Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Directed by Otto Preminger. With James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell. In a murder trial, the defendant says he suffered temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?

Based on the best-selling novel by Robert Traver (the pseudonym for Michigan Supreme Court justice John D. Voelker), Anatomy of a Murder stars James Stewart as seat-of-the-pants Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler. Through the intervention of his alcoholic mentor, Parnell McCarthy (Arthur O'Connell), Biegler accepts the case of one Lt. Manion (Ben Gazzara), an unlovable lout who has murdered a local bar owner. Manion admits that he committed the crime, citing as his motive the victim's rape of the alluring Mrs. Manion (Lee Remick). Faced with the formidable opposition of big-city prosecutor Claude Dancer (George C. Scott), Biegler hopes to win freedom for his client by using as his defense the argument of

Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom drama crime film produced and directed by Otto Preminger.

A virtuoso James Stewart plays a small-town Michigan lawyer who takes on a difficult case: the defense of a young army lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a local tavern owner who he believes raped his wife (Lee Remick).

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Overview of Anatomy of a Murder, 1959, directed by Otto Preminger, with James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, at Turner Classic Movies

The film pits a humble small-town lawyer against a hard-headed big city prosecutor. Emotions flare as a jealous army lieutenant pleads innocent to murdering the rapist of his seductive, beautiful wife.

In a murder trial, the defendant says he suffered temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?

Anders: The film that ushered in the cynical courtroom thriller. A classic. 10/10

Anatomy of a Murder: Anatomy of a Murder, American courtroom film drama, released in 1959, that was controversial for its explicit handling of sexual passions and the crime of rape. The film was based on a novel by Robert Traver (pen name of Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker). It centres on Paul Biegler

In an interview with his fellow filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, Otto Preminger speaks of the influence of the law on his life and work. Preminger’s father was a District Attorney and Attorney General for the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1) and, even though Otto studied law formally, his education sprang more from his attachment to the law through…

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