| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A- |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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a great, and original legal thriller
by Ted (movies profile)
Sep 9, 2006
This was a great, and very dark, legal thriller. it was almost noirish in a sense, because there were no real good guys in it, except for the lawyer. paul biegler(jimmy stewart, in a magnificent performance) takes on a case to defend Lt. frederick manion (ben gazzara, another fine performance), who has been arrested for murder. biegler is recruited by manions beautiful wife, laura(lee remick). the case turns out to be less simple than he had assumed. manion and his wife claim she was raped by the man he killed. but with this, some questions arise. Was she asking for it? is their marriage stable? and does an irresistible impulse really qualify as insanity in a court of law. biegler was the only good guy in the whole movie. both the manions and the man fred killed are bad people. very flawed people. the one real problem with this film is that it moves slowly. it does keep you interested most of the time, but a 2hrs 40 min, it can get a little monotonous at times. that being said, it was a solid story. at the end, i honestly didn't know what was going to happen. the plot keeps twisting and turning, with a number of unexpected developments. it keeps you thinking hard, because you never do figure out what really happens. i still wonder if that case went the way it should have. the acting was incredible. jimmy stewart is certainly one of the greatest actors ever, and this is one of dozens of great performances by him. gazzara and remick are great too as the troubled couple.
overall, a little slow at times. but with an interesting story and ever-turning plot, supported by a stellar cast, anatomy of a murder deserves the ranking of classic. |
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