Films about Law

Courtroom dramas allow for me to indulge in two of my favorite passions at the same time: law and film. As a Television-Radio major and a legal studies minor, I absolutely jump at the chance to see any movie that can combine the two. Here are a list of my favorite movies that incorporate the courtroom:

1. 12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a 1957 film about a group of jurors who must reach a unanimous decision, but due to the one juror refusing to commit to a verdict, it is revealed that there is more to the case than it seems at first.







2. Philadelphia

 Philadelphia is a 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington that follows the plight of a man with AIDS and his lawyer to advocate for the unethical and baseless termination of a homosexual man with an illness.






3. To Kill a Mockingbird

In 1930's Alabama, during the height of segregation and racial injustices, a white man named Atticus Finch steps to the plate to defend an African-American man accused of raping a local, poor white woman.








Kramer vs. Kramer

During a divorce, a man must duke it out with his wife in family court to earn custody of his son, and along the way finds out what it means to be a father.











5. Legally Blonde

A rich and ditzy sorority girl applies and gets admitted to Harvard Law School in an attempt to win back her scholarly boyfriend. While there, she is assigned to a murder case and finds her true calling.






6. My Cousin Vinny

Two young boys are wrongly accused of murder in a small southern town, and the only person they have to turn to is their inexperienced, wise guy cousin Vinny from New York.







If you haven't seen any of these, definitely give them a try. This list is the perfect mix of heart-rendering drama, entertaining comedy, and nail-biting tension!

-Melanie Saitta

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird was based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book. It was one of my favorite books of all time. The movie basically tells the story of Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), a widowed lawyer from Alabama, who defends a young black man who is on trial for the rape of a white woman. It is told through the eyes of Scout (Mary Badham) his six-year-old daughter.

At first the story seems to tell the story of her childhood, how she and her brother Jem (Philip Alford) and Dil (John Megna) spend their free time together. Then she proceeds to talk about all of the different people that make up the small town in Alabama where the story takes place and of course about the trail of Tom Robinson (Brock Peters). The movie shows Atticus follows his principles when he is chosen to defend a black man in light of the fact that most of the people believe he is guilty just because of the color of his skin.

I liked that the film was done in black and white and that the music chosen for the background really highlights what is going on in the movie. The film also follows the book very closely which I thought was important for the story telling process. It is a movie that I would highly recommend. It is a true classic.