To 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.
Comment
10/23/07
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 CriticCourtroom procedurals this nimble don't come along often, but with Anatomy of a Murder, Preminger showed how it could be done.
04/17/05
Packed with astonishing dialog and bristly performances, this is essential cinema.
04/18/05
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 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
It's simply the best trial movie ever made.
04/01/06
Top CriticTime 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.
04/19/05
Top CriticCoolly absorbing, nonchalantly cynical.
06/24/06
Top CriticPreminger takes a while to set up the story, but his pacing and style are perfection.
01/01/00
Moviegoers never had it so good.
01/01/00
It is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen.
05/20/03
Top CriticPreminger's intense, controversial, intelligent, court room drama is completely engrossing
09/24/01
Atypical of Hollywood court dramas of the era, Preminger's masterpiece is marked by moral ambiguity, dark visuals (b/w cinematography), great performance from Jimmy Stewart as a "loser" lawyer, one of the longest court trials, and objective camera.
12/02/05
Credit Stewart again for doing the film's dirty work: holding our attention as a sweet-natured defense attorney and then shocking us with how hard-edged and aloof he can become.
01/01/00
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
As an entertaining look at legal process, this is spellbinding all the way, infused by an ambiguity about human personality and motivation that is Preminger's trademark, and the location shooting is superb.
10/23/07
Otto at the top of his game.
02/22/06
Preminger purposely creates situations that flicker with uncertainty, that may be evaluated in different ways. Motives are mixed and dubious, and, therefore, sustain interest.
10/23/07
Top CriticThe screenplay, from a novel by John D. Voelker, drips with the smoke-drenched taste of 1940s noir, stinging the eyes and lungs.
07/31/05
The film breezily wears its two-hour-and-forty-minute running-time.
03/21/01
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