Anatomy of a Murder
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.75 You Save: $8.20 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.12 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Anatomy of a Murder
Movie Review: The Two Faces of James
Summary: 5 Stars
The dark underbelly of Jimmy Stewart's aw-shucks screen image was rarely put to better use than in Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder." If anyone could make a cunning defense attorney sympathetic, it's the man who made us like a voyeur in "Rear Window" and a borderline psychotic in "Vertigo." In "Anatomy," Stewart plays Paul Biegler, a fairly ordinary small-town lawyer who would just as soon fish and drink as ply his trade. However, when he falls into a high-profile murder case involving an Army lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) who has murdered a saloon owner for allegedly raping his wife (Lee Remick), a sharper, almost imperceptible edge emerges. Stewart is so lovable that we barely notice that he helps his client craft a rather insincere defense and uses his down-home persona to manipulate the audience and even the judge as he does battle with the "big city" prosecutors.
As with his best work for Hitchcock, we are suckers for Stewart's two-toned humanism: We delight in the contrast between his piano playing and good-natured interactions with an aging drinking buddy (Arthur O'Connell) and the consistently devious craftiness he displays in the courtroom. Not that there aren't many other reasons to like "Anatomy of a Murder." The stellar cast, including George C. Scott and also real-life McCarthy nemesis Joseph N. Welch as the judge; a fabulous soundtrack by Duke Ellington, who makes a cameo appearance; the strategically leisurely pace of Preminger's direction; the evocative black and white cinematography; the memorable title sequence by Saul Bass. Ultimately, though, it's Stewart's show. Anyone who steps back and takes an objective look at the case and the judgment would be hard-pressed not to think that Stewart skirts justice, but we never really are objective. We root for him to do it the whole way.
Movie Review: Anatomy of a perfect courtroom drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1957)
To call Anatomy of a Murder the definitive courtroom film is, perhaps, not going quite far enough. Sure, there had been others, and there are certainly other classic courtroom dramas, but Anatomy of a Murder seems to be the basis for the outpouring of courtroom films and TV shows we have today; the bickering of the lawyers, the badgering of the witnesses, the bamboozling of the jury.
The plot is very straightforward, compared to Law and Order or CSI: a man (Ben Gazzara) kills his wife (Lee Remick)'s rapist. A down-on-his-luck lawyer, Paul Biegler (James Stewart) is handed the case soon after he lost the county prosecutor election to Claude Dancer (George C. Scott). Biegler takes the case, as much to get one up on Dancer as for the case itself, but while things, as Biegler believed, are not as open-and-shut as they seem, there's far more to the case than he originally thought, and none of it seems to be on his side.
It should go without saying that courtroom-drama-TV-show fans should consider this a must-see, but even if you never once watch Jerry Orbach flip a badge or William Petersen crack wise, this is a bang-up movie. The bast are phenomenal, every last one of them, and Wendell Mayes' script (adapted from Robert Traver's novel) is top-notch. Nowadays, the direction looks very familiar; that's because it's been done so much since. Despite that, however, the film still looks fresh and exciting. (My hypothesis is that this is because the film is in black and white, and we're used to seeing it in color with deodorant commercials interrupting it every fifteen minutes.) It's witty, it's intelligent, and it's got a cracking good mystery. Besides, how can you not like a film that was banned in Chicago? **** ½
Movie Review: Anatomy of a movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie kind of snuck up on me and by the ending I felt as if I had been baited and hooked. Preminger was teasing us all along by taking advantage of the fact that we all aproach a movie by early on picking out the bad guys and the good guys. Naturally we all see Jimmy Stewart as the good guy hero who we prepare to root for from beginning to end. But during the last few scenes, in which a drunken Lee Remick chases Jimmy up a law house stairway with a girdle in hand and then the very last shot where Jimmy finds Lee's shoes in a garbage can, it is then I realize that I have been conned. I was aware of the fact that Lee and her murdering husband Ben Gazarra were somewhat unsympathetic from the very start but I felt certain that somehow they would exhibit redeeming qualities at movies end, but no way! Preminger only reinforced how truely awful they really were and Jimmy is only a scheming lawyer out to revive his career with a drunken sidekick who proves very helpful. When you think about it, this is how the law and the world really do work - OJ Simson case in point. Who would have thought that in 1959 a movie this cynical, which doesn't really even feel cynical, would pack such a real world punch as this one does?
Call me a naive country bumkin but this movie really amazed me and I can't believe that more people aren't taken aback the way I was. Preminger really plays with your head and hides his true intentions until by movies end you really feel like a fool for not having suspected what he was really up too. Can we have more discussion about this or are we all so jaded that nothing surprises us anymore?
Movie Review: Suspenseful and sensual courtroom drama
Summary: 5 Stars
This tense courtroom drama combines elements of suspense, sensuality, comedy, and intellect to deliver a wonderfully captivating film. The characters are the driving force of this film, with James Stewart obviously leading the cast as defense attorney Paul Biegler. Lee Remick is perfect in the role of flirtatious, sexy, lower-class blond Laura Manion, whose husband murdered the man who raped her. Ben Gazzara plays Frederick Manion, who pleads temporary insanity to the murder, although both Stewart and the audience know his crime was quite deliberate. George C. Scott delivers a cutting performance as the big-city lawyer who lashes into Manion, only to have Manion lash back. Eve Arden plays Biegler's loyal secretary, and Arthur O'Connell rounds out the cast as Biegler's alcoholic friend. Unlike many Hollywood courtroom dramas that FEEL like Hollywood courtroom dramas, this film possesses a realism that most others lack. The film was very controversial at the time of its 1959 release because of the "graphic" descriptions of the rape. I find trivia like this especially interesting because it helps me see the evolution of film over the decades. I love movies that strive for elements of realism; however, I hate contemporary films that feel compelled to shock audiences beyond belief in their "realism." This film accomplishes that goal without the grotesque and obscene style of many of today's courtroom dramas.
Overall, this is a wonderful piece of cinematic art with top-notch writing and characterization. A must-see for any film aficionado.
Movie Review: Ambiguity of a murder.
Summary: 5 Stars
Best trial-movie ever made--perfect of its kind. Set the standard for the thousands of pale imitators (including TV shows like *Law and Order*) that have followed it. What remains fascinating about this 1959 movie, what keeps it from being dated, is its utter ambivalence towards ALL the characters, perhaps especially the ostensible "heroes": we have James Stewart as a small-town lawyer who'd just as soon listen to his jazz records as continue his law career . . . we have Arthur O'Connell as his drunken mentor who gets in car crashes . . . we have Eve Arden whose one (and apparently only) concern is the status of her next paycheck. And then there's Ben Gazarra and Lee Remick as one of the most unlikeable married couples ever put on screen. (A good title for this movie could've been: "When Bad Things Happen to Bad People".) Perhaps the only person one roots for is the judge, played by real-life judge Joseph Welch who stood up to Joe McCarthy in the Army Hearings fracas. Incidentally, I don't think rape has ever been so dispassionately presented in movies or TV as here. Nary a tear is shed. Odd. Finally, we can also enjoy James Stewart in one of his very best performances (this was his favorite film, along with *It's a Wonderful Life*). As for the DVD, Columbia did nothing particularly special, but they didn't screw it up, either. Ellington's jazz score has been remastered to very nice effect. Picture is crisp (standard ratio). Highest recommendation.