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Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - Full Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-23 08:12:43
Edited:
2023-10-05 05:29:47
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Hey guys! I think I've loved almost all of the old movies that I've watched on the channel. Also, I don't know what it is about James Stewart but he is just so great. This'll be the 3rd (?) movie I've watched with him in it? Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the reaction and please don't mind my laugh attack at the end... 

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[Full Reaction] Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Comments

Clay F

As you noted, the movie is in black and white, but the movie is not black and white :)

Anthony Perez

ignore the nasty comments...You eating on camera just makes it more homey for me. Next thing you know they'll want you to stop talking. Your reactions have made my day many a time.

ExploreWinnipeg

I'm glad you watched this because it forced me to watch it. It was so good. It was 2 hours 40 minutes, but it didn't feel long, and the trial portion was so engrossing.

Trembling Colors

This was my first watch of this and I was convinced the defendant (the husband and wife not the defense team) was lying where you were convinced they weren’t so the movie achieved it’s goal of making it so you don’t know if they were or not much like a real trial.

Anonymous

So the second time Biegler talks to the Lt. he asks "what is your legal excuse"? He first tells him he must have been mad and after Biegler says that a bad temper is no excuse, he replies that he must have been crazy. Biegler deliberately pushes him towards a plea of insanity and both of them know. This movie is one of my favorites :)

Michael Jung

I'm curious as to how many people watching this movie would have found the defendant guilty or innocent based on the arguments and testimony offered. Personally, if I was part of the jury, I would have found Manion guilty. If this was a rape trial and Stewart was charged with proving whether or not the wife had been raped, the panties presented at the end would have been enough to make me feel Barney had raped her. However, the only question the jury had to answer here was whether or not the Lieutenant was temporarily insane when he killed Barney - and I just didn't hear enough overwhelming evidence to convince me that he was. Sure, the army psychiatrist offered his opinion (and had examined the Lieutenant) but the fact that the prosecution had their own "expert" with a differing opinion just showed the idea of "irresistible impulse" was shaky at best. Frankly, while it's easy to put Jimmy Stewart in the "good guy" category and the prosecutors as the "bad guys," the film intentionally shows both sides engaging in manipulative, underhanded tactics. Stewart gets the Lieutenant's wife to dress conservatively to sway the jury, influences the Lieutenant's "temporary insanity" position (and may have even made sure to get an army psychiatrist who could back him up), emphasizes the Lieutenant's "exemplary" war record, and engages in hammy showmanship throughout the trial to paint the prosecutors as the "bad guys." He even pressures Barney's daughter to try and manipulate the bartender into giving testimony that Barney confessed to the rape (even though he has no idea that Barney said any such thing). Frankly, if this was real (and the judge wasn't so easygoing), I doubt any of his behavior would have been considered acceptable. Meanwhile, the prosecutors are shown as slimy jerks who try to paint the Lieutenant's wife as a cheating seductress (which she may have been, although that shouldn't have been relevant to the case itself) and who were all too eager to put the Lieutenant's cellmate on the stand to sway the jury. (While his story could have been true, the fact that he'd been previously arrested for perjury and had been attacked by the Lieutenant - giving him a revenge motive - was enough to give me a reasonable doubt about his testimony). On the other hand, the prosecution did repeatedly show that the Lieutenant had a history of violence toward other men and his wife, was violently jealous (something the wife indicated was true to Stewart) and had no prior history of temporary insanity. Based on this - and the fact that he most definitely shot and killed Barney - he should have been sentenced. The fact that we uncovered a possible motive shouldn't have influenced the jury We don't know if he shot Barney out of jealousy, hatred, or because he wanted to defend his wife's honor... and frankly, even if he had "honorable" motives, we'd only be able to find him not guilty if we bought the "irresistible impulse" defense. Where other courtroom dramas like "A Few Good Men" are concerned with uncovering the truth and finding justice for the defendants, "Anatomy of a Murderer" highlights the manipulative aspects of the U.S. court system and challenges us to accept that the usually virtuous Jimmy Stewart can be just as underhanded as any shady lawyer. Incidentally, if you're interested in more of these type of court movies, Cassie, I'd suggest "Chicago" or "A Time to Kill"

Michael Jung

Cassie - you asked if something like this happened in real life, how it would go. Actually, Anatomy of a Murderer was based on a true court case in 1952 where a Lt. Coleman A. Peterson killed a tavern owner in revenge for raping his wife and was found innocent through an insanity defense (he was later declared sane). Soon after, he and his wife divorced. As in the movie, Peterson stiffed his defense attorney, John D. Voelker, by skipping town. Voelker (who became a Michigan Supreme Court judge) got the last laugh though - he wrote a fictionalized version of the case under the pen name Robert Traver, which became the movie Anatomy of a Murder. The book became so successful, Voelker resigned from the Michigan Supreme Court to become a full-time writer and fisherman!

Brian Harris

As an actor, I have to give props to Ben Gazzara and Lee Remick, who played the Manions. For the story to work, you had to be unsure of the truth, and they presented a nuanced portrait of a dysfunctional couple that could be telling their version of the truth or could be lying outright. Gazzara’s Manion was obviously a controlling, possibly abusive jerk from the outset, and Remick’s Laura seemed just flighty enough that you couldn’t be sure of anything she had to say. Her last conversation with Biegler is especially well-played. There’s just something off with her in that scene. She’s not nervous or anxious, she even seems optimistic. Maybe she really is that certain he’s going to get off. Maybe she’s waiting for a guilty verdict so she can take off and be free of this albatross around her neck. Impossible to know. To me, ambiguity is important in storytelling. The truth is never as good as what the audience decides in their own imaginations. For my money, I think Laura was probably raped and beaten by Quill, but Manion was cool as a fox when he shot him. I don’t even think he shot Quill for raping his wife - I think he shot Quill for what in his mind was violating his “property.” And if Manion had gone to jail, Laura would not have wept too many tears over it. She was ready to move on. And yes, check out Mr. Smith and Harvey and The Philadelphia Story. You’ll love all of them. Jimmy Stewart had one of the greatest careers in movie history. Classic after classic. Nobody ever quite had the same relationship with the moviegoing public - Tom Hanks is kind of close, and gets compared to Stewart a lot, but even Hanks does not draw the kind of shining idolatry Stewart inspired in three generations of movie fans.

3dbadboy1

Btw, the actor who played the bartender was also the actor who played the Mayor for 'Shark City' in the movie Jaws.

Mike LL
>>84525407

Wow, did not know this. Thanks for the info. I really like belonging to this Patreon channel.

Mike LL
>>84523026

I really like your comment and thought it is very credible and well presented. However I am still biased to Biegler's side and think he was the "good guy'. I think he was just doing his job to present the best defense. His defense was advised by the army psychiatrist, and he found legal precedent. But the prosecution was definitely shady, they tried to suppress evidence and interviewing all Manion's cell mates was very underhanded.

3dbadboy1

Lol, If you watch The Philadelphia Story, you should also watch High Society with Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby. It was a musical version of it if memory serves.

Jason Chirevas
>>84523026

Heartily second the A TIME TO KILL rec. Cassie would love it for some very specifically Cassie reasons.

Jason Chirevas
>>84523026

I think Biegler’s moral ambiguity — and the degree to which he believes the Manions — is probably cemented at the end when he tells McCarthy they’re going to administer Barney Quill’s estate.

Michael Jung
>>84523026

Yeah - I don't think he truly believed in his client's innocence and wasn't that surprised when Manion didn't pay him. It makes sense that he would only take the case for publicity to drum up some much-needed business, which he gets from Barney's daughter. Since he was basically bullying her earlier to help him get the testimony to clear Manion, it's kind of creepy that he wound up benefiting from the whole thing. It's also worth noting that both Biegler was recruited partly because he was an ex-DA and could fight the current DA on his own terms -- meaning morally grey courtroom tactics, particularly pandering to the jury. You could argue that this is "just the way things are done" in the court system, but does that make it right?

Henry Graham

I'm certain you'll love James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner. You need to add that to your Christmas playlist this year.

Just Plain Bob

Confused as to why Cassie wondered whether Manion was legally insane or not, as per the jury verdict. They made it pretty clear, during his first two meetings with Paul, that he was making up his defense to match the only legal defense available to him. Short of turning to the camera and saying "I'm gonna lie my ass off and claim I was nuts when I actually knew exactly what I was doing" I can't imagine them making it more clear.

Prince Andrey
>>86039600

I just watched Shop Around the Corner a couple days ago. Great 1940 film that I only discovered a few years ago on TCM. And I thought I knew them all. Anyway Cassie, if you like Jimmy Stewart you'll adore Margaret Sullavan his co-star in that film.

Prince Andrey

I think the jury got the verdict correct. But it still doesn't mean the lieutenant wasn't a bad person. He admitted to slapping his wife a few times in the film (although he said he never 'beat' her) and of course he ran off without paying his lawyer's fee. The park guard was saying the wife was crying too,