Trust a simple country lawyer to behave unprofessionally at trial...he
knows what he is doing better than you do.
, produced in 1959, is an American courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger and written by Wendell Mayes. The story was based on the novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker, which was in turn based on a 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney.
Paul Biegler (
James Stewart) is a lawyer who can't be bothered with doing legal work, and spends most of his time fishing and playing jazz piano. He's called in to defend loutish, wife-beating US Army Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion (Ben Gazzara), who has been arrested for killing innkeeper Barney Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, and smugly insists he was perfectly justified because Quill raped his wife, Laura (Lee Remick). Biegler knows better, however, and the story follows Biegler's attempts to get Manion acquitted, opposed by a prosecution team headed by assistant Attorney General Claude Dancer (
George C Scott, in only his second film role.)
The soundtrack was composed and performed by
Duke Ellington, who also makes a
cameo appearance.
Anatomy of a Murder was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to address sex and rape in graphic terms and use taboo words such as "sperm", "rape", "bitch", "slut", "penetration" and
"panties".
Tropes associated with this work:
- The Ace: Claude Dancer.
Judge Weaver: Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Dancer. It's a privilege to have you in my court.
- Actor Allusion: During trial, James Stewart (in character, as Paul Biegler) invokes his own famous "country bumpkin" persona to win the jury's sympathy.
- Actually Pretty Funny: As Judge Weaver reminds the courtroom, a murder trial is Serious Business. But even then...
(Biegler has yet again objected to Dancer's cross-examination)
Dancer: Anything else, Mr. Biegler?
Biegler: You do it again, I'll punt you all the way out into the middle of Lake Superior.
(Dancer loses his poise and starts laughing)
- Amoral Attorney: Biegler. The other attorneys also qualify to a certain extent.
- Animated Credits Opening: Designed by Saul Bass, one of Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock's frequent collaborators.
- Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Paul Biegler never said, "Now, I'm no big city lawyer" or "I'm just a simple country lawyer." His actual line is, "I'm just a humble country lawyer trying to do the best I can against this brilliant prosecutor from the big city of Lansing."
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Mr. Biegler is called that by Laura.
- Courtroom Antic: Invoked so many times that we don't know where to begin.
- Lampshaded in the following exchange, which takes place after Dancer has been "inadvertently" blocking Biegler's view of his witness during cross-examination and then responds to Biegler's objection by implying that Biegler has been signaling the witness:
Dancer: I'm sorry, Mr. Biegler. I wouldn't want to interfere with your signals to the witness.
Biegler: [angrily] I object to the implication that I'm signaling the witness. This is the shabbiest courtroom trick I've ever seen.
Dancer: You haven't lived, Mr. Biegler.
- Deadpan Snarker: Judge Weaver, Biegler's secretary, Biegler himself from time to time.
- Dramatic Irony: Dancer going for the kill in the cross-examination of Mary Pilant.
- Emotions vs. Stoicism: Inverted. Biegler deliberately invokes this trope to turn the small-town jury against the highly self-possessed Dancer.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Discussed in the scene where Judge Weaver and the lawyers are trying to come up with something to say in the courtroom besides panties:
Dancer: When I was overseas during the war, Your Honor, I learned a French word. I'm afraid that might be slightly suggestive.
Judge Weaver: Most French words are.
- Grey and Gray Morality: Neither counsel is beyond criticism. Also, the victim and the defendant both compete for the title of "villain". Biegler, in one of his most sympathetic moments, explains his view of the world to a witness whose testimony he desperately needs:
"As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad. People are many things."
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Biegler's secretary remarks that if the fridge gets any more fish in it, "it'll swim upriver and spawn."
- Inherently Funny Words: "There's a certain light connotation attached to the word 'panties.'"
- Insanity Defense
- Ironic Echo: Paul's own words come back to bite him.
Dancer: The shoe is squeezing Mr Biegler's foot. In his own words, this is not a high school debate. This is a cross-examination in a murder trial.
- The Judge: Played by Joseph N. Welch, a real-life lawyer most famous for his Take That against Senator Joseph McCarthy ("Have you no sense of decency, sir?") during the 1954 Senate subcommittee hearings investigating McCarthy's accusations of Communists in the U.S. Army. Welch joked that he took the movie role because it was the closest he'd ever come to being a judge.
- Karma Houdini: Manion, arguably.
- Licked by the Dog: Biegler wins Laura's approval when Muff takes a liking to him.
- Invoked by Biegler when Muff also appears to take a liking to Dancer, who clearly does not reciprocate:
Biegler: It's easy to see that Muff doesn't know who his enemies are.
- Ms. Fanservice: Laura Manion.
- Never Trust a Trailer
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Dancer's closing address, according to Biegler.
- Oh Crap: The expression on Dancer's face when he gets an answer he wasn't expecting during his cross-examination of Mary Pilant.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Mitch Ludovic, once Dancer is in action.
- Playing Against Type: James Stewart as the Amoral Attorney.
- Sharp Dressed Man: Dancer.
- Simple Country Lawyer: Paul Biegler. He actually invokes the trope at one point.
- Surprise Witness: Mary Pilant.
- Take That: Judge Weaver's speech introducing the word "panties" in the courtroom is arguably a Take That against both The Hays Code and the audience:
Judge Weaver: For the benefit of the jury - but more especially for the spectators - the undergarment referred to in the testimony was, to be exact, [the victim's] panties. (courtroom spectators laugh for several seconds; the judge then restores order) I wanted you to get your snickering over and done with. This pair of panties will be mentioned again in the course of this trial, and when it happens, there will not be one laugh, one snicker, one giggle, or even one smirk in my courtroom. There isn't anything comic about a pair of panties which figure in the violent death of one man and the possible incarceration of another.
- That Was Objectionable: At times, Biegler objects just to give his witness some time to think of an appropriate answer.
- Why Isn't It Attacking?: Biegler becomes uneasy when Dancer lets Manion off far too easily during cross-examination... and rightly so. Dancer goes on to pulverize Laura Manion.
- Worthy Opponent: Biegler, to Dancer.
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