Want to know the best Lawyer Movies? How about the worst Lawyer Movies? Curious about Lawyer Movie box office grosses or which Lawyer Movies picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Lawyer Movies got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Drivel part of the page: WoC’s big sister spent the Christmas holiday with us. She (SILOC -Sister-in-law of Cogerson) is a judge in Alabama. During her stay she suggested two new pages for UMR. Her first suggestion was a Top Comedy Movies page, while her second suggestion was a page on lawyer movies. While we work on the comedy page, we decided to create this Lawyer movie page. Is it all the lawyer movies? Of course not. If your favorite lawyer movie is not listed, please leave a comment below and I will get that movie included.
Lawyer Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Lawyer Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Blue Link = Lawyer Movie Trailer
- Sort by Lawyer Movies by stars of movies.
- Sort Lawyer Movie by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Lawyer Movie by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Lawyer Movie how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Lawyer Movie received.
- Sort Lawyer Movie by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
I have seen 34 of these movies. I am sorry I don’t have time to list them all, but I have seen the top 5 and 8 of the top 10.My favourite is To kill a Mockingbird.
Hey Flora….thanks for the tally count….I have seen 92 of these movies…that might be enough to even bump Dan from the top spot. I have actually seen the Top 32 movies. I had no idea that I had seen so many lawyer movies. Hope your holidays are going great!
THE DEFINITIVE TOP 10 LAWERS MOVIES
All of these are on Bruce’s list – just usually in the wrong place!
1/A Time to Kill – “Close your eyes and imagine she’s white and not black”
2/The Verdict – “How did Frankie think those legal sharks got all that money – from helping elderly ladies across the road?
3/The Caine Mutiny
4/A Few Good Men
4/Primal Fear – Spellbinding Debut of the great Edward Norton.
5/12 Angry Men – “He can’t hear you – he never will!”
6/Witness for the Prosecution – sadly Ty Power’s last completed movie. Powerhouse [no pun intended] performances from Ty, Dietrich and Charles Laughton. Charles has the lead role but Tyrone is first billed. Indeed the final time that Power took less than 1st billing was way back in 1939 to Myrna Loy in The Rains Came. Has there ever been a greater irony in movie trivia?
7/Philadelphia “Only one man would take his case.”
8/Paths of Glory – “lead but to the grave” [Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard in 1750].
9/A Man for All Seasons – “I will obey even a bad law. Because if any law can be wilfully flouted where is my protection if they illegally come for me?” Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More
10/Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 1956 – Dana Andrews [great pal of Burt Lancaster] at his best during his wonderful noir period in the 1940s and early to mid-fifties. Some critics argue that it is bleakest of the great Fritz Lang’s film noirs. Wonderful surprise ending.
Hey Bob….thanks for sharing your Top 10 Lawyer movies. First of all…I am glad that I was able to include all of your Top 10. Let’s see where they were statistically ranked. #1 A Time To Kill came in at #25….it’s 66% review percentage really hurt that score…but it would be in my Top 10 as well. I just recently rewatched that one. #2 The Verdict…comes in at #7…..a classic for sure…plus you get a Bruce Willis extra appearance. #3 The Caine Mutiny…comes in at #5….me and UMR Hall of Famer George were talking about his movie on the last day before Xmas break. #4 A Few Good Men…comes in at #11…almost in t he Top 10. #4A – Primal Fear….comes in at #43….Norton is excellent…but this is not a favorite of mine. #5 12 Angry…comes in at #19….I looked at many lists while putting this page together….and this was listed as a Top 3 lawyer movie in all the lists. #6 Witness For The Prosecution…comes in at #8….the closest so far when looking at the two rankings. #7 Philadelphia…comes in at #20….a good movie….but I have never wanted to revisit it. #8 Paths of Glory….comes in at #41….another in my Top 10….actually when looking at the lists I mentioned in #5….this was on none of those lists….just a movie from my personal memory bank. #9 A Man For All Seasons….comes in at #3…..I debated whether this needed to be on the list…at the end….it made the list. #10 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt….the only one of your top 10 I have not seen….comes in at #75. Good feedback.
Hey Bob….my Top 10 personal list….in random order….
1. The Verdict…probably Newman’s best performance.
2. From The Hip…ok…the Judd Nelson bias blinds me here.
3. Paths of Glory…..the trial is just so unfair.
4. The Trial of the Chicago 7….way better than I expected.
5. Body Heat…William Hurt is probably the worst lawyer in the bunch.
6. The Caine Mutiny….love how the movie plays out during the case….”But I had them with the strawberries”
7. The Runaway Jury…..loved the ends in outs of the process of a court case
8. Inherit The Wind….two legends going at each other…though a scene of Spencer Tracy and Frederic March on a porch is my favorite scene in the movie
9. JFK….what a cast….and fun court room scenes
10. To Kill A Mockingbird….gotta go with the movie that finally got Peck an Oscar.
Hey Bob…another one that I really liked is Breaker Morant….but it is so close in story to Paths of Glory….that I have to go with the first great Kubrick movie.
The Work Horse’s Top 10 – statistically speaking at least – are as always reasonable; though I personally would not have ranked To Kill a Mockingbird. so highly.
Don’t get me wrong: it is a great movie – though in those days any movie with Greg at his peak in it was bound to be a bit of a gem in some fashion and as an admirer of his I’m certainly glad he won the Oscar for his performance.
No: what LEGALLY disappointed me about the movie is that it was not ended in a courtroom or in some other broadly-legal fashion as was the likes of A Few Good Men. Who can forget for example Nicholson’s outburst at the witness stand when he is unmasked and in Bruce Willis lingo yells at the officers of the court “You’ve ****** with the wrong marine!”
However in Greg’s Mockingbird the conclusion is brought about not by any legal skills and indeed occurs away from the courtroom when the half -witted Boo Radley -in a landmark debut by the great Bobby Duvall – saves Greg’s children by physically grappling with and killing the racist who is threatening the Peck kids.
“Thank you for the life of my children,” Atticus humbly says to Boo. I can’t help thinking though that the later Col Kilgore of Apocalypse Now who “loved the smell of napalm in the morning” would have been on the side of the racist!
IRRELEVANT TRIVIA: Duvall and The Duke loathed each other when filming 1969’s True Grit
Anyway a viewer who is interested in the DEFINITIVE top 10 greatest lawyer films should read my Part 3.
Hey Bob….good point on To Kill A Mockingbird. I have not seen that one in years….I know Flora is disappointed in me. I will be going to your Top 10 next.
Often the Work Horse introduces a new topic that coincides albeit obliquely with a key situation presently occurring in my own life and/or family; and so it is that with his new page ranking Lawyer films the Work Horse has created such a coincidence.
My son who is an [Alan Ladd-hating!] lawyer based in London England has just secured within the British legal profession an important appointment to one of the King’s Counsel positions. Previously the term was ‘Queen’s Council’ prior to the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth 2nd.
Because of the formal connection with the Monarch -in this case the new King, Charles III – the Sovereign himself/herself has to to albeit as a technicality sign-off all Queen’s/King’s Counsel appointments.
So from now on regard me as this site’s expert on legal flicks – “reflected glory” you know; and what does the Work Horse actually know about the law?
Come to think about it what does he know about Christmas either when one considers how the publicists and hype merchants can con him into accepting that certain movies actually belong in the Xmas genre?
WIKIPEDIA
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King’s Counsel [KC] during the reign of a king, or Queen’s Counsel [QC] during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer who is typically a senior trial lawyer.
Technically appointed by the monarch of the country to be one of His [Her] Majesty’s Counsel “learned in the law” appointment as King’s Counsel is an office, conferred by the Crown, that is recognised by courts.
Counsels formally appointed by the King have the privilege of sitting within the inner bar of court and wear SILK gowns of a particular design so that appointment as a KC is known informally as “taking silk.” and KCs are often colloquially called “silks”.
Hey Bob….that is great news about your son….congratulations to SoB. That is great information on his new job. So, I just returned from my local library….one of their new DVDs was a 4 movie set called great Chrismas movies. Those four movies were Christmas Vacation, The Night Before, Gremlins and drumroll….Die Hard. Now that is some good evidence in the Die Hard is or is not a Christmas movie….lol.
Thanks!
You are welcome WoC….I figured if I make SILOC happy and I will be making WoC happy too!.