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DSL Video Collection — A thru D |
Absence of Malice (Columbia, 1981), color,
117 min. (#174)
Cast: Paul Newman and Sally Fields.
An innocent man is the subject of a false news story
leaked by a prosecutor. He, with the aid of the
newspaper reporter who was duped into reporting
the story, tries to prove his innocence.
The Accused (1988), color, 110 min. (#102)
Cast: Kelly McGillis and Jody Foster.
Jodie Foster's Oscar winning performance as a victim of a gang rape in a local bar who goes after both her attackers and the crowd that cheered the assault.
Adam's Rib (MGM 1949), b & w, 101 min. (#1)
Directed By George Cukor. Screenplay by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Cast: Spencer Tracy (Adam Bonner), Katherine Hepburn (Amanda Bonner), David Wayne, Tom Ewell, July Holiday, and Jean Hagen.
A married couple are prosecuting attorney (Tracy) and defense counsel (Hepburn) in the case of a wife who shot her unfaithful husband. Would the husband be exonerated if the roles were reversed? So claims the defense exposing the "double standard." Marital strife ensues in the Bonner household but all ends happily.
All the King's Men (Columbia 1949), b & w, 109 min. (#2)
Directed by Robert Rossen. Screenplay by Robert Rossen, based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren. Cast: Broderick Crawford (Willie Stark), John Ireland (Jack Burden), Mercedes McCambridge (Sadie Burke), Joanne Dru (Anne Stanton)
An honest young politician becomes corrupt as he rises from local office to the governorship. A fictionalized version of the life of Huey Long. Compare the character of Willie Stark to that of Atticus Finch in "To Kill A Mockingbird."
Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia 1959), b & w, 161 min. (#3)
Directed by Otto Preminger. Screenplay by Wendell Mayes based on a novel by Robert Travers (pseud. for Judge Voelker formerly of the Michigan Supreme Court). Cast: James Stewart (Paul Biegler), Lee Remick (Laura Manion), Ben Gazzara (Lt. Manion), Eve Arden (Maida).
Lt. Manion is held for murdering a bartender who allegedly raped his wife. A small-town lawyer, Biegler, defends the lieutenant, but the lie-detector and medical evidence are equivocal. The husband is violently possessive and the wife not entirely faithful. A witness appears at the last minute, but the real question is, "Will Biegler collect his fee?"
And Justice for All (1979), color, 120 min. (#141)
Cast: Al Pacino, Jack Warden , John Forsythe, and Lee Strasberg.
Idealistic young lawyer is pressured to defend a distinguished judge who he knows is guilty.
Ann Vickers (RKO 1933), b & w, 76 min. (#4)
Directed by John Cromwell. Screenplay by Jane Murfin based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis.
Cast: Irene Dunne (Ann Vickers), Walter Huston (Judge Dolphin).
Ann, a social worker, struggles with love and a career as she tries to expose the inhumane treatment of inmates at a women's prison. She eventually marries a judge who is then convicted of false bribery charges. Will they live happily ever after? Contrast this view of love and marriage with the Tracy and Hepburn flicks.
Athena (MGM, 1954), color, 96 min. (#181)
Cast: Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, and Vic Damone.
A stuffy lawyer risks his engagement and career when he meets the beautiful Athena. She soon has him weightlifting and eating lots of veggies. As you might guess this is a musical comedy.
Becket (1964), color, 150 min. (#80)
Directed by Hal Wallis. Cast: Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.
Classic recounting of the struggle between Henry II and Becket, his friend who he appointed Archbishop of Canterbury — nominated for 12 Academy Awards.
Before and After (Caravan Pictures), color, 108 min. (#201)
Cast: Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson.
Parents struggle in a small, close-knit community when their son is accused of a "shocking" murder.Claimed to have thrilled the critics.
Birth of a Nation (1915), b & w, 154 min. (#104)
Directed by D.W. Griffith.
Hailed as the first real movie and condemned for its racism embodied in the glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, this film is important both in terms of film history and in understanding the cultural history of our country where the Klan flourished (not just in the South but in the Midwest) for the first half of this centrury.
Black Widow (CBS/Fox 1987), color, 101 min. (#7)
Directed by Bob Rafelson. Screenplay by Ronald Bass. Cast: Debra Winger, Theresa Russell, Dennis Hopper.
A complex psychological thriller with a beautiful serial killer whose victims are wealthy men. Winger, a lonely federal agent, tracks down but falls under the allure of the killer — the Black Widow. She mates and she kills — whoa! Good watch for those taking Stiffs and Gifts (Trusts and Estates).
Bleak House (BBC 1987), color, 391 min. (3 tapes).(#8, 9, and 10)
Directed by Ross Devenish. Teleplay by Arthur Hopcraft (based on the novel by Charles Dickens). Cast: Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliot.
Biting social commentary on the 19th century English legal system where the Jardyce case drags through the courts for years, ruining an entire family. "A powerful tale of greed and social decay . . . is a masterful recreation of the world of Charles Dickens."
Body Heat (Warner Bros. 1981), color, 113 min. (#11)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan.Cast: Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, and Ted Danson.
It's hot. Florida lawyer Hurt falls for the hot married lady (Turner). She involves him in a plot to kill her husband and he is "framed" because he never learned the rule against perpetuities. Recommended for a break when the rule is covered in Property.
Body of Evidence (MGM, 1992), color, 99 min. (#183)
Cast: Madonna, William Deroe, Anne Archer, and Joe Mantegna.
You might want to think twice before accepting the case. In this case Madonna is accused in the death of her older, wealthy lover when they got a little too intense. What do the Model Rules say about getting "entangled in a web of erotic game playing." Warning: one reviewer claims that the "good parts" are more disturbing than titillating.
Boomerang (Paramount, 1992), color, 118 min. (205)
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens, and Halle Barry.
Womanizing market executive Murphy has the tables turned on him when his new boss, Givens, treats him like he has always treated women.
Breaker Morant (So. Aust. Film Corp., 1980), color, 107 min. (#12)
Directed by Bruce Beresford. Screenplay by J. Hardy and Beresford. Cast: Edward Woodward (Morant) and Jack Thompson.
True story of three soldiers court-martialed on trumped-up charges during the Boer War. Most of the film concerns the trial illuminating the ingredients of fair and impartial adjudication. The question of following orders is also key.
Burden of Proof (1992), color, 200 min. (#207, 208, and 209)
Story by Scott Turow. Cast : Hector Elizondo, Brian Dennehy, Stefanie Powers, Victoria Principal, and Adrienne Barbeau.
Midwestern lawyer deals with his wife's suicide and the investigation of his brother-in-law, accused of manipulating the commodities market. A long made for TV movie.
The Caine Mutiny (Columbia 1954), colorized, 125 min. (#54)
Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Screenplay by Stanley Roberts based on a novel by Herman Wouk. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray, E.G. Marshall, and Lee Marvin.
Do you take orders from a superior who is nuts or do you mutiny? Stuck on a bucket in the middle of a war, the crew suffers their Captain Queeg until his actions in a typhoon threaten the ship's destruction. The officers mutiny and save the ship, but then face a court-martial. The trial raises the question of the role of the attorney who has to defend those who he finds reprehensible.
Call it Murder (1934), b & w, 80 min. (#13)
Directed by Chester Erskine. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Fox, O.P. Heggie.
Film noir murder melodrama — a jury foreman tormented by the press and his own family for sending a woman to the electric chair for a crime of passion.
Can-Can (20th Century Fox 1960), color, 131 min. (#14)
Directed by Walter Lang. Screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley and Charles Lederer. Songs by Cole Porter. Cast: Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan.
Paris in 1896 and the Can-Can has been banned, but MacLaine continues to perform it through the efforts of her lawyer (old blue-eyes) and a corrupt judge (Chevalier). A new judge (Jourdan) arrives to put a stop to all the fun but fails.
Car Wash (Universal 1976), color, 97 min. (#121)
Cast: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, the Pointer Sisters, and Clarence Muse (DSL Class of 1911).
A typical day at a Los Angeles car wash. This movie is in the collection because Clarence Muse, Class of 1911, was the first African-American graduate of Dickinson School of Law. He went on to a career in movies and song-writing.
The Case of the Lost Love (1991), color, 98 min. (#108)
Cast: Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale.
Perry Mason in the usual fare.
Chinatown (1974), color, 131 min. (#15)
Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Robert Towne. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, John Hillerman.
A private eye doing routine matrimonial snooping uncovers a scandal involving the water supply for southern California. The bad guys really do a job on Jack's nose.
Citizen Kane (RKO 1941), b & w, 120 min. (#125)
Directed by Orson Wells who stars along with Joseph Cotton and Agnes Moorehead.
Candidate for the best film of all times, a story of power and corruption as newspaper mogul, Charles Foster Kane, rises and falls. This is a must see to understand all those "Rosebud" jokes.
Class Action (1991), color, 110 min. (#86)
Cast: Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
What happens when a brilliant civil rights lawyer lets his daughter go to law school? She ends up facing off against him in the courtroom representing the vile corporate corruption he has despised. "But dad, I am only trying to make partner!"
The Client (1994), color, 121 min. (#137)
Cast: Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.
Screen version of the John Grisham novel about an 11 year old boy who witnesses a mob murder and becomes a pawn of the prosecutor's ambition. An unseasoned attorney risks her career to help him.
Colonel Redl (Orion 1987), color, in German with subtitles, 144 min. (#51)
Directed by Istvan Szabo. Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Redl, a talented peasant boy, rises through the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army to become head of military intelligence in the years leading up to World War I. He is loyal to Franz Joseph and detests the plotting that swirls through Vienna but becomes first a tool then victim of Franz Ferdinand. This is a must see for those traveling to Vienna. The film illustrates the complex ethnic politics that the Hapsburgs controlled for several hundred years and is now running amok in the Balkans.
Conspiracy (Academy 1990), color, 87 min. (#53)
Directed by Christopher Barnard. Cast: James Wilby, Kate Hardie, and Glyn Houston.
Cover-up of the Secretary of Defense's sordid past (and present). I messed up here — thought it was a movie by the same title about the Chicago 8. This is real dreck.
Cool Hand Luke (1967), color, 127 min. (#122).
Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, and Strother Martin.
For doing what we would all like to do to those Carlisle parking meters, Paul does some time on a chain gang and sets the hard boiled egg eating record. As often happens in law school, "What we have here is failure to communicate."
Crime and Punishment (1935), b & w, 88 min. (#153)
Directed by Josef von Sternberg. Cast: Peter Lorre.
Screen adaption of Dostoievsky's novel of a man who believes he has committed the perfect crime.
Criminal Law (Hemdale Films 1988), color, 114 min. (#56)
Directed by Martin Campbell. Cast: Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon.
A nightmare begins for Attorney Ben Chase when he successfully defends a guilty psycho who, upon release, is "free to kill again." He does, playing a sick joke on his defender. Vicious murders and revenge are the order of the day.
Crisis at Central High (1980), color, 120 min. (#133)
Cast: Joanne Woodward and Charles During.
Story of the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.
A Cry in the Dark (1988), color, 122 min. (#138)
Cast: Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.
Australian couple are accused of murder when wild dogs drag off their infant. Tabloid generated hysteria leads to a modern day version of the Salem Witch Trials.
Dances with Wolves (1990), color, 185 min. (#77)
Directed by Kevin Costner. Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Green, Rodney Grant.
A disillusioned Union soldier finds inner peace through harmony with nature living with the Lakota Sioux. I bought this one at McDonalds and donated it to the collection.
Dead Man Walking (Polygram 1996), color, 122 min. (#198)
Director: Tim Robbins. Cast: Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
Sister Helen becomes the spiritual advisor of a convicted killer of two teenagers as he faces execution by lethal injection.
Defenseless (1990), color, 106 min. (#139)
Cast: Sam Shepard and Barbara Hershey.
Hershey is the lawyer for a real estate tycoon who is charged with procuring teenage girls for porn movies. He ends up murdered, perhaps by the father of one of the girls, but it takes the cool detective to get to the bottom of the case.
The Distinguished Gentleman (1994), color, 112 min. (#147)
Cast: Eddie Murphy.
A con man runs for Congress and wins. He finds his seat is a license to steal! This movie provides a lighter moment in the course on legislation.
The Divorce of Lady X (1938), color, 91 min. (#21)
Directed by Tim Whelan. Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier.
Stranded by fog after a charity ball, an attractive woman invades the bedroom of a young lawyer. She takes over his bed, his breakfast and, eventually his life.
Dr. Strangelove (Columbia 1966), b & w, 93 min. (#22)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern. Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Slim Pickens.
Nuclear war gamesmanship taken to its logical conclusion — SAC commander Jack D. Ripper overrides the fail-safe systems to begin an attack on Russia's strategic targets. He is unaware that Russia has deployed a dooms day machine — a successful attack will destroy the world. Frantic efforts to stop the attack led from the war room by the President, advised by Dr. Strangelove and Gen. Buck Turgidson almost succeed. But there's no stopping American ingenuity personified by Slim Pickens, who has dedicated his life to fighting "nuclear war toe-to-toe with the Ruskies."
Duck Soup (1933), b & w, 70 min. (#23)
Directed by Lou McCarey. Screenplay by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Cast: The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont.
Groucho becomes Prime Minister of Fredonia and immediately declares war on the neighboring country and voids all laws that are inconvenient. The other Marx Brothers spy for both sides and eventually fight for both sides ending in hilarious disaster.
