Anatomy of a Murder (1959) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

... since part of the allure is the mystery as to whether or not a true murder has been committed in the first place. There is a killing - but is it murder? That is what this courtroom drama is trying to determine.Paul Biegler (James Stewart) is a country lawyer in Michigan who was once the local DA but must have lost reelection at some point. He seems to consider himself pseudo-retired, as he stays in just enough contract work to finance his true love - fishing. But then a lieutenant in the army (Ben Gazzara as Fred Manion) kills the man who raped his wife (Lee Remick as Laura Manion), is charged with murder, and Biegler has a big case on his hands.Manion is a bit shifty - At first claiming he has the "unwritten law" on his side. But then when Biegler tells him there really is no such thing, Manion adjusts his story such that temporary insanity could be a plausible defense.The truth is, it never is clear which was true - Did Manion truly temporarily lose it when he saw his wife brutalized by a rapist, or did Laura Manion get cold busted by her husband stepping out with another man with the result being that Lt. Manion lost his temper and killed the other man? Gazzara plays his part as arrogant and Remick plays her part as flirty, each shooting the other looks at various points that indicate they are keeping at least part of the truth to themselves. What keeps it interesting are the characters, the emphasis on the legal process, and the question I just posed that hangs over the entire proceedings. Although everyone is good, the judge is an absolute understated scream. You can tell he doesn't like having this high profile case in his courtroom, that like Biegler he'd rather be fishing, but he has a job to do and he'll do it fairly. Joseph Welch played the part of the judge, and the fact that he was actually an attorney gives the performance the needed authenticity.James Stewart was supposed to star in "North By Northwest" in 1959, but Hitchcock was angry at him because Vertigo had been a commercial failure, calling Stewart too old. He then dumped Stewart for Cary Grant so that Stewart was available to do this film. In the end, everything worked out. All three films are now recognized classics, and I can't see anybody but Stewart with his folksy charm playing the lead in this film.

This might have been a stunning movie for 1959, but I fail to see how it holds up in the Twenty First Century. If one could get away with a murder rap using that 'irresistible impulse' argument, I think there would be a lot more murder trials today, not to mention a whole lot more killers running around loose. I mean really, a 'psychic shock' which creates an almost overwhelming tension which a person must alleviate, by KILLING SOMEBODY!!! I know there are real live cases of temporary insanity that have gotten people off the hook, but in those situations, the accused is usually deranged enough to merit the argument. I don't see how it worked here, except of course, as being a product of it's times.Even the courtroom drama seemed a little bizarre to me. I can understand the prosecuting attorney Mitch Lodwick (Brooks West) making all those challenges to Paul Biegler's (James Stewart) questioning of witnesses, but couldn't figure out why he thought they were out of bounds. Why wouldn't the alleged rape of Manion's (Ben Gazzara) wife be relevant to the case? It's why he killed bar owner Quill! Or the photographer's pictures of Laura Manion (Lee Remick). If they could corroborate the fact that she got beat up by Quill, even if she wasn't raped, putting them into evidence should have been a no-brainer.There's also that scene in which Mary Pilant (Kathryn Grant) rolled over so easily when Biegler asked her to get the bartender to cooperate with his investigation. Any other person would have told the attorney to take a hike if it was going to implicate her own father. That scene just didn't pass the smell test for me.But with all that, I still thought the film was fairly compelling in the way Biegler sniffed out his opportunities and played them out for the court. Some of his over the top antics didn't seem realistic but he was putting on a show for the jurors. I liked Judge Weaver (Joseph N. Welch) by the way, I was surprised to learn he was a real life attorney during the Army-McCarthy hearings. No wonder he seemed so credible in the role of the judge.The most surprising thing about the movie for me was the way it handled some of the era's sensitive subjects like rape, women's undergarments, and male sperm as evidence in an abuse case. Don't forget, this was the tail end of a decade when the Ricardo's slept in separate beds and topics involving sex were still taboo subjects for TV. The dialog in the film was credibly done without getting sensational, so that was a plus.The thing that really got me though, no one even mentioned in a couple dozen reviews of the picture I read on this board. When all was said and done, and after Manion was found not guilty, Jimmy Stewart's character arrives at the trashy trailer park and gets handed that message about Manion's irresistible impulse to hit the road. The guy scammed Biegler, the court, and the jury, and got away with murder! Time to go fishing, I guess.

Anatomy of a Murder

1959

Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

Anatomy of a Murder

1959

Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

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The title is ironic...

"I'm just a lawyer trying to do my job."

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