LibGuides: Law & Popular Culture: Law in the Movies

Law Leisure Collection

In addition to the top 25 movies, the Law Leisure Collection contains many legal movies and TV shows. To see more than these "Honorable Mentions," you can browse the collection in person (located next to the study aids) or online here. Videos can be checked out for 3 days.

The Collection also has novels that can be checked out for 4 weeks.

Legally Blonde (2001)
Call Number: PN1995.9.C55 L443 2001
ISBN: B00005O5CM
(Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair)
Liar Liar (1997)
Call Number: PN1997 .L537 1999
ISBN: 0783225512
(Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Call Number: PN1995.9.D4 T544 1997
ISBN: 0790729660
(Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson)
People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Call Number: PN1997 .P46 1997
ISBN: B00441GYZ6
(Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton)
Legal Eagles (1986)
Call Number: KF221.M8 L43 2003
ISBN: B000087F6M
(Robert Redford, Debra Winger, Daryl Hannah)
Absence of Malice (1981)
Call Number: PN1997.A27 .A33 2009
ISBN: B00441GYOM
(Paul Newman, Sally Field)
Body Heat (1981)
Call Number: PN1995.9.S87 B639 2006
ISBN: 6304698518
(William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna)
Gideon's Trumpet (1980)
Call Number: PN1992.8.F5 G53 2007
ISBN: B000QXDCXI
(Henry Fonda, José Ferrer, John Houseman)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Call Number: D743.23 .C3564 2007
ISBN: 0767809688
(Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Call Number: PN1997 .A332 2000
ISBN: B00004TJOD
(Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn)
The West Wing
Call Number: PN1992.77 .W47
ISBN: B00005JLF3
Television Series
1st Season. All 7 seasons available.
Boston Legal
Call Number: PN1992.77 .B678 2006
ISBN: B000EHSVBE
Television Series
1st Season. All 5 seasons available.
Law & Order
Call Number: PN1992.77 .L38
ISBN: B00005JLFV
Television Series
The Complete Series (20 seasons)

ABA Journal's 25 Greatest Legal Movies

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Call Number: PN1997.2 .T6 2006
ISBN: B006FE83U4
(Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall) A lawyer, Atticus Finch, defends a black man falsely accused of rape in Depression-era Alabama. Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee.

In the August 2008 issue, the ABA Journal published the 25 Greatest Legal Movies. You can find most of them right here in the Law Library's Leisure Collection.

2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Call Number: PN1997 T93 2007
ISBN: B000056HEC
(Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall) Jury deliberations in a death penalty case turn hostile as one man, convinced of the young defendant's innocence, tries to convince the other jurors while exposing their prejudices and preconceptions.
3. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Call Number: PN1995.9.C55 M93 2000
ISBN: 630592970X
(Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Ralph Macchio, Fred Gywnne) Vinny has just passed the bar (on his 6th try) and his first case is defending his cousin and a friend on murder charges in Alabama.
4. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Call Number: PN1997 .A538 2000
ISBN: B00004TJKI
(James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott). A small-town lawyer defends an army officer accused of murdering his wife's rapist.
5. Inherit the Wind (1960)
Call Number: PN1997.I544 I544 2001
ISBN: B00005PJ6V
(Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly) A legal giant comes to the defense of a Tennessee teacher arrested for teaching evolution in the classroom. A fictionalized account of the Scopes "monkey trial," but portions of the courtroom testimony were taken directly from the trial transcript.
6. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Call Number: PN1997 .W575 2001
ISBN: B00005PJ6Z
(Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton) A classic criminal suspense with lots of surprises. A man is accused of murdering a wealthy widow, and the key lies with his wife who is a witness for the prosecution.
7. Breaker Morant (1980)
Call Number: PN1997 .B743 2007
ISBN: B000X73NCW
(Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters) Three Australian soldiers in the Boer War are put on trial for war crimes. Are they guilty or political scapegoats?
8. Philadelphia (1993)
Call Number: PN1997 .P445323 1993
ISBN: 0800141806
(Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington). An attorney sues his Philadelphia firm after being fired for having AIDS. A homophobic personal injury lawyer is the only one who will take his case.
9. Erin Brockovich (2000)
Call Number: PN1995.9.J8 E7 2000
ISBN: B001ARYYPY
(Julia Roberts, Albert Finney) A single mother working as a paralegal uncovers a connection between a power company and a town's poisoned water supply leading to one of the largest class action settlements in history. Based on a true story.
10. The Verdict (1982)
Call Number: PN1995.9.J8 V47 2006
ISBN: B000063US3
(Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason) An alcoholic lawyer is given a medical malpractice suit in the anticipation he will settle. Instead, he takes the case to trial in hopes of securing a settlement for his client and redeeming his career.
11. Presumed Innocent (1990)
Call Number: PN1997 .P747 1997
ISBN: 6304712588
(Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia) A prosecuting attorney, assigned to investigate the muder of coworker with whom he has been having an affair, quickly becomes the prime suspect.
12. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Call Number: PN1995.9.T75 J83 2004
ISBN: B0001P1BTI
(Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Cliff) An American Judge presides over the trial of four German judges who are accused of allowing their courts to become accomplices to Nazi atrocities.
13. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Call Number: PN1995.9.H5 M26 2007
ISBN: B000LPR6GA
(Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Wells) Sir Thomas More must choose between principles and loyalty to King Henry VIII when the king seeks to divorce his wife to wed Anne Boleyn.
14. A Few Good Men (1992)
Call Number: PN1997 .F49 2001
ISBN: 0800177983
(Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore) Two Marines are accused of killing a fellow soldier as part of an unofficial punishment. They claim they were under orders; their commander says they were on their own.
15. Chicago (2002)
Call Number: PN1995.9.M86 C453346 2002
ISBN: B00005JLSE
(Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere) Two Jazz performers find themselves on Murderess Row and turn their notoriety into an act.
16. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Call Number: PN1997 .K73 2001
ISBN: B00005MEOU
(Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep) Ted Kramer faces fatherhood for the first time when his wife leaves him and his six-year-old son and a legal battle when she returns wanting custody.
17. The Paper Chase (1973)
Call Number: PN1997.P26 B753 2003
ISBN: B00008UALL
(Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman) A 1L copes with the pressures of Harvard Law School, an adversarial professor, and a relationship with that professor's daughter.
18. Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Call Number: KF224.V66 D472 2001
ISBN: B000056BP3
(Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons) Claus von Bulow is accused of attempting to murder his socialite wife, Sunny, resulting in a highly publicized trial. The movie is based on the account of his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, now a Harvard law professor.
19. Compulsion (1959)
Call Number: PN1997.C66 C66 2006
ISBN: B000EHSVQO
(Orson Wells, Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman) Two wealthy law students decide to commit the perfect murder. After being charged, a high profile attorney works to keep them off of death row. The film is based on Clarence Darrow’s actual defense of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
20. And Justice for All (1979)
Call Number: PN1997 .A53 2001
ISBN: B000053UIE
(Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe) A young lawyer fights against a corrupt judical system while being forced to defend a judge accused of a brutal rape.
21. In the Name of the Father (1993)
Call Number: PN1997 .I475 1998
ISBN: 0783227906
(Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson) Based on the true story of Gerry Conlon, a petty theif in Ireland, and his father who are falsely convicted of an IRA bombing as well as the British laywer who fights for 15 years to prove their innocence.
22. A Civil Action (1998)
Call Number: KF228.A667 H372 1999
ISBN: 630542828X
(John Travolta, Robert Duvall, John Lithgow, William H. Macy) A personal injury lawyer takes on 2 large corporations believed to have leaked toxic waste into the water supply of a small New England town causing the deaths of 8 children. Based on a true story.
23. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Call Number: PN1997.A1 C75 1998
ISBN: B000BR6QIM
(Henry Fonda, Alice Brady) A fictional account of Lincoln's early career as he defends two brothers of murder. It has been named to the National Film Registry.
24. Amistad (1997)
Call Number: PN1997 .A48 1999
ISBN: 0783231202
(Morgan Freeman, Migel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Morgan Freeman) Based on the 1839 revolt on the slave ship, Amistad, and the legal battle afterward that reaches all the way to the Supreme Court. Justice Harry Blackmun reads the court’s opinion in a cameo role as Justice Joseph Story.
25. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Call Number: PN1995.9.C5113 M573354 2006
ISBN: B000HT3PPG
(Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood) A man believing he is truly Santa is hired for the Macy’s Parade. When he is threatened with institutionalization, a young lawyer sets out to prove he is indeed Santa Claus.