In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, small-town lawyer Paul Biegler, a former district attorney who lost his re-election bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano, and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge.
One day, Biegler is contacted by Laura Manion to defend her husband, US Army Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion, who has been arrested for the murder of innkeeper Bernard "Barney" Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, but claims that Quill raped his wife. Even with such a motivation, getting Manion cleared of murder would be difficult, but Manion claims to have no memory of the event, which suggests he may be eligible for a defense of irresistible impulse—a version of a temporary insanity defense. It is strongly implied that Manion is faking insanity, having been guided to it as a potential defense by Biegler. Biegler's folksy speech and laid-back demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that keeps the judge busy maintaining control. However, the case for the defense does not go well, especially as local district attorney Mitch Lodwick is assisted by high-powered prosecutor Claude Dancer from the Attorney General's office.
Furthermore, the prosecution tries at every instance to block any mention of Manion's motive for killing Quill. Biegler eventually manages to get the rape of Laura Manion into the record and Judge Weaver agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations. During cross-examination, Dancer insinuates that Laura openly flirted with other men, including the man she claimed raped her. Psychiatrists give conflicting testimony to Manion's state of mind at the time that he killed Quill. Dancer says that Manion may have suspected Laura of cheating on him because he asked her, a Catholic, to swear on a rosary that Quill raped her. This raises doubt as to whether the act was consensual.
Quill's estate is to be inherited by Mary Pilant, whom Dancer accused of being Quill's mistress. McCarthy learns that Pilant is in fact Quill's daughter, a fact she is anxious to keep secret since she was born out of wedlock. Biegler, who is losing the case, tries to persuade Pilant that Al Paquette, the bartender who witnessed the murder, may know if Quill admitted to raping Laura but Paquette is covering this up, either because he loves Pilant or out of loyalty to Quill. Through Pilant, Biegler is unable to get Paquette to testify on behalf of Manion.
During the trial, Laura claims that Quill tore off her underwear while raping her; the underwear wasn't found where she alleges the rape took place. Pilant, previously unaware of any details of the case, hears this during the trial and then tells Biegler and later testifies that she found the panties in the inn's laundry room the morning after the alleged rape. Biegler suggests Quill may have attempted to avoid suspicion by dropping the panties down the laundry chute located next to his room. Dancer tries to establish that Pilant's answers are founded on her jealousy. When Dancer asserts forcibly that Quill was Pilant's lover and that Pilant lied to cover this fact, Pilant shocks everyone by stating that Quill was her father. Manion is found "not guilty by reason of insanity". After the trial, Biegler decides to open a new practice, with a newly sober McCarthy as his partner.
The next day, Biegler and McCarthy travel to the Manions' trailer park home to get Manion's signature on a promissory note which they hope will suffice as collateral for a desperately needed loan. It turns out the Manions have vacated the trailer park, the superintendent commenting that Laura Manion had been crying. Manion left a note for Biegler, indicating that his flight was "an irresistible impulse", the same justification Biegler used during the trial. Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quill's estate; McCarthy says that working for her will be "poetic justice".
On July 31, 1952, Lt. Coleman A. Peterson shot and killed Maurice Chenoweth at a tavern in Big Bay, Michigan.[8] Voelker was retained as defense attorney a few days later.[9] Peterson's wife Charlotte had claimed Chenowyth raped and beat her.
The trial started on September 15, 1952,[10] and Assistant Attorney General Irving Beattie assisted Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney Edward Thomas.[11] Voelker used a rare version of the insanity defense called irresistible impulse that had not been used in Michigan since 1886.[12] The jury deliberated for four hours on September 23, 1952, before returning a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.[13] Two days later, after Peterson was examined by a psychiatrist who judged him sane, he was released.[14]
Peterson and his wife were divorced soon after the trial.[15] Hillsdale Circuit Court Judge Charles O. Arch, Sr. tried the case because of the illness of a local judge.[16]
Production
The Marquette County Courthouse was used for courthouse scenes.
The film was shot in several locations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Big Bay, Marquette, Ishpeming, and Michigamme). Some scenes were filmed in the Thunder Bay Inn in Big Bay, one block from the Lumberjack Tavern, the site of the 1952 murder that inspired much of the novel.[17] The film was previewed on June 18, 1959, in Chicago,[18] which Variety said was 21 days after filming had finished and a record for a big-budget film.[19] It had its first screening at the Butler Theater in Ishpeming and the Nordic Theater in Marquette on June 29, 1959.[18] The world premiere for the film was held on July 1, 1959, at the United Artists Theater in Detroit.[20]
Legal aspects
Facade of the Lumberjack Tavern, the scene of the actual crime on which the film is based
The film examines the apparent fallibility of the human factor in jurisprudence.[21][22] In various ways all of the human components—the counsel for defense and prosecution, the defendant and his wife, and the witnesses—have their own differing positions on what is right or wrong, and varying perspectives on integrity, justice, morality and ethics. The reliance on credibility of witnesses, and the "finding of facts" based upon those determinations, is the "Achilles heel" of the judicial process.[22]
One controversial legal issue in this film is possible witness coaching, a violation of legal canons. The only plausible legal defense Lt. Manion has—the insanity defense—is virtually spelled out to a befuddled Manion by his prospective counsel,[23] who then temporarily suspends the conversation and suggests that Manion rethink his factual/legal position. Witness coaching by the prosecution is even more blatant as they call in other jail inmates awaiting sentencing to testify against Manion, which is portrayed as subornation of perjury to an extent. The first suggests that the defendant may be concealing the truth and manipulating his story in order to obtain the best possible verdict, and the latter that the prosecution dangled a possible lighter sentence through plea bargain as an incentive to perjury.[4][24]
Reception
Where the body fell
The language used during the film startled Chicago, Illinois Mayor Richard J. Daley,[18] and his police commissioner. As a result, the film was temporarily banned in the heavily Catholic city.[25] Preminger filed a motion in federal court in Illinois and the mayor's decision was overturned. The film was allowed to be exhibited after the court determined that the clinical language during the trial was realistic and appropriate within the film's context.[26][27]Variety claimed that the film contained words never before heard in American films with the Motion Picture Production Code seal such as "contraceptive", (sexual) "climax" and "spermatogenesis".[19]
In another federal lawsuit in Chicago, the daughter of the real-life murder victim from the 1952 case sued Dell Publishing and Columbia Pictures in July 1960 for libel over accusations that the book and movie "followed [the actual trial] too closely" and portrayed the two women in an unflattering light;[28] the suit was dismissed less than a year later in May 1961.[29]
Anatomy of a Murder has been well received by members of the legal and educational professions. In 1989, the American Bar Association rated this as one of the 12 best trial films of all time. In addition to its plot and musical score, the article noted: "The film's real highlight is its ability to demonstrate how a legal defense is developed in a difficult case. How many trial films would dare spend so much time watching lawyers do what many lawyers do most (and enjoy least) – research?"[30] The film has also been used as a teaching tool in law schools, as it encompasses (from the defense standpoint) all of the basic stages in the U.S. criminal justice system from client interview and arraignment through trial. The film was listed as No. 4 of 25 "Greatest Legal Movies" by the American Bar Association.[31]
The film grossed an estimated $11 million generating $5.5 million in theatrical rentals in the U.S. and Canada.[32][33] It earned rentals of $8 million worldwide.[1]
Film critics have noted the moral ambiguity, where a small town lawyer triumphs by guile, stealth and trickery. The film is frank and direct. Language and sexual themes are explicit, at variance with the times (and other films) when it was produced. The black and white palette is seen as a complement to Michigan's harsh Upper Peninsula landscape.[34] The film is "[m]ade in black-and-white but full of local color".[35]
Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times said, "After watching an endless succession of courtroom melodramas that have more or less transgressed the bounds of human reason and the rules of advocacy, it is cheering and fascinating to see one that hews magnificently to a line of dramatic but reasonable behavior and proper procedure in a court. Such a one is Anatomy of a Murder, which opened at the Criterion and the Plaza yesterday. It is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen... . Outside of the fact that this drama gets a little tiring in spots—in its two hours and forty minutes, most of which is spent in court—it is well nigh flawless as a picture of an American court at work, of small-town American characters and of the average sordidness of crime."[36]
Time felt that it was well-paced, well-acted, and that the explicit language was warranted within the film's context.[25]
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed AFI's 10 Top 10, the best 10 films in 10 "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Anatomy of a Murder was selected as the seventh best film in the courtroom drama genre.[37]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 100% of 50 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 8.70/10. The site's consensus states, "One of cinema's greatest courtroom dramas, Anatomy of a Murder is tense, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted, with great performances from James Stewart and George C. Scott."[34]
Mervyn Cooke, in the History of Film Music, asserts that despite being heard "in bits and pieces" the score "contains some of his most evocative and eloquent music... and beckons with the alluring scent of a femme fatale." Including small pieces by Billy Strayhorn, film historians recognize it "as a landmark — the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoids cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and "rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the '60s."[52]
The soundtrack album, containing 13 tracks, was released by Columbia Records on May 29, 1959. A CD was released on April 28, 1995, and reissued by Sony in a deluxe edition in 1999.[53]
Reception
Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concluded: "Though indispensable, I think the score is too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."[54][upper-alpha 1]
The AllMusic review by Bruce Eder awarded the album 3 stars and called it "a virtuoso jazz score—moody, witty, sexy, and—in its own quiet way – playful".[55]
After Traver's novel was published, St. Martin's Press planned to have it adapted for the stage, intending a Broadway production, which would then be made into a film. Before he died in December 1957, John Van Druten wrote a rough draft of the play adaptation. Some time after that, the publisher then made the film rights available, and these were purchased by Otto Preminger.[58]
Eventually, Traver's book was adapted for the stage in 1963 by Elihu Winer. It premiered at the Mill Run Theater in suburban Chicago, and was published in 1964 by Samuel French.[59]
References in media and popular culture
On June 29, 2009, journalist and filmmaker John Pepin debuted Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture on public television stations across the state of Michigan. The anchor station for those broadcasts was WNMU-TV in Marquette, Michigan. The documentary reviews the original incident that spawned the bestselling book Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver and the making of Otto Preminger's motion picture. Pepin's documentary debuted on the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of "Anatomy of a Murder" in Ishpeming and Marquette, Michigan; the date was also the birthday of John Voelker. Pepin grew up on Barnum Street in Ishpeming, the same street where Voelker lived and where the Mather Inn was located, which is where the stars of Preminger's film stayed during production. Anatomy '59 features interviews with Anatomy of a Murder actors still alive in 2009, including Ben Gazzara, Kathryn Grant-Crosby, Orson Bean and Don Ross.[60]
Marquette is the county seat of Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port, known primarily for shipping iron ore from the Marquette Iron Range. The city is partially surrounded by Marquette Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gained attention for film noir mysteries such as Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945), while in the 1950s and 1960s, he directed high-profile adaptations of popular novels and stage works. Several of these later films pushed the boundaries of censorship by dealing with themes which were then taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction, rape and homosexuality. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. He also had several acting roles.
Legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film's narrative. Legal dramas have also followed the lives of the fictional attorneys, defendants, plaintiffs, or other persons related to the practice of law present in television show or film. Legal drama is distinct from police crime drama or detective fiction, which typically focus on police officers or detectives investigating and solving crimes. The focal point of legal dramas, more often, are events occurring within a courtroom, but may include any phases of legal procedure, such as jury deliberations or work done at law firms. Some legal dramas fictionalize real cases that have been litigated, such as the play-turned-movie, Inherit the Wind, which fictionalized the Scopes Monkey Trial. As a genre, the term "legal drama" is typically applied to television shows and films, whereas legal thrillers typically refer to novels and plays.
12 Angry Men is a 1957 American independent legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among them force the jurors to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.
Big Bay is an unincorporated community in Marquette County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 257, down from 319 in 2010. The community is located within Powell Township near the shore of Big Bay on Lake Superior.
Ishpeming is a city in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. Located in the Upper Peninsula, the population was 6,140 at the 2020 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the iron ore mines employed more workers. A statue of a Native American figure, erected in 1884 in the small town square, is referred to as "Old Ish".
Reversal of Fortune is a 1990 American drama film adapted from the 1985 book Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case, written by law professor Alan Dershowitz. It recounts the true story of the unexplained coma of socialite Sunny von Bülow, the subsequent attempted murder trial, and the eventual acquittal of her husband, Claus von Bülow, who had Dershowitz as his defense attorney. The film was directed by Barbet Schroeder and stars Jeremy Irons as Claus, Glenn Close as Sunny, and Ron Silver as Dershowitz. Screenwriter Nick Kazan originally envisioned Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer in the role of Claus von Bülow, but was thrilled with Irons' performance. Irons earned the 1990 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.
Primal Fear is a 1996 American legal mystery crime thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by William Diehl, and written by Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman. It stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances McDormand and Edward Norton in his film debut. The film follows a Chicago defense attorney who believes that his altar boy client is not guilty of murdering a Catholic archbishop.
Joseph Nye Welch was an American lawyer and actor who served as the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, an investigation known as the Army–McCarthy hearings. His confrontation with McCarthy during the hearings, in which he asked McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?", is seen as a turning point in the history of McCarthyism.
Brian Gene Nichols is a convicted murderer known for his escape and killing spree in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 11, 2005. Nichols was on trial for rape when he escaped custody and murdered the judge presiding over his trial, a court reporter, a Fulton County Sheriff's deputy, and later an ICE special agent. Twenty-six hours after a large-scale manhunt was launched in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Nichols was taken into custody. The prosecution charged him with committing 54 crimes during the escape; he was found guilty on all counts on November 7, 2008 and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
John Donaldson Voelker, also known by his pen name Robert Traver, was a noted lawyer, author and fly fisherman from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Born and raised in Ishpeming, he later attended the University of Michigan Law School. His early professional career was as an attorney and county prosecutor in Marquette County. Voelker was also appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1957. He is best known as the author of the novel Anatomy of a Murder, published in 1958. The best-selling novel was turned into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name—directed by Otto Preminger and starring James Stewart—released on July 1, 1959. Duke Ellington wrote the music for the movie. It is critically acclaimed as one of the best trial movies of all time.
In American law, Scots law, and under the laws of some English-speaking Commonwealth nations, subornation of perjury is the crime of persuading or permitting a person to commit perjury, which is the swearing of a false oath to tell the truth in a legal proceeding, whether spoken or written.
Trial films is a subgenre of the legal/courtroom drama that encompasses films that are centered on a civil or criminal trial, typically a trial by jury.
US Highway 41 (US 41) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state trunkline highway that enters the state via the Interstate Bridge between Marinette, Wisconsin, and Menominee, Michigan. The 278.769 miles (448.635 km) of US 41 that lie within Michigan serve as a major conduit. Most of the highway is listed on the National Highway System. Various sections are rural two-lane highway, urbanized four-lane divided expressway and the Copper Country Trail National Scenic Byway. The northernmost community along the highway is Copper Harbor at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The trunkline ends at a cul-de-sac east of Fort Wilkins State Park after serving the Central Upper Peninsula and Copper Country regions of Michigan.
A Few Good Men is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, J. T. Walsh, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Kiefer Sutherland. The plot follows the court-martial of two U.S. Marines charged with the murder of a fellow Marine and the tribulations of their lawyers as they prepare a case. The film touches on several moral themes such as justice, blind loyalty, accountability, hazing, the questioning of authority, abuse of power, and corruption in the United States Armed Forces.
Under Your Spell is a 1936 American romantic comedy film with music directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Frances Hyland and Saul Elkins is based on a story by Sy Bartlett and Bernice Mason. It was a remake of the American Spanish-language film, Las fronteras del amor.
The Mather Inn is a hotel in Ishpeming, Michigan. The inn served as housing for the cast of the classic 1959 movie Anatomy of a Murder, and was the place where Duke Ellington composed the movie's score. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Several special routes of U.S. Route 41 exist, including three in Wisconsin. In order from south to north they are as follows.
The Marquette County Courthouse is a government building located at 400 South 3rd Street in Marquette, Michigan. It designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse was the setting of the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger.
The Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, located at 317 Main Street in Ishpeming, Michigan, is the second oldest Carnegie Library in the Upper Peninsula. It was authorized in 1901 and opened in 1904. It was listed as a Michigan State Historic Site on January 18, 1980.
References
Notes
↑ The score employs a "handful of themes, endlessly recombined and re-orchestrated. Ellington never wrote a melody more seductive than the hip-swaying "Flirtibird", featuring the "irresistibly salacious tremor" by Johnny Hodges on the alto saxophone." A stalking back-beat barely contains the simmering violence of the main title music" The score is heavily dipped in "the scent of the blues and Ellington's orchestra bursts with color."[54]
Citations
1 2 3 "Wall St. Researchers' Cheery Tone". Variety. November 7, 1962. p.7.
↑ "Army Officer Held for Murder of Big Bay Tavern Proprietor: 'Mike' Chenoweth, Former State Policeman, Slain Following Alleged Rape". The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. July 31, 1952. p.1. ISSN0898-4964.
↑ "Atty. Voelker Retained by Lt. Peterson". The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. August 5, 1952. p.2. ISSN0898-4964.
↑ "Judge Arch Allows Motion by Prosecutor for Additional Witness in Murder Case". The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. September 15, 1952. p.2. ISSN0898-4964.
↑ Pepin, John (2009). Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture (DVD). Marquette, Michigan: WNMU-TV.
↑ Thomson, Kimberley Reed (February 2003). "The Untimely Death of Michigan's Diminished Capacity Defense". Michigan Bar Journal. Vol.82, no.2. pp.17–19. ISSN0164-3576.
↑ "Lt. Peterson Not Guilty Because of Insanity". The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. September 23, 1952. p.1. ISSN0898-4964.
↑ "Last Chapter Written in Murder Case: Judge Frees Lt. Peterson from Custody". The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. September 25, 1952. p.2. ISSN0898-4964.
1 2 3 Shaul, Richard D. (November–December 2001). "Anatomy of a Murder"(PDF). Michigan History. Vol.86, no.6. p.89. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 20, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
↑ Shaul, Richard D. (November–December 2001). "Backwoods Barrister"(PDF). Michigan History. Vol.86, no.6. p.82. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 20, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
↑ Diem, Christopher (June 27, 2009). "Making History: Documentary Look at Making of a Classic". Anatomy of a Murder 50th Anniversary Special Section. The Mining Journal. Marquette, Michigan. p.5.
Bergman, Paul & Asimow, Michael (2006). Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel. ISBN0-7407-5460-2.
Bergman, Shirley J. (November–December 2001). "The Real Trial"(PDF). Michigan History. Vol.86, no.6. pp.90–91. Archived from the original(PDF) on December 20, 2006.
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