Hear ye! Hear ye! Vote for most unfair Best Picture verdict!
Although the 'legal movie' genre has provided some of the finest, most gripping and intellectually challenging American classics, it is also the most frequently snubbed when it came to the Oscars, especially the most important of all : the Best Picture.
To date, only a few trial movies have won the Oscar : The Life of Emile Zola (1937), On the Waterfront (1954), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and (to some extent) Chicago (2002)
So, from this list of Courtroom Dramas or Trial Comedies nominated for Best Picture, which one would have most deserved to beat the actual winner?
(are included all the movies in which a system of justice, of any sort, plays a significant role to the plot)
Discuss here
To date, only a few trial movies have won the Oscar : The Life of Emile Zola (1937), On the Waterfront (1954), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and (to some extent) Chicago (2002)
So, from this list of Courtroom Dramas or Trial Comedies nominated for Best Picture, which one would have most deserved to beat the actual winner?
(are included all the movies in which a system of justice, of any sort, plays a significant role to the plot)
Discuss here
List activity
62 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
20 titles
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBette DavisCharles BoyerJeffrey LynnA duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.instead of Rebecca (1940)
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.instead of Rebecca (1940)
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.instead of The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJean ArthurRonald ColmanAn escaped prisoner has to prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with the help of a spirited school teacher.instead of Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsHenry FondaDana AndrewsMary Beth HughesWhen a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.instead of Casablanca (1942)
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsEdmund GwennMaureen O'HaraJohn PayneAfter a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.instead of Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsHumphrey BogartJosé FerrerVan JohnsonWhen a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.instead of On the Waterfront (1954)
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsTyrone PowerMarlene DietrichCharles LaughtonA veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise.instead of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.instead of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?instead of Ben-Hur (1959)
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyBurt LancasterRichard WidmarkIn 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.instead of West Side Story (1961)
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.instead of Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- DirectorBob FosseStarsDustin HoffmanValerie PerrineJan MinerThe story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.instead of The Godfather Part II (1974)
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsPaul NewmanCharlotte RamplingJack WardenAn outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.instead of Gandhi (1982)
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsKevin CostnerGary OldmanJack LemmonNew Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.instead of The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsTom CruiseJack NicholsonDemi MooreMilitary lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.instead of Unforgiven (1992)
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.instead of Schindler's List (1993)
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJulia RobertsAlbert FinneyDavid BrisbinAn unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.instead of Gladiator (2000)
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsKate WinsletRalph FiennesBruno GanzPost-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.instead of Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJesse EisenbergAndrew GarfieldJustin TimberlakeAs Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.instead of The King's Speech (2010)