Film · 1959 · Legal drama
Anatomy of a Murder
Directed by Otto Preminger
1959
★ 6.5 editorial score
The Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph Welch plays the judge and Duke Ellington wrote the score: a murder trial turning on an alleged rape, argued in language so frank that 1959 audiences were shocked.
“The major conflict and dramatic fascination...is the battle of legal wits and personalities that is waged between the defense attorney and those of the prosecution, under the watchful eye of a shrewd, sardonic old judge. It is a beautifully drawn and maneuvered battle, full of neat little triumphs on each side, leading to a most exciting climax and clear exposures of the principal characters.”
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