Trial Film - Other Films

Other Films

• Even though courtroom movies are mostly dramas, My Cousin Vinny, a comedy, resulted in Marisa Tomei winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
• Marathi film Kaydya cha Bola (कायद्याच बोला) based on My Cousin Vinny is also comedy/ social courtroom movie.
• Norman Jewison's ...And Justice for All, nominated for 2 Academy Awards, examines the flawed and human, venal and immoral side of justice, focusing on all-too-human judges. As Norman Webster wrote: "...And Justice For All is a sweeping – and somewhat simple-minded – indictment of the American justice system." The film can be seen from the perspective of Judicial Qualifications Commissions (also known as Judicial Tenure Commissions), which are judicial agencies charged with overseeing judicial performance and conduct. From that end of the telescope, the indictment of the courts and judicial system (and the examples) are not so outlandish as might be supposed. Starred Al Pacino, Jack Warden, and John Forsythe.
• Amistad is a 1997 historical drama directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the true story of an uprising in 1839 by newly captured African slaves that took place aboard the ship La Amistad off the coast of Cuba, the subsequent voyage to the northeastern United States, and the legal battle that followed their capture by a U.S. revenue cutter. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.
• The Ox-Bow Incident, unusual in that the trial does not take place in a formal court room. Directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Henry Fonda (who also starred in Twelve Angry Men).

Nominated for Best Picture Oscar in 1943.

• Witness for the Prosecution (1957), directed by Billy Wilder from a short story and play by Agatha Christie, and starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards.

• A Time to Kill a 1996 feature film adaptation of John Grisham's 1989 legal thriller of the same name.
• The Client a 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, and starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Renfro in his film debut. It is based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. The film was released in the United States on July 20, 1994. The movie features an all star cast. Sarandon nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
• Primal Fear a 1996 motion picture directed by Gregory Hoblit, which tells a story of a defense attorney (Richard Gere) who defends an altar boy (Edward Norton) charged with the murder of a Catholic archbishop. The movie is an adaptation of William Diehl's novel. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his career-launching role.
• A Civil Action is a 1998 film starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall for which Duvall was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The film was based on the 1996 nonfiction novel of the same name.
• In Miracle on 34th Street Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) has his sanity examined at a hearing. The film won 4 Academy Awards, with Gwenn winning for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was also nominated for Best Picture.