COURTROOMS
Hollywood loves courtroom stories, (1) because the sets are cheap and (2) because Americans must love them too- after all there’s a whole cable channel devoted to nothing else. Picking the best courtroom movies is hard (but fun!)
Inherit The Wind (1960), with Spencer Tracy as the great Clarence Darrow and Frederic March as the great William Jennings Bryan, is a wonder. Schoolteacher John Scopes is on trial for teaching evolution. The dialogue is brilliantly sharp. This is an issue we’re still fighting about, and this great film sets the stage well.
Witness For The Prosecution (1957), directed by the legendary Billy Wilder from an Agatha Christie play, features Charles Laughton as a barrister defending Tyrone Power for murder.  Marlene Dietrich, John Williams and Elsa Lanchester complete a stellar cast. This taut London courtroom thriller twists and turns deliciously, with a surprise that will knock your socks and shoes off!
My Cousin Vinny (1992) certainly is not a great movie, but certainly is a great deal of fun. Joe Pesci is one of the worst (and assuredly the worst-dressed!) lawyers in North America. He heads for the Deep South with girlfriend (and Oscar winner) Marisa Tomei in tow to defend his nephew and a friend in Judge Fred Gwynn’s court. The culture clash couldn’t be louder, or funnier. 
One of Tom Hanks’ Oscar-winning roles is as a lawyer released from his top-notch job because he is HIV positive, in Philadelphia (1993). Denzel Washington is excellent as an ambulance chasing shyster, but the only lawyer who will take Mr. Hanks’ case when he decides to sue over his firing. 
In 1959, Anatomy of a Murder was a huge financial and critical success, and it holds up well today. Long (160 minutes) but worth it, it stars James Stewart as the sly, folksy defense lawyer. An impossibly young Ben Gazzarra is the defendant, Lee Remick his wife, and Joseph Welch (yes, the real lawyer from the Army-McCarthy hearings) is the judge. Also on board are Arthur O’Connell, Eve Arden, Orson Bean, and George C. Scott. This film features a defense that was quite controversial at the time (no, I’m not going to tell you; you’ll have to see for yourself).
One of my best 2016 sleepers was the under appreciated Denial. American author Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) has her lecture on the Holocaust loudly interrupted by a very combative David Irving (Timothy Spall). He then sues her in an English court for libel, as she has publicly called him a Holocaust denier. In England the burden of proof in a libel case is on the one who published the statement, not the other way around. Much of the film takes place in the courtroom, but there is plenty of outside footage, including a harrowing trip to Auschwitz. Tom Wilkinson has a fine role as Lipstadt’s British lawyer. Spall is hateful and splendid.
Other courtroom films worth a look include The Caine Mutiny (1954), To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), Compulsion (1959) and A Few Good Men (1992). All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. 
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