nudity, divorcee, breasts, bare breasts ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Frank Galvin was once a promising Boston lawyer with a bright future ahead. An incident early in his career in which he was trying to do the right thing led to him being fired from the prestigious law firm with which he was working, almost being disbarred, and his wife leaving him. Continually drowning his sorrows in booze, he is now an ambulance chasing lawyer, preying on the weak and vulnerable, and bending the truth whenever necessary to make what few dollars he has, as he has only had a few cases in the last few years, losing the last four. His only friend in the profession is his now retired ex-partner, Mickey Morrissey, who gets Frank a case, his fee solely a percentage of what his clients are awarded. The case should net Frank tens of thousands of dollars by settling out of court, that money which would at least get him back on his feet. It is a negligence suit brought on behalf of Deborah Ann Kaye by her sister and brother-in-law, Sally and Kevin Doneghy, against St. Catherine...
Plot Keywords: reference to arizona, funeral home, heavy drinking, surgeon, irish american, alcoholism, fight the system ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The story takes place in sixteenth century England. But men like Sir Thomas More, who love life yet have the moral fiber to lay down their lives for their principles, are found in every century. Concentrating on the last seven years of the English Chancellor's life, the struggle between More and King Henry VIII hinges on Henry's determination to break with Rome so he can divorce his current wife and wed again, and good Catholic More's inability to go along with such heresy. More resigns as Chancellor, hoping to be able to live out his life as a private citizen. But Henry will settle for nothing less than that the much respected More give public approval to his headstrong course.
Plot Keywords: period piece, based on play, religion, politics, idealism, interrogation, trial ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: During the World War II, the crew of a small insignificant ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet experience an event unlike any event ever experienced by the United States Navy. A Ship's Captain is removed from command by his Executive Officer in an apparent outright act of mutiny. As the trial of the mutineers unfold, it is learned that the Captain of the ship was mentally unstable, perhaps even insane. The Navy must decide if the Caine Mutiny was a criminal act, or an act of courage to save a ship from destruction at the hands of her Captain?
Plot Keywords: ship captain, court martial, mutiny, u.s. navy, u.s. military, naval officer, psychiatrist ...
Movie Details Click Here!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 ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face one of his ex-employers top litigators, Belinda Conine.
Plot Keywords: aids, city name in title, blockbuster, library, one word title, main character dies, kiss ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Ten years in the life of Abraham Lincoln, before he became known to his nation and the world. He moves from a Kentucky cabin to Springfield, Illinois, to begin his law practice. He defends two men accused of murder in a political brawl, suffers the death of his girlfriend Ann, courts his future wife Mary Todd, and agrees to go into politics.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: 1830s, judge, lawsuit, lost love, marriage, pie, prologue ...
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