In the past few decades, several outlets published lists of the best legal films. For instance, the ABA Journal in 2008 compiled a list of the 25 greatest legal movies. In 2020, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) posted its “10 Most Influential Movies About Law & Justice.” Last year, U.S. News and World Report published its list of “Law Films You Won’t Want to Miss.” And in 2024, the movie criticism website, Roger Ebert.Com listed the “Best Legal and Courtroom Dramas.” All four lists present classic legal films, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, 12 Angry Men, and Anatomy of a Murder. They also include the comedy, My Cousin Vinny.
These lists include great films but overlook some excellent movies about law and justice. In this article, I recommend ten films relating to justice that are not included in the “best of” lists but are worth watching. Each represents a different aspect of justice.
This romantic comedy fantasy, written by and starring Albert Brooks, concerns Daniel Miller (Brooks), who dies and finds himself on trial in Judgment City, an earth-like purgatory. Daniel must convince a two-judge panel that he has overcome his lifelong fears to advance to the next plane of existence. A zealous prosecutor argues that Daniel isn’t ready to move on and should return to earth to live another life. While he is in Judgment City, Daniel develops a romance with Julia, played by Meryl Streep, who most assuredly will progress to the next level.
This movie is about the ultimate personal search for justice. The stakes could not be higher. Even though we know that Daniel is flawed, we empathize with him as he defends the choices he made on Earth.
Critics highly recommend this movie. Rotten Tomatoes reports a 98% critics’ score. Brian Eggert says, “It’s the kind of film you find yourself returning to again and again, growing as you grow older and your thoughts naturally gravitate toward your mortality.”
This is a true crime comedy based on the murder of Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow, committed by a well-loved assistant funeral director, Bernie Tiede (Jack Black). Actual residents of Carthage, Texas, the community where the crime was committed, give testimonials of their impressions of Mrs. Nugent and Bernie.
Several Carthage residents thought that Bernie should not be punished because of his good deeds and Mrs. Nugent’s wickedness. One woman went so far as to say that some people would have killed her for five dollars. The film effectively contrasts the tension between the court of public opinion and the criminal justice system.
The story is compelling, and the acting is outstanding. Jack Black plays a role that seems like it was made for him. He is restrained and presents a realistic character. Shirley MacLaine is Mrs. Nugent, the despised millionaire widow. Mathew McConaughey plays the vigilant prosecutor who rejects public sentiment and refuses to back down so that justice can prevail. The film won Rotten Tomatoes’ 14th annual Golden Tomato award for the best-reviewed comedy released in 2012.
This documentary examines the personal life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG). This is an intimate portrayal of an unlikely cultural rock star. Whether or not you agree with Justice Ginsburg’s politics, you will find her story compelling. When she entered the legal profession, RBG faced employment discrimination even though she graduated at the top of her class at an Ivy League law school. The injustice she experienced seems to be what propelled her to become one of the country’s top advocates for gender equality. And, then as an arbiter of equality on the nation’s highest court. Despite being a workaholic, she was a dedicated wife and mother.
Filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen highlighted Ginsburg’s advocacy by displaying the words she used before the Court against a backdrop of the seldom photographed Supreme Court courtroom while audio of her arguments plays simultaneously. Her words almost become a supporting character in the film.
This movie was awarded the 2019 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.
This black comedy mystery is the comeback vehicle for director Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, Nashville). The story revolves around Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), a movie producer who decides the fate of 50,000 scripts each year. Actors and screenwriters alike hate him because of his lack of responsiveness as well as his backstabbing. One disgruntled writer sends Griffin death threats. Another writer ends up dead and Griffin is a prime suspect. The threatening writer ramps up his game while the police narrow their investigation to Griffin.
Through manipulation and luck, Griffin appears to evade the justice system for his crime but cannot escape the wrath of the screenwriter who continues to loom over him. Can he strike a bargain to avoid the consequences of wronging a formidable foe? We find out in Act III.
This movie garnered numerous nominations and awards for direction, screenplay, best actor, and best picture. Altman convinced 65 actors to make cameo appearances as themselves, working for scale. The first scene, an eight-minute uninterrupted shot moving through an office, film set, and Hollywood lot, is a cinematic masterpiece.
Harrison Ford stars as John Book, a police detective, who investigates a murder of an undercover officer that was witnessed by Samuel, an eight-year-old Amish boy. When Book learns that a corrupt cop is the murderer and attempts to kill him, Book goes to Samuel’s community with the boy and his widowed mother Rachel. The community reluctantly allows Book to stay because he is injured. Despite their cultural differences, Book and Rachel develop feelings for each other.
Book represents a good man who is part of the American criminal justice system in which the guilty are punished for their transgressions. The Amish community’s rules of rightness are distinct from the “English” justice system. The Amish society enforces God’s ordinances to police its own. Offenders either repent or are banished. In Witness, the two conceptions of justice clash when Book retaliates against local hoodlums that degrade a quiet Amish man who declines to fight back. This causes the Amish to shun him from their community.
One critic characterized the film as “partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision.” Witness won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
This is a true crime drama that begins with the kidnapping of two LA police officers. One of the officers, played by Ted Danson in his film debut, is killed in cold blood in an onion field after his partner surrendered his gun to the kidnappers. This film is adapted from a non-fiction book authored by Joseph Wambaugh, a retired Los Angeles police sergeant. It explores how the killers delay justice and how Karl Hettinger, the officer who surrendered his gun to the attackers, is haunted by his colleague’s death.
Most of the story takes place after the crime. The movie traces how Hettinger’s feelings of guilt and shame lead to his declining mental and physical health. The film also presents the delay in bringing the two defendants to judgment because of seemingly endless court proceedings. This case became the longest pending case in the history of California.
Because Wambaugh maintained artistic control, this film presents an authentic exposition of the criminal justice system seldom seen in true crime movies. The acting is superior. James Wood received several acting award nominations for his role as one of the killers.
This neo-noir erotic thriller involves Matty Walker’s (Kathleen Turner) manipulation of her lover, a seedy womanizing Florida lawyer, Ned Racine (William Hurt) to kill her wealthy husband so she can inherit his estate. The plot is inspired by Billy Wilder’s 1944 classic, Double Indemnity.
During their passionate affair, Matty convinces Ned to kill her husband. Ned engages the help of one of his clients who is a bombmaker. They devise a scheme to commit murder so that he can run away with Matty along with her husband’s money. As the story unfolds, complications develop that put Ned into an increasingly desperate situation.
A key plot development turns on the failure of the husband’s will to consider the rule against perpetuities. And here, I never thought I would need to remember the rule after I passed the bar exam! This movie launched Kathleen Turner’s film career. It is listed on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Thrilling American Films and 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time.
This is an action-thriller about a Secret Service agent Richard Chance’s (William Petersen) unrelenting objective to take down counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Defoe) after Masters killed Chance’s partner. This movie reinvigorated the career of Oscar-winning director Wiliam Friedkin (The Exorcist, French Connection).
Although his new partner serves as a moral compass, Chance uses any means he can to bring Masters to justice, giving life to the Rolling Stones lyric that “every cop is a criminal.” Life imitated art in the making of the film as Friedkin ignored the airport authority’s command by directing Petersen to sprint on the rail of a moving walkway.
Counterfeiting is presented as an art form. The iconic eight-minute non-CIS car chase against the traffic on an LA expressway involving 900 cars won two stuntman awards. This is the first film to showcase Petersen and Defoe in leading roles.
This legal thriller is about a man who, while serving on the jury of a high-profile homicide trial, realizes that he might have caused the victim’s death. Just as an effective trial attorney puts the jurors in the shoes of their client, this movie puts the viewers in the shoes of Juror #2, a morally conflicted man.
If Juror #2 comes forward with the truth, he will likely be prosecuted for vehicular homicide. The ethical question presented is whether he should risk destroying his life to permit an innocent man to go free.
The script presents a realistic view of a criminal prosecution. The public defender has an excellent courtroom presence but does not have the resources to effectively investigate the case. The prosecutor understands that her job is to achieve justice, not necessarily a conviction. The film presents each side’s points in opening statements and closing arguments in a concise, believable manner.
This film demonstrates that 94-year-old director Clint Eastwood continues to be an effective storyteller. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 92% critics rating and a 91% audience score.
This erotic thriller is a “guilty pleasure” film. The story follows a high school counselor who is accused of raping two female students, along with revelations that are revealed during a police investigation of the alleged offenses. This campy movie is filled with numerous plot twists and revealing backstories.
The outstanding ensemble cast includes Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, Kevin Bacon, Theresa Russell, and Bill Murray in comedic performance as a criminal defense attorney. Murray’s cross-examination of one of the alleged victims would make both [my cousin] Vinny Gambini and Saul Goodman proud of their profession.
The film is not for everyone. While not high art, this is an entertaining watch. Critic Roger Ebert calls it “lurid trash, with a plot so twisted they’re still explaining it during the closing titles. It’s like a three-way collision between a softcore sex film, a soap opera, and a B-grade noir. I liked it.” I agree with Roger…but you may not.
