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Epicurus.com - Anatomy of a Murder
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $17.00
Your Save: $ 2.98 ( 15% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden
Directed By: Otto Preminger
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302800890
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6302800897
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 1994-06-21
Running Time: 160
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1959-07-01
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Editorial Reviews:
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Otto Preminger turned this 1959 courtroom drama, based on the popular novel, into terrific adult drama. James Stewart stars as a small-town lawyer who defends an army officer (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a bartender who assaulted his wife (Lee Remick). The taut script, large performance by Stewart, and then-daring elements of the story (words like "panties" are spoken in the context of discussing a sex crime) give the action a certain immediacy--which you don't find very often in today's movies about jurisprudence. Nice work by Remick and Gazzara, as well as George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, and real-life judge Joseph N. Welch, who plays the judge in this film. A very good experience all around. --Tom Keogh
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Preminger's most famous film, and one that holds up extremely well today...
Comment: I've been watching the entire Otto Preminger catalog lately, and I got around to seeing what is arguably his most famous film. Seeing it again makes me realise that it's a masterpiece of tension, performances, dialogue, and cinematography.
There is so much to like about this film. Nothing here in the trial or the characterisations is present in black and white (there's even a dialogue by Stewart to a potential witness about how people aren't black and white). It is full blown ambiguity, resulting in a far more grown up and mature film than most current courtroom dramas are. It is also refreshingly un-PC, unlike modern courtroom dramas. I like to constrast this film with overblown, incredibly melodramatic shows like The Practice, which I used to watch simply because it was unintentionally hilarious, because everyone was so over the top (and this was before it changed into Boston Legal with William Shatner, the ultimate ham sandwich of an actor). Preminger's film is one of his masterworks, a great study of the legal system, a fascinating case of two intelligent, well equipped lawyers having a go for a somewhat sleazy client, and a very dramatic and stunning film.
Stewart is masterful here, playing the usual Jimmy Stewart character but with a more cynical side which suits him very well. Ben Gazarra is great as a bullying, prone to violence soldier, and Remick is outstanding as his hoochie, borderline slutty wife. Scott as a district attorney is mesmerizing in one of his first roles. Even the supporting performances are outstanding, with Murray Hamilton excellent as a bartender, Eve Arden as Stewart's secretary, and Joseph Welch, who is the judge of the case. Despite the fact that you will probably figure out how the jury will rule, the film is still rivetting. The confrontation between Remick and Scott is incredibly tense (enhanced by Preminger's long take style), and the final cross examination by Scott and a surprise witness is totally devastating.
Otto Preminger is very underrrated in cinema circles today, and I hope that opinion changes soon. This is one of his best films, and one of the best courtroom dramas ever made. It still holds up, despite scores of imitations and the explicitness of today's courtroom dramas.
Customer Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC COURTROOM DRAMA
Comment: This Otto Preminger directed film is vintage Jimmy Stewart who plays a country lawyer recently voted out of the county prosecutors office he held for many years. Fishing seems to have replaced legal work and as the film opens his long time secretary (Arden) is asking for enough money to cover her pay check. He needs a case to bring in some fees. Laura Manion (Remick) shows up looking for a lawyer to defend her Army officer husband, Lt. Frederick Manion (Gazzara) who is accused of murdering a local bartender who apparently raped Mrs. Manion. Nothing seems to be like it appears. A lie detector test on Mrs. Manion says one thing and the forensic evidence taken after the alleged rape seems to say the opposite. They seem to be happily married but Mrs. Manion is often seen in public without her husband and in the company of other men. Lt. Manion seems a solid citizen soldier but is he always that way in private? Can Stewart defend him on the basis of temporary insanity? A great performance by Stewart as well as by everyone else with many surprise turns. As great as Stewart's performance is, the movie would not be what is without a terrific, albeit somewhat minor, performance by Joseph Welch as the retired judge who is filling in for the regular judge. With a dry sense of humor and perfect timing, he makes the courtroom scenes so outstanding. A genuine classic. [...]
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is the movie for actual courtroom procedure viewing.
Comment: I was recommended this film as one of only a handful of films that adequately depicts real-life courtroom "skirmishes". Though the film rarely deviates from actual criminal procedures, the excellent screenplay and direction still delivers a fantastic, attention-grabbing thriller. The acting is superb (how could it be otherwise with exellent and hardworking Jimmy Stewart headlining) and the movie's pace keeps you vitally interested. This is one of my favorite movies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Anatomy of a Murder DVD
Comment: The movie was just as good as I remembered it. The acting was superb. It was interesting to see how our idea of "proper" attire has changed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Anatomy of a perfect courtroom drama
Comment: 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
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