This is the ninth article in our examination of the AFI’s Ten Top Tens. You can read the introduction here, the first article in the series on animation here, the second article in the series on romantic comedies here, the third article on sports movies here, the fourth article on mysteries here, the fifth article on westerns here, the sixth article, on fantasy films, here, the seventh article, on science fiction films, here, and the eighth article, on gangster movies, here.
AFI defines a courtroom drama as a film “in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film’s narrative.” Here’s their list:
Rank Film Year 1 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 2 12 Angry Men 1957 3 Kramer Vs Kramer 1979 4 The Verdict 1982 5 A Few Good Men 1992 6 Witness for the Prosecution 1957 7 Anatomy of a Murder 1959 8 In Cold Blood 1967 9 A Cry in the Dark 1988 10 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961
I haven’t seen A Cry In the Dark, but I have seen the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine exclaims, “The dingo ate my baby.” And I think that qualifies me to comment on the film. I also haven’t seen Anatomy of a Murder, so I’ll leave that out the discussion. Really, all of the others are pretty good, even monumental in the cases of To Kill a Mockingbird, 12 Angry Men, and Judgement at Nuremberg.
Where I have railed against the tendency to put old movies on the list for the sake of being old and increasingly obscure, most of the definitive courtroom dramas are old. I think that it’s harder to make a compelling courtroom drama now than then. This likely is mostly due to the prevalence of successful lawyer shows on television. Every channel plays them non-stop. Law & Order, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and a number of others have painted cable television for the last twenty years or so. As such, there have been a decline of the good courtroom dramas on the big screen.
The only one that is obvious to me that shouldn’t be on the list is A Few Good Men. Perhaps this decline is why A Few Good Men really stands out. I like the movie a great deal despite Demi Moore, but the writing is too bland for it to be definitive. Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Pollack, Kiefer Sutherland, and the always underrated Kevin Bacon all play spectacularly. However, the writing, directing, and photography barely eke by the competentcy standard. The rolling cuts (where the camera scrolls between players rather than the traditional trading of hard point-of-view cuts) are so distracting to me. I noticed that this was a trend in the early 1990s, but that’s not an excuse. I don’t blame them for trying it out and attempting innovation, but some things just do not work. The acting really did save this movie. Very few others could have filled the roles and come off as successfully.
But there are some that I think are just as good as A Few Good Men, or better in the modern era. Sleepers is one. The story is smaller and more involved than the former. It’s acted more personally and takes on subject matter that is much harder to deal with. It is acted just as well and written and directed much better. It also stars Kevin Bacon.
Murder in the First is another that is easily forgotten, but received mostly favorable reviews at the time. It follows the psychological trend of Sleepers and doesn’t pull any punches about the victims in the cases either or the effect of the harm that was inflicted on them and society. It also stars Kevin Bacon. Is there a trend here?
The hands-down most memorable courtroom drama of the 1990s though does not go to A Few Good Men, Sleepers, or Murder in the First. The most memorable courtroom drama in the last 20 years goes to…My Cousin Vinny. Oh yeah!
My Cousin Vinny is an absolute delight. Not only is it hilarious, but it is also smart. It has the rules of court down and more intelligently than any of the others I mentioned. It’s down to Earth and really is a testament to individual achievement. It also has the best line of a courtroom drama (comedy) ever:
Well, I guess the laws of physics cease to exist on top of your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
My biggest complaint about the list is that it does not have, in fact, the most memorable and definitive courtroom drama in it. It has A Few Good Men, sure. And it does have the fantastic baby-eating dingo one in it. There’s the whole hanging of Nazis, which is always a treat. But it doesn’t have the haranguing of religious fundamentalism in it. And, I can’t be a writer at Heretical Ideas if I don’t get pissed that the AFI excluded the verbal bashing from an ACLU lawyer acting on behalf of the scientific community towards an intellectually defunct politician. Of course, I’m talking about Inherit the Wind. The film starring Spencer Tracy and the remarkable Gene Kelly as the wonderfully cynical E.K. Hornbeck
Based on the famous play about the “Scopes Monkey Trial”, Inherit the Wind is old, sure, but holds up to even today’s standards. The fact that it is still unnervingly relevant gets it extra points. There really isn’t anything that I can say about it that is bad or could have been done better. It really disappoints me that the AFI neglected to place it on the list. It is a perfectly produced film. You just can’t say that about a lot of movies. I shake my head and wag my finger at the AFI for this embarassing oversight.
Another that I’m suprised not to see on the list is …And Justice For All. This, like Murder in the First involves Barry Levinson, this time in a purely writing capacity. It has the best ending of any of these movies. “This man is fucking guilty!” It was arguably the first in a line of Pacino movies that highlighted his ability to scream and look extremely irritated. In all seriousness, it may have been one of the first to really hit hard at one of the true drawbacks of our legal system, and that is, namely, the “win at all costs” mentality. Rather than, you know, looking for the truth. The film’s greatest detraction is the dated and comical score. It makes me think that a bad porno parody could use the exact music to a completely different effect. We could call it …And Just Sex for All.
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