Though OP had previously seen Anatomy, a rewatch was necessary due to a nearly 10-year time lapse. The second viewing was significantly more interesting, given the sheer amount of Jimmy Stewart exposure on the OP viewing list, including You Can't Take it With You, How the West Was Won, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (update coming later).
Stewart was 50 years old at the time Anatomy was made, and director Otto Preminger gives us a decidedly less springy, more nihilistic, and ultimately more interesting version of the actor as Paul Biegler, the smalltown lawyer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who navigates a murder case for a less-than-lovable client.
Anatomy is striking to OP for its intense focus on the technical details of criminal law, trial practice, and evidence. From the time we are introduced to the accused murderer to the time that the trial actually starts, Preminger carefully develops Biegler's personality as one that is equal parts shrewd and complacent. Ultimately, Biegler goes all in from an advocacy standpoint and even toes the line several times during the trial to being in contempt of court.
OP has rarely seen a movie create as much suspense out of legal technicalities. Other OP watchlist instances that come to mind are A Few Good Men (nominated 1992) and Judgment at Nuremburg (nominated 1961), but Anatomy is unique for doing it with a twist of raunchy humor on the side. For its time, Anatomy was quite a scandalous movie. For example, "panties" are a key trial exhibit and there is a lot of suggestive dialogue regarding the wife of the accused murderer.
George C. Scott, always a fine supporting actor in this era (see, e.g. The Hustler), does well as the "prosecutor from the big city of Lansing," and Duke Ellington provides a thrilling jazz soundtrack. The BP winner from 1959 is the epic of epics Ben-Hur, not the type of film to be easily challenged by an upstart procedural such as this.
OP gives Anatomy of a Murder a score of 7.7.
OP has become self-aware.
ReplyDeleteOP likes Elaine
Delete