Aliens, Superheroes and Ghosts v. Lawyers

Illustration by Stephen Webster and Brenan Sharp

For some reason summer blockbusters don’t revolve around lawyers, unless the films shows a greedy, spineless, cowardly lawyer sitting on a toilet being eaten by a T-Rex.  While the world is currently being saved from another alien invasion or from those pesky, ecto-plasmic beings or we’re being wowed by the latest comic book movie, the last 100 years of cinema have delivered a number of outstanding legal films. 

A group of legal scholars and film critics got together and voted on the best legal films of the last 100 or so years, choosing their top three picks per decade.  They based their decision on the following criteria:

1.  The film must say something important, enduring, and arguably true about law and justice.

2.  The film should be a good piece of moviemaking: well-acted, well-directed, well-photographed.

3.  The film should invite repeated viewing and encourage thought and study of the themes presented.

4.  The film should be in English, primarily because of the makeup of our English-speaking audience.

5.  Films considered are silver screen films, not “made for television” movies.

6.  The film, even from the most recent decades, should be of the quality to stand the test of time.

Here’s what they came up with?  What do you think?  Do you even recognize some of the films on this list?

 1915-1924

1. The People vs. John Doe (1916)
2. The Majesty of the Law (1915).
3. The Man Without a Country (1917).

1925-1934

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928).
2. The Scarlet Letter (1926).
3.  Blackmail (1929).
   
1935-1944

1. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
2. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).
3. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).

1945-1954

1. Adam’s Rib (1949)
2. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
3. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

1955-1964

1. 12 Angry Men (1957)
2. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
3. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) [tie vote]
   
1965-1974 (Tie)

1. A Man for All Seasons (1966) and The Paper Chase (1973) [tie vote]
2. In Cold Blood (1967)
3. Lenny (1974)

1975-1984

1. The Verdict (1982)
2. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
3. Breaker Morant (1980)
   
1985-1994

1. The Accused (1988)
2. A Few Good Men (1992)
3. Presumed Innocent (1990)

1995-2004

1. Dead Man Walking (1995)
2. A Civil Action (1998)
3. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

2005-2014

1. The Social Network (2010)
2. North Country (2005)
3. Fracture (2007)

www.abajournal.com, August 1, 2015
Illustration by Stephen Webster and Brenan Sharp