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DSL Video Collection — J thru N |
Jagged Edge (1985), color, 108 min. (#115)
Cast: Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close.
The husband of a San Francisco socialite is accused of her grisly murder. Glenn Close plays his attorney and they hop in the sack. (Isn't there something in the ABA Model Rules about this?)
The Judge and the Assassin (Lira Films 1976), color, in French with English subtitles, 130 min. (#160)
Cast: Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, and Michel Galabru.
A mad ex-soldier terrorizes the French countryside killing boys and girls. The judge knows he is insane, but finds him sane so that he may be executed, and the judges decision will be very popular. Great vehicle for thinking about the insanity defense.
Judge Priest (1934), b & w, 78 min. (#36)
Directed by John Ford. Cast: Will Rogers, Stepin Fetchit.
Based on a collection of short stories by Irvin S. Cobb, Old Judge Priest, Judge Priest presides in a Kentucky town in the 1890's. A character both tolerant and common sensical, who nevertheless creates controversy during a trial.
Judgment at Nuremberg (MGM 1961), b & w, 178 min. (#37 and #38)
Directed by Stanley Kramer. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Maximilian Schell, William Schatner, and Montgomery Clift.
Fictionalized trial of former Nazi judges at Nuremberg after World War II. Provides insight into Nazi brutality and raises questions about freedom of choice, loyalty to one's country and responsibility to mankind. Who was responsible for the Holocaust?
The Juror (Columbia 1996), 118 min. (#199)
Cast: Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin.
Demi is a juror and the mob gets her kid to insure decision. Demi needs to volunteer for jury duty for excitement? Totally unbelievable.
Just Cause (Warner Bros. 1995), color, 102 min. (#204)
Cast: Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne.
A Harvard law professor goes to bat for a death row inmate who claims he was forced to confess by his lawyer. Nothing like a Harvard man in the swamps of Florida.
Kramer v. Kramer (RCA/Columbia 1980), color, 105 min. Five Academy Awards including best picture of 1980. (#70)
Directed by Robert Benton. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Jane Alexander.
Career-obsessed Ted Kramer is left with his six-year old son when wife Joanna leaves him to find herself. Ted gets used to being a real father for a change when Joanna returns and wants her son back. Fodder for those future family lawyers.
Lady form Shanghai (Columbia, 1948), b & w, 87 min. (#173)
Director: Orson Welles. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, and Errol Flynn's yacht, "Zaca."
Murder mystery on an ocean cruise and the suspenseful ending in the hall of mirrors. One of the best movies of all times.
The Last Innocent Man (HBO 1987), color, 114 min. (#67)
Directed by Roger Spottiswood. Cast: Ed Harris, Roxanne Hart, and David Suchet.
A top defense lawyer leaves the profession in a career crisis. A seductive woman lures him back to defend her estranged husband. He searches for truth, the woman has ulterior motives (surprised?).
Legal Eagles (Universal 1986), color, 116 min. (#71)
Directed by Ivan Reitman. Cast: Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hanna.
Law as it was meant to be practiced. Good looking attorneys (male and female), the New York art scene — romantic comedy and madcap slapstick with a little danger from the underworld thrown in for excitement.
Lenny (MGM 1974), color, 112 min. (#193)
Cast: Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine.
Story of nightclub comedian Lenny Bruce, who was at the forefront of the free-speech battle in the 1960s.
The Letter (MGM 1940), b & w, 96 min. (#39)
Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Howard Koch based on a novel by Somerset Maugham. Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall.
A murderess tries to justify her crime by pleading self-defense, but a letter disproves her story. Pauline Kael describes Davis's performance as "very likely the best study of female sexual hypocrisy in film history." Steamy melodrama in Malaysia. Pro Rep alert ! ! ! Is the Davis' attorney a good role model?
Liar Liar (Universal 1997), color, 87 min. (#208)
Little Max wishes his sleazy lawyer father cannot tell a lie for 24 hours. The wish comes true making dad rather ineffective at his job. There are even a few funny bits that weren't in the TV promos. A must to take the edge off of Pro. Rep.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), color, 124 min. (#94)
Directed by John Huston. Cast: Paul Newman, Jacquelin Bisset, Tab Hunter, Stacy Keach, Roddy McDowell, Anthony Perkins, Victoria Principal, and Ava Gardner.
A tall tale of the wild west — law west of the Pecos.
The Life of Emile Zola (MGM 1937), b & w, 117 min. Oscar for the Best Picture 1937. (#68)
Directed by William Dieterle. Cast: Paul Muni and Gale Sondergaard.
The novelist's career is explored from his days of poverty and censorship to his success becoming the foremost novelist in all of France. He puts aside his comfortable life to come to the defense of Capt. Dreyfus when the infamous espionage scandal erupts.
The Lion in Winter (1968), color, 135 min. (#76)
Directed by Anthony Harvey. Cast: Katherine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Anthony Hopkins, and Timothy Dalton.
Acerbic retelling to the clash of wits between Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine.
Losing Isaiah (Paramount 1995), color, 108 min. (# 200)
Cast: Jessica Lange and Halle Berry.
Dramatic struggle between the birth mother (a former crack addict) and the adoptive mother for custody of Isaiah.
The Magnificent Yankee (1950), b & w, 80 min. (#146)
Cast: Louis Calhern and Ann Harding.
Film biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes.
A Man for All Seasons (Columbia 1966), color, 120 min. (#65)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw, Orsen Wells, Susannah York.
Thomas More refuses to help Henry VIII in his break with the Catholic Church. More is tried for treason and beheaded.
The Man from the PRU (1989), color, 90 min. (#140)
Cast: John Massey, Anna Massey, and Susannah York.
True story of an unsolved murder. The victim's husband was found guilty by a jury but the verdict was overturned by the British Court of Appeals.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (Paramount 1962), b & w, 123 min. (#40)
Directed by John Ford. Cast: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, and Edmond O'Brien.
A western portraying the struggle between the cattlemen and the homesteaders in the town of Shinbone. A young eastern lawyer (Stewart) and a rugged rancher (Wayne) are rivals for Ms. Miles' affection. One shoots Liberty Valence, one gets the "gal," which one will become U.S. Senator?
The Man Who Would Be King (United Artist 1975), color, 128 min. (#41)
Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by John Huston and Gladys Hill based on a novel by Rudyard Kipling. Cast: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer.
Two soldiers of fortune in 19th century India find a primitive land and become King and Lord Treasurer.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947), b & w, 97 min. (#145)
Cast: Maureen O'Hara and John Payne.
Santa Claus is put on trial.
Mississippi Burning (Orion 1988), color, 127 min. (#58)
Directed by Alan Parker. Cast: Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
The disappearance of three young civil rights workers leads to an FBI investigation in a small Mississippi town. All in the town, white and black, are suspicious of the FBI and give little help. The youth are eventually found dead.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Columbia 1939), b & w, 130 min. (#175)
Director: Frank Capra. Cast: James Stewart, Jean Authur, and Claude Rains.
Stewart, a newly elected, young idealist from the midwest, is appalled at the corruption he finds when he takes his seat in the Senate. He sets about making things right. Interesting look at how Washington was perceived before World War II.
Music Box (1989), color, 126 min. (#89)
Directed by Costa-Gravras. Cast: Jessica Lange.
A Chicago attorney defends her father against charges of war crimes fifty years earlier in his native Hungary.
My Cousin Vinny (1992), color, 119 min. (#128)
Cast: Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, and Fred Gwynne.
Vinny, right out of law school in Brooklyn, defends his cousin and a buddy on murder charges in the deep south. One of the funnier lawyer movies.
