Time has blunted much of the film's daringly ironic take on notions of guilt and innocence. Yet it still stands as a telling commentary on 50s America.
1 Comment
04/19/05
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
100
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:36
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.4/10
Consensus: 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.
Runtime: 2 hrs 41 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Director Preminger thrives in tense legal showdowns and this is perhaps his best, mostly for Stewart's cagey performance as a deceptively wily small-town lawyer. An army lieutenant shoots a bar... [More]
Starring: James Stewart, George C. Scott, Murray Hamilton, Eve Arden
Director: Otto Preminger
Reviews for Anatomy of a Murder
Top CriticCoolly absorbing, nonchalantly cynical.
06/24/06
Top CriticIt's simply the best trial movie ever made.
04/01/06
Top CriticTo me Remick's damaged, dysfunctional presence is the really subversive thing about the picture. And Stewart's grandstanding attorney propels this long film to its final verdict.
10/23/07
Top CriticThe picture is superbly photographed by Sam Leavitt in black and white, though there's nothing black and white about the movie's morality.
10/23/07
Packed with astonishing dialog and bristly performances, this is essential cinema.
04/18/05
Courtroom procedurals this nimble don't come along often, but with Anatomy of a Murder, Preminger showed how it could be done.
04/17/05
From the stylised Saul Bass credit sequence to Preminger's assured direction, this is a thought provoking, superbly acted drama that simply oozes class.
10/23/07
Top CriticCourtroom histrionics given sizzle and sex by Otto Preminger and Duke Ellington's jazz.
07/30/03
Top CriticSensational courtroom drama is masterminded by Otto Preminger and a terrific cast.
10/01/03
Top CriticAt 160 minutes, Anatomy is longer than the subject warrants, but the pace seldom slackens -- thanks to the competence of Director Otto Preminger.
04/24/09
Top CriticMoviegoers never had it so good.
01/01/00
The film breezily wears its two-hour-and-forty-minute running-time.
03/21/01
It is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen.
05/20/03
Top CriticThe strengths of the film are too numerous to mention. The story is fascinating, the script well constructed, and the performances fabulous.
01/01/00
No review available.
10/31/03
All the principals are fantastic, with the possible exception of Remick, who just doesn't fit the part nearly well enough. Duke Ellington's score is a classic.
06/05/04
No review available.
10/09/05
Preminger's intense, controversial, intelligent, court room drama is completely engrossing
09/24/01
Otto at the top of his game.
02/22/06
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