Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sharks on Film

Or lawyers, anyway. The ABA Journal this month puts out its list of "The 25 Greatest Legal Movies." Here's the top ten:

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird
  2. 12 Angry Men
  3. My Cousin Vinny
  4. Anatomy of a Murder
  5. Inherit the Wind
  6. Witness for the Prosecution
  7. Breaker Morant
  8. Philadelphia
  9. Erin Brockovich
  10. The Verdict
I've seen eight of those (the other two are in the Netflix queue) and don't really have any qualms with them. I'm beyond pleased to see Breaker Morant get a nod. I think I would have bumped A Few Good Men into the top ten (from 14th), but it's a minor quibble. The bottom of the list is a little more questionable, particularly when some of the Honorable Mentions are considered (The Accused, The People v. Larry Flynt, and the criminally underrated Intolerable Cruelty).

Regardless, like all these kinds of lists, it's a nice discussion starter. It's not like anybody would sue over it or anything.

3 comments:

Itenerent JD said...

I don't think my Cousin Vinny should even be considered a "lawyer movie" at all, comedy sure. But then the list was produced by the ABA so I suppose it fits.

Paul said...

"Did you say 'Yoots?'"

Glad to see To Kill... at #1. Brilliant film.

Breaker Morant is a good call too.

JD Byrne said...

I dunno. The main character in My Cousin Vinny is a lawyer and the plot revolves around him keeping to wrongfully accused kids from being convicted of murder. Sure sounds like a lawyer movie to me - unless you're categorically excluded comedies, which doesn't make much sense.

Whether it's in the Top 25 or not is arguable, tho'.