Breaker Morant

Bruce Beresford, Australia, 1980 (8.8*)
Memorial Day War-athon #2
This the story of a war-time court martial, and is based on true events during the closing stages of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). The officers are members of a mostly Australian unit called the Bushveldt Carbineers, created to fight the Boer commandos by employing their own tactics against them.

The charge is that the three men involved here committed murder by executing captured Boers, and also perhaps executed a civilian non-combatant. Their defense is that they were acting in accordance with standing orders, because the operational nature of the Carbineers would be hampered by having to keep prisoners under guard. Also, anyone escaping would be able to give their location and other information. Naturally, these are verbal orders only, so it's all based on heresay.

The British command sees the incident as a chance to give morale to the Boer side, embarassing their side, so command clearly wishes to portray the three protagonists as rogue elements and sacrifice them for political expediency. Similar to Kubricks Paths of Glory, this film examines the military practice of high command often sacrificing subordinates to cover for their own failures and indiscretions, in this case violating international accords by executing prisoners of war. Through the trial, we get the see the story told as flashbacks during witness testimony.

The overall quality of this film is impeccable, as is the cast - five were nominated for Australian Film Institute (AFI, equivalent of our academy awards) awards for acting: Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown won (for lead and supporting respectively), also nominated were Edward Woodward, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, and Charles 'Bud' Tingwell.

Winner of 12 awards, including 10 AFI awards, it's only 3 AFI losses were to other actors in the same film. This is both a powerful war film and a gripping legal film with a courtroom trial.

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Inherit the Wind

Stanley Kramer, 1960, bw (8.3*)
A Tennessee science teacher, played by Dick York of Bewitched fame, goes on trial for teaching evolution in school. Acting great, and two-time Oscar® winner Fredric March, prosecutes the case. Spencer Tracy, also a two-time Oscar® winner, defends the teacher.

This is obviously a thinly disguised version of the famous "Scopes-Monkey Trial" of 1925. In fact, the films four screenwriters actually used some of the original trial transcripts for dialogue, they just changed the name of the characters.

The amazing part of this film is, of course, the acting from the two leads, who battle back and forth like heavyweight boxers. Fredric March, due to makeup designed to make him resemble William Jennings Bryan (see photo bottom), is almost unrecognizable. Thanks to their performances, this is one of the best legal films ever made. Fans of either actor, or of this rather specious reason for a trial, will love this classic film.

Here's a good description of the real trial at a legal site that reviews famous trials

Clarence Darrow (l.) and William Jennings Bryan (rt.),

at the famous 'Scopes Monkey Trial'

Note: just to show how much hype surrounds this non-issue, the fundamentalists actually invented the concept that Darwin said we descended from apes - he said "man and apes are parallel branches on the tree of life". On top of that, Charles Darwin didn't even invent the theory of evolution, his uncle did. Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace actually sent him an essay describing the same theory in 1858 before Darwin had published his own theory.

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Witness For the Prosecution

Billy Wilder, 1957, bw (8.3*)  bw

This is my second favorite film of an Agatha Christie story (this was a short story, not a novel), after And Then There Were None from French director René Clair. I believe this story is unique for her, as it's a legal film, with the entire story unfolding in a courtroom, but it still has the Christie touch, meaning an unexpected plot twist that most can't see coming.

An excellent cast makes this film better than it would have been from the story alone. The impeccable Charles Laughton, a two-time best actor winner, here an aging attorney recovering from a near fatal heart attack, agrees to defend Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) in a murder case, in spite of the fact that his wife, Marlene Dietrich, is going to be a witness for the prosecution. Dietrich turns in one of her best dramatic performances, relying on acting in this film, not her beauty nor her sultry singing.

Though not one of Wilder's best (perhaps a little too 'Hollywood'), such as Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot (perhaps if it had started with an 's'), or The Apartment, it's still a very good mystery, and a good courtroom drama, and Wilder's only work with Laughton or Dietrich. Fans of Christie, or Laughton, who was one of the best actors ever on film, will not be disappointed.

Nominated for 6 Oscars® (Picture, director, actor for Laughton, supporting for Elsa Lanchester, who won the Golden Globe), 5 Golden Globes, and 5 other awards, and ranked #129 on the IMDB top 250, with a rating of 8.4, the same as I gave it - not quite as high for me as And Then There Were None.

Wilder is one of the great directors, here's a small list of his best films:
The Front Page, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Lost Weekend, The Spirit of St. Louis, One Two Three, Ace in the Hole, The Seven Year Itch, Sabrina, The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, The Fortune Cookie.

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Judgment at Nuremberg

Stanley Kramer, 1961, bw (8.6*)
Dramatic re-enactment of the famous Nuremberg trial of the major Nazi war criminals, held in 1948. German actor Maximilian Schell, as the defense attorney for the Nazis, steals this film from all the major American actors (which include Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, and Montgomery Clift), and won an Oscar® for best actor for the performance of his lifetime. In fact, it's one of the best of all-time, one of the most impassioned ever committed to film. Others in the all-star cast include Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Richard Widmark.

It's really little more than another courtroom drama, only in this case the defendants are the biggest criminals of the century, if not all time - those who planned and ordered the systematic execution of the Jews during WW2.

The film is based on the actual legal transcripts of the famous trial. Each defendant claimed to have been "just following orders, under penalty of death", so the trial becomes an issue of when does an individual draw the line when his country and his orders become immoral and inhumanitarian. To what higher authority does a man owe his utmost allegiance? To country, to self, or to God? Thus the film deals with universal issues that face individuals in any time of war, and becomes an indictment of mankind itself, for no war is really different as the innocent die along with combatants.

A black-and-white classic, one of the last from a nearly extinct art form as nearly all films today are made in color.

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Runaway Jury

Gary Fleder, 2003 (8.2*)
Perhaps author John Grisham's best, this spellbinding trial story shows how juries are now manipulated by expensive trial consultants in order to pre-determine the outcome simply by jury selection and tampering. The impeccable Gene Hackman is the veteran pro at this, coming at a price of millions. Dustin Hoffman is the lawyer for the plaintiff, an honorable attorney who refuses to break the law like Hackman to gain advantage. Jeremy Piven is his jury consultant, a brash youngster compared to Hackman.

In this case, a shooting rampage at a stock brokerage firm leaves a widow suing the gunmaker, in a case that could provide not only millions but set a legal precedent that could see the weapons makers in court nationwide for years. John Cusack is an unwilling juror with a hidden agenda. We see him colluding with his girlfriend Rachel Weisz, who attempts to extort money from each side, promising to deliver a jury favorable to whoever pays the most money.

This film moves briskly for a trial film, as we see many crimes being committed in the name of 'justice'. For me, this is the best film of any Grisham novel, thanks to the cast, which includes three Oscar® winners (Hackman, Hoffman, and Weisz). With enough twists and turns, this one will keep you guessing until the unexpected outcome.

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Close-Up

aka Nema-ye Nazdik
Abbas Kiarostami, 1990, Iran (7.5*)
This is a small, sub low-budget pseudo-documentary that has much of the story re-enacted by the original participants. It involves the true story of an unemployed Iranian family man, Ali Sabzian, who impersonates Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a director he idolizes and later meets, director of "The Cyclist", the film he admires. Meeting another fan on a bus, he gains entrance to a middle-class family's home as they all like Mohsen's films. Eventually asking for money, he arouses suspicion, so the family patriarch arranges to have him arrested when he returns to their house.

We join the story there in the film's beginning, following a journalist to the arrest. Later we're with the director of this film, Abbas Kiarostami, as they interview the accused, then Iranian court officials, who decide to let them film the trial. (or was it re-enacted?) Iran, opening up its primitive legal system to journalists with cameras - what's wrong with this story?

It would be a touching story otherwise, but I can't separate myself from the locale and the Iranian regime. This is not an earth-moving case either, mere hero worship and impersonation, perhaps for financial gain, as the man has a family to feed. Just about anyone would perpetrate a minor scam if it could feed their kids at the expense of those apparently well-off, and who would blame him. You feel for the criminal in this (his real crime is just poverty), who appears remorseful, as they all do when caught. I don't buy his self-proclaimed innocence in court myself, but then I'm from the nation with the most laws, most prisoners, most lawyers, most time spent in court in the world!

I wasn't as moved as most critics: the film quality is very poor, the sound perfectly awful, the worst I've ever heard. At times it vibrates into unrecognition, in one scene with director Makhmalbaf, it cuts on and off from his remote microphone, some dialogue being lost entirely. (see El Mariachi for a great example of low-budget excellence, so it can be done, and all in single takes)

I'm convinced this movie was Iranian propaganda. They let Kiarostami film in court because this case meant nothing - were any journalists allowed in Roxanne Saberi's so-called trial? I don't buy the veracity of this film, so it loses it's power without the viewer buying the premise. It's an interesting window into a closed regime, even if a cloudy, poorly made one, so in that regard it's worth seeing, just don't expect any decent production values, but the positive is some openly displayed emotions in a raw and human docudrama.

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Frost/Nixon

Ron Howard, 2008 (7.6*)
Reliable director Ron Howard tackles the anti-climax to this pivotal point in American history, as Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign, forced to by impending impeachment by Congress for his part in the authorization and cover-up of crimes that flowed like a river after the Watergate break-in, not just that incident but a whole litany of other civil rights abuses as well. After his pardon by President-apointee Gerald Ford, the entire nation felt robbed of a criminal trial or an admission of guilt and an apology from Nixon.

Australian entertainer and talk-show host David Frost seized an opportunity to outbid other networks with Nixon’s agent for the rigtht to inverview him "live, on tape". Nixon was a Hollywood-style individual with a penchant for the big-time for the big fee, so a lot of the movie is about the financial wranglings made in order to set up the interviews, then we see a re-enactment of the actual interviews, conducted in a mundane, middle-class Republican businessman’s house.

Perhaps it’s the locale, or the staleness of this as a news event as many of us saw this when it happened in reality, but this film lacks the punch and intensity of other Howard docudramas like Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and A Beautiful Mind. Frank Langella is brilliant as Nixon, deserved the Oscar for capturing his demeanor and style without actually imitating him. Michael Sheen (The Queen) is barely adequate as Frost, giving the character no personality whatsoever, which may have been accurate but hardly dramatic. Down a star for the overall lack of intensity as Nixon is treated more like a kindly, aging grandad, though a vital part of history that should be witnessed as a serving President circumvented the U.S. Constitution at every opportunity. Screenplay author Peter Jordan (an Oscar®-winner for The Queen), but for Howard, a competent but not outstanding volume in his overall filmography.

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Tucker: The Man and His Dream

Francis Ford Coppola, 1988 (8.7*)
This is the true story of Preston Tucker, American entrepreneur, engineer, and inventor. He saved US lives and made his fortune by designing the ball turret on the B-52 bombers that allowed the machine gunners easy mobility. After the war, Tucker, played with joyous optimism by Jeff Bridges, wants to build a radically different auto for the public: one that’s safe, yet also stylish. His design included things like disk brakes, high beam lights, side crash protection, seat belts. This film covers the period of this design when Tucker challenged the big three automakers and offered Americans something different. When the going gets tough, Tucker starts singing the jazz song "Hold That Tiger!" and grins. This feels a lot like a Frank Capra film (just look at the dvd cover), and is one of Coppola’s more enjoyably optimistic yet often overlooked movies.

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In Cold Blood

Richard Brooks, 1967, bw (8.8*)
Journalistic filming of Truman Capote’s Pulitzer-winning non-fiction book about the ruthless killing of the Clutter family of Kansas by two burglers, who had heard in prison that the family had a safe in the house. Director Brooks has made this chilling account more realistic and frightening by the use of flashbacks in the killers words, and a slightly grainy ‘newsreel’ look, also by building up to the actual crime, which is mostly shot by flashlight. One of the more spine-tingling crime re-enactments on film.

A later film, Capote (which won an acting Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman), examines this period in Capote’s life, when he was torn between researching his book, justice for the Clutters, and sympathy for the killers, who were awaiting execution.

The killers are excellently portrayed by Scott Wilson (from In the Heat of the Night), and tv's Robert Black (a former Little Rascal), in their best performances of their careers. This is a must-see for all true crime fans, more eerie than any Hitchcock film, in fact, it's almost too realistic to recommend.

Quote: That Mr. Clutter was a real nice gentleman, right up until I slit his throat.

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Adam's Rib

George Cukor, 1949, bw (8.8*)
Classic b&w comedy doesn't get any better, as Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn play married lawyers who end up on opposite sides in a courtroom when a jealous wife, a hilarious Judy Holliday, shoots philandering hubby Tom Ewell, but not fatally. Tracy prosecutes her for attempted murder, while Hepburn defends the wife, perhaps to antagonize and match wits with Tracy. This was one of the first women's lib films that dealt with (in)equality of the sexes, especially in a court of law. Watch for a hilarous sequence involving rival suitor David Wayne's song about Kate, "Farewell Amanda", which becomes a big radio hit.Tracy also has one of his classic scenes using his acting skills to max comedic effect. Terrific screenplay, Oscar-nominated, from husband-and-wife Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon.

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Wall Street

Oliver Stone, 1987 (8.5*)
This perfectly cynical look at corporate culture in our wealth-hungry economic system gives us the perfectly anti-heroic capitalist in Gordon Gekko, a role with earned Michael Douglas a Best Acting Oscar. An arbitrageur / corporate raider takes a young Charlie Sheen under his wing, and soon they are attempting to take over and dismantle the aerospace company where Sheen's dad Martin Sheen works. Somehow Stone makes corporate takeover and stock manipulation a tense nail-biter with some substance. This was loosely based on the true story of Ivan Boesky, who was indicted in the 80's for violating securities laws, and unfortunately this is an all too accurate portrayal of the financial system of the U.S. This film, along with Boiler Room and Rogue Trader, are all musts for stock market participants.
Quote: Greed is good. (Gekko, giving a speech)

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Body Heat

Dir: Lawrence Kasdan, 1981 (8.5*)
Kasdan updates the film noir genre with a plot also based on legal moves and technicalities. Kathleen Turner provides the romantic heat in one of her best, most seductive parts. William Hurt is probably a little bland in his role as the lawyer Ned Racine, more than willing to bend a little for his desires, as she’s married to local millionaire Richard Crenna. Look for Ted Danson as a police detective, ‘sorta friend’ of Ned the lawyer, who inexplicably dances around onscreen like Gene Kelly – you can’t tell if he’s making a play on his name, showing off his Broadway chops, or Kasdan is having him say something about the plot without words. This one has more twists than any highway in Florida, where this takes place, causing more sweat than any film in memory.

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12 Angry Men

Dir: Sydney Lumet, 1957, bw (8.4*)
This was Sydney Lumet’s (The Verdict, Absence of Malice) first film, and forever changed legal films. Very evidently based on a play (for television, by Reginald Rose), the entire film takes place in the jury room, yet the action is riveting, thanks to a great script and terrific cast. The jury is led by foreman Martin Balsam, and all but one think a murder defendant is guilty, primarily due to bigotry, as he’s from an urban slum. The lone holdout is Henry Fonda, who gradually makes his arguments to the others, based on reasonable doubt. His staunchest opponent is Lee J. Cobb, in one of his best appearances. Other jurors include E.G. Marshall, Norman Fell, Robert Webber, Jack Warden and some unknowns who are equally good. Somehow Lumet keeps this from becoming claustrophobic, as well as using the jury room to expose our weaknesses and prejudice as a society.

This is #124 on our Top Ranked Films on the Internet survey, and was #8 on the IMDB top 250 the last time I checked..

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To Kill a Mockingbird

Dir: Robert Mulligan, 1962, bw (10*)
Best Drama (GG)
AFI Top 100
This beautifully small and simple story makes one wish that Harper Lee (from Alabama) had written more novels, this one won a Pulitzer Prize. Gregory Peck had his most enduring and universal role, and won an Oscar, as a southern lawyer fighting racial injustice in a small town. Oscar nominee Mary Badham was his daughter, a terrific child actress in a part she was "born to play". Look for Robert Duvall in one of his first, and very small parts, yet a very integral role in the plot. This has a very authentic ring, and one of the few films that fights for social and criminal justice for everyone.
Quote: They always said it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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