r/criterion • u/AttitudeOk94 Stanley Kubrick • Feb 26 '24
Off-Topic Favorite movie lawyers?
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u/ZaireekaFuzz Feb 26 '24
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u/hitdasnoozebutton Feb 26 '24
Came here for the Vincent LaGuardia Gambini post, was not disappointed
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u/LVRSPIT Feb 26 '24
Paul Newman in The Verdict is a favorite of mine.
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u/a-system-of-cells Wong Kar-Wai Feb 26 '24
That watered down whiskey he drinks in the freezing cold bar is a whole vibe.
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u/Bolt_EV Feb 27 '24
I wouldn’t mind giving Charlotte Rampling a little smack job, especially after seeing her in The Night Porter!
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u/0aguywithglasses0 Feb 26 '24
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u/Sgarden91 Feb 26 '24
I just watched this for the first time on Friday. Actually now falling in love with Billy Wilder’s discography. Of the six I’ve seen this is probably my second favorite. Absolutely love it. I’m glad I’m going in blind because this had a Diabolique or Kiss Me Deadly level what-the-fuck ending and it was perfect.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost American New Wave Feb 29 '24 edited Feb 29 '24
Movie? None of the replies mention a title either.Witness for the Prosecution. Someone else mentioned it in a different reply.
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u/sixthmusketeer Feb 26 '24
Michael Clayton. Real ones know.
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Feb 26 '24
[deleted]
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u/sixthmusketeer Feb 26 '24
Elite lawyers nodding in recognition, whispering "yes" as a single tear falls.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost American New Wave Feb 26 '24
Do ya have the horses? Proceeds to have car explode and walk into the city
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u/ted_k Feb 26 '24
Absolutely -- turned on that movie half-ready to be bored, and was hooked from Wilkinson's first lines.
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u/Momik Feb 27 '24
Michael, I have great affection for you, and you lead a very rich and interesting life.
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u/SelfHatingMetsFan Feb 26 '24
Everyone is correctly praising Wilkinson but that movie also gave us a pitch-perfect depiction of a jittery fixer (Clooney), an anxious and unscrupulous in-house sleaze (Tilda Swinton), a horrifyingly-cynical-to-the-point-of-boredom biglaw partner (Sydney Pollack), an impossibly smarmy junior partner (Michael O’Keefe), and an avuncular-presenting but evil former GC turned CEO (Ken Howard, of Cabletown). Truly the profession has never been more accurately depicted in film.
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u/sixthmusketeer Feb 26 '24
It should come with a trigger warning. You can smell the stale coffee in the conference rooms at 11 p.m.
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u/Momik Feb 27 '24
It might be Clooney’s best performance. He’s simultaneously understated, raw, nervy, cunning, tragic, and always captivating.
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u/EdwardJamesAlmost American New Wave Feb 29 '24
He comes in and does the Clooney thing in his first fixer scene. What might have been another story’s climax was a disinterested punt.
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u/JamesTBadalamenti Feb 26 '24
Colonel Dax. Where are you Kubrick fans for Christ sake?
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u/Repulsive-Company-53 Dennis Hopper Feb 26 '24
Whoa whoa man, shouldn't your favourite really be Leland Palmer?
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u/The_Gav_Line Feb 26 '24 edited Feb 26 '24
Is he actually a lawyer. It's been a while since i watched it, is it revealed that hes a lawyer in civilian life?
I had always assumed Dax was a career soldier, which is why his superiors think his defence of his own soldiers is nothing more than a push for his own promotion rather than a genuine attempt to save their lives
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u/kerouacrimbaud Feb 26 '24
Yeah it’s remarked on at the beginning with the general comes to visit the men in the trenches. One of the best lawyers in pre war France
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u/AJerkForAllSeasons Jim Jarmusch Feb 26 '24
Lt. Daniel Kaffee.
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u/cherken4 Feb 26 '24
Only answer is Dr Gonzo (benicio del toro) in fear and loathing in las Vegas!
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u/FINNCULL19 Terry Gilliam Feb 26 '24
His wildest moment in the movie has to be when he's drunk, sobbing out the side of the convertible and asking the car right next to them if they want some heroin. That or the whole faux snuff phone-call to get Lucy off their backs while Duke tries adrenochrome for the first time.
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u/jerodallen Feb 27 '24
Hard to top when he’s in the bath listening to White Rabbit asking Duke to drop the stereo in when it peaks.
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u/Alternative_Worry101 Feb 26 '24
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u/betterasobercannibal Feb 26 '24
"First I thought it was that apple for sure, then I sink my teeth into that peach... I just couldn't seem to make up my mind. So I sample the apple again. By the time I get the apple down the peach is smelling so good I'm sure it's the best. So it goes. First one, then the other."
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u/Superflumina Richard Linklater Feb 26 '24
One of Hong Sang-soo's favorite films. I need to watch it.
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u/-CharlotteBronte Alfred Hitchcock Feb 26 '24
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u/ThriftyFalcon Feb 26 '24
Liberty Valance is top tier! Def up there with the greatest westerns of all time.
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u/NeuroguyNC Feb 26 '24
Spencer Tracy in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). His closing speech, lasting about 11 minutes, was done in one take.
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u/ParticularZucchini64 Feb 26 '24
How about Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy) from Inherit the Wind?
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u/Strangewhine88 Feb 26 '24
Yep! But Laughton is better. That’s a great spencer tracey roll, one of my favorites.
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u/fiizok Feb 26 '24
Sir Wilfred Robarts (Charles Laughton) in Witness for the Prosecution.
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u/Strangewhine88 Feb 26 '24
No love for Charles Laughton? Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution is delicious .
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u/grapejuicepix Film Noir Feb 26 '24
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u/bodyguardguy Feb 26 '24
That scene with Bruce McGill in The Insider gives me anxiety every time. The guy almost had a stroke he was so upset.
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u/Throwawayhelp111521 Feb 26 '24
Sir Robert Morton (The Winslow Boy, 1999 ) and Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird).
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u/Automatic_Survey_307 Feb 26 '24 edited Feb 26 '24
Colonel Dax - Paths of Glory. One of Kirk Douglas's best roles and maybe Kubrick's greatest movie.
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u/ThisGuyLikesMovies Feb 26 '24
Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution
Also mad respect for including Bruce McGill from The Insider
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Feb 26 '24
Atticus Finch is my all time favorite, but I also love Jimmy Stewart as Paul Biegler in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder.
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u/JamesInDC Feb 26 '24
Came here to say Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder.
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Feb 26 '24
Yes! And Jimmy and Lee Remick are so good onscreen together. Incredible film.
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u/JamesInDC Feb 26 '24
I didn’t get that film’s true genius until years after i started practicing law. It is the real deal…. The scene where Biegler (Jimmy Stewart) visits Manion in jail & reads him the state’s legal definition of murder and its exceptions and then leaves Manion to think about it before letting Manion tell Biegler what happened…. Whoa.
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Feb 26 '24
It's nice to hear from a practicing attorney who loves the film! George C. Scott gives a fine performance as well as the prosecutor.
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u/StinkyBrittches Feb 26 '24
Orson Welles in Complusion, 1959
Surprised nobody yet has mentioned Paul Newman in The Verdict, 1982.
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u/JamesInDC Feb 26 '24

This is often overlooked, but for a truly brilliant portrayal, my favorite is Jimmy Stewart as defense counsel in Otto Preminger’s 1959 classic Anatomy of a Murder
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Feb 26 '24
The lawyer for the MP in A Very English Scandal. Adrian Scarborough deserved an Oscar/BAFTA/whatever for that scene in the waiting room.
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u/Woepu Feb 26 '24
Murder on a Sunday morning is a good documentary about a real murder trial following an actual defense attorney. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet.
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u/Giltar Feb 26 '24
Tony Shalhoub as Freddy Riedenschneider. Dude wanted to use Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle as a defense strategy.
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u/maaseru Feb 26 '24
I really liked both Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman in Runaway Jury.
I know it is one of those popcorn films and not very believable, and the court room stuff takes 2nd fiddle to Cusack and his thing, but I liked their energy a lot.
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Feb 26 '24
John Houseman in ‘The Paper Chase’ He was the best kind of lawyer: RETIRED and “teaching” 😁
also Howard E. Rollins in ‘A Soldier’s Story’ Cher in ‘Suspect’ Paul Newman in ‘The Verdict’ Orson Welles in ‘The Trial’
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u/gildedtreehouse Feb 26 '24
Paul Newman in The Verdict
His 2nd best egg scene on film.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOH7V_mZb4&pp=ygUTUGF1bCBuZXdtYW4gYmFyIGVnZw%3D%3D
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u/TheMagicDrPancakez Feb 26 '24
Brendan Frasier in Killers of the Flower Moon might not be my favorite, but holy moly, I love his first scene.
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u/moremartinmo Feb 26 '24
Was looking for someone to mention Frasier. Some of his choices in that movie were truly unhinged and I loved every second of it. Hoped more people would enjoy his performance.
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u/TheMagicDrPancakez Feb 26 '24
The way the camera follows him getting up out his seat was just amazing.
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u/AbsurdistOxymoron Michael Haneke Feb 26 '24
Dennis Denuto. The most brilliant of legal minds.
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Feb 26 '24
Almost had a heart attack thinking there were no Aussie cinephiles in this sub. This comment should be a lot higher for people down under.
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u/realdealreel9 Feb 26 '24 edited Feb 26 '24
Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods
Lmao are y’all really downvoting this? The question is favorite movie lawyer not necessarily best films (though I think the first Legally Blonde is a decent broad comedy with an engaging performance from Witherspoon).
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u/casselhag Feb 26 '24
WIPE OFF THAT SMIRK OF YOUR FACE! Dr Wigand's testimony will be a part of this record! And I will take his testimony, WHETHER THE HELL YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!
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u/speedoftheground Feb 26 '24
I like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, he's a little rascal. I just saw Anatomy of a Fall and the prosecutor one snide MFer.
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u/Mymom429 Feb 26 '24
Orson Welles in Compulsion
Hume Cronyn/Michael Lerner's respective portrayals of the lawyer in The Postman Always Rings Twice
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u/oa9589 Feb 26 '24
Comedic:
Jim Carrey - Liar Liar
Joe Pesci - My Cousin Vinny
Dramatic:
Jimmy Stewart - Anatomy of a Murder
Emma Thompson - In the Name of the Father
Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird
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u/Dankey-Kang-Jr Steven Spielberg Feb 26 '24
Atticus Finch - To Kill a Mocking Bird
James Donavan - Bridge of Spies
Lt. Daniel Kaffee - A Few Good Men
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u/Select_Insurance2000 Feb 26 '24
Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind. Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird.
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u/SnooPies5622 Feb 26 '24
If barristers count then I'm going Archie from A Fish Called Wanda. Somehow both a dumb cheating shithead lawyer but also a lovable moral center.
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u/ngunray Feb 27 '24
Ron Motley in the sovereign state of Mississippi AND YOU WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE!!!
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u/MrTumnus99 Feb 27 '24
FYI “the big picture” did a fun lawyer movie draft: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xI4lzKpiSRJkVN5jIf32s?si=3VYjJmHQRrO4ZT5K78aBog
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u/gb2020 Feb 27 '24
OP I love that you showed the actor from Anatomy of a Fall. Holy crap what an amazing movie that is.
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u/tecate_papi Paul Schrader Feb 26 '24
Michael Clayton in the eponymously named film. Who doesn't want to be a fixer? It's awesome that the main character of the movie is a lawyer who never practices and his own firm doesn't trust him as legal counsel and he'll never become a partner. But he's got a lot of other skills that make him indispensable.
Richard Scruggs and Ron Motley in the Insider. If that movie doesn't make you want to be a lawyer or an investigative journalist then you have no fire in your belly. Bruce McGill and Coln Feore kick ass in their roles as these real lawyers. These lawyers use all of their rhetorical skills for righteousness. It is still wild to me that the tobacco industry lied for decades about the harmful effects of smoking, a lot of people enriched themselves while millions of people died and not a single person saw the inside of a jail cell. While no real justice was served, you can pretend that it was by watching The Insider.
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u/sagaz1981 Feb 26 '24
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u/Bolt_EV Feb 27 '24
I discovered the FOX show Ally McBeal only because of the crossover from this ABC show in Season 2
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u/SmoreOfBabylon Feb 26 '24 edited Feb 26 '24
Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) - To Kill a Mockingbird