Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "defense-attorney"
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1. Perry Mason (1957–1966)
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The trials of a master criminal defense attorney handling the most difficult cases in support of the innocent.
Stars: Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins
Votes: 11,832
2. Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman who raised herself in the marshes of the Deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man with whom she was once involved.
Director: Olivia Newman | Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn
Votes: 121,403 | Gross: $90.23M
3. The Good Wife (2009–2016)
TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Alicia Florrick has been a good wife to her husband, a former state's attorney. After a very humiliating sex and corruption scandal, he is behind bars. She must now provide for her family and returns to work as a litigator in a law firm.
Stars: Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, Josh Charles, Matt Czuchry
Votes: 82,734
4. The Devil's Advocate (1997)
R | 144 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
An exceptionally-adept Florida lawyer is offered a job at a high-end New York City law firm with a high-end boss--the biggest opportunity of his career to date.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones
Votes: 401,937 | Gross: $60.98M
5. Beau Is Afraid (2023)
R | 179 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.
Director: Ari Aster | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane
Votes: 60,588
6. How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020)
TV-14 | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A group of ambitious law students and their brilliant criminal defense professor become involved in a twisted murder plot that promises to change the course of their lives.
Stars: Viola Davis, Billy Brown, Jack Falahee, Aja Naomi King
Votes: 166,686
7. Matlock (1986–1995)
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Ben Matlock is a very expensive criminal defense attorney, who charges one hundred thousand dollars to take a case. Fortunately, he's worth every penny, as he and his associates defend his clients by finding the real killer.
Stars: Andy Griffith, Linda Purl, Kene Holiday, Nancy Stafford
Votes: 9,346
8. Boston Legal (2004–2008)
TV-14 | 44 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Boston Legal is a spin-off of the long-running David E. Kelley series The Practice (1997), following the exploits of former Practice character Alan Shore (James Spader) at the legal firm of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt.
Stars: James Spader, William Shatner, Candice Bergen, Rene Auberjonois
Votes: 50,013
9. Justified: City Primeval (2023)
TV-MA | 48 min | Crime, Drama
Series based on Elmore Leonard's novel "City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit."
Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Boyd Holbrook, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Votes: 17,558
10. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A lawyer defending a wealthy man begins to believe his client is guilty of more than just one crime.
Director: Brad Furman | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy
Votes: 253,794 | Gross: $58.01M
11. Primal Fear (1996)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.
Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney
Votes: 247,100 | Gross: $56.12M
12. Jack Reacher (2012)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper responsible for a mass shooting.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog
Votes: 365,080 | Gross: $80.07M
13. Dark Waters (2019)
PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History
A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman
Votes: 101,832
14. Night Court (1984–1992)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
An eccentric fun-loving judge presides over an urban night court and all the silliness going on there.
Stars: Harry Anderson, John Larroquette, Richard Moll, Charles Robinson
Votes: 17,865
15. Monster (2003)
R | 109 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.
Director: Patty Jenkins | Stars: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen
Votes: 161,835 | Gross: $34.47M
16. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
TV-14 | 32 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Jennifer Walters navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered Hulk.
Stars: Tatiana Maslany, Ginger Gonzaga, Malia Arrayah, Jameela Jamil
Votes: 190,414
17. Night Court (2023– )
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy
Follows judge Abby Stone, as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court and tries to bring order to its crew.
Stars: Melissa Rauch, India de Beaufort, Lacretta, John Larroquette
Votes: 4,890
18. Perry Mason (2020–2023)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, History
In booming 1932 Los Angeles, a down-and-out defense attorney takes on the case of a lifetime.
Stars: Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, Shea Whigham
Votes: 28,782
19. When They See Us (2019)
TV-MA | 75 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.
Stars: Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Marquis Rodriguez
Votes: 137,855
20. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 204,527 | Gross: $11.40M
21. Midnight Express (1978)
R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli
Votes: 88,249 | Gross: $35.00M
22. The Practice (1997–2004)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
We follow the exploits and cases of defense attorneys of a Boston law firm. Bobby Donnell is the senior defense attorney and founder of the firm.
Stars: Dylan McDermott, Kelli Williams, Lara Flynn Boyle, Steve Harris
Votes: 10,422
23. A Hidden Life (2019)
PG-13 | 174 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Maria Simon, Karin Neuhäuser
Votes: 28,171
24. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Approved | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 137,857 | Gross: $8.18M
25. Breaker Morant (1980)
PG | 107 min | Drama, History, War
Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters, Bryan Brown
Votes: 14,436 | Gross: $7.14M
26. Runaway Jury (2003)
PG-13 | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.
Director: Gary Fleder | Stars: John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman
Votes: 104,604 | Gross: $49.44M
27. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
R | 116 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Jane Leeves, Cherise Bates
Votes: 39,352 | Gross: $17.31M
28. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Not Rated | 107 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
Director: Andrew Jarecki | Stars: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman, Elaine Friedman
Votes: 27,125 | Gross: $3.12M
29. The Mauritanian (2021)
R | 129 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Tahar Rahim, Nouhe Hamady Bari, Saadna Hamoud, Mohamed Yeslem Mousse
Votes: 61,746
30. Body of Evidence (1992)
R | 99 min | Drama, Thriller
A lawyer defends a woman accused of killing her older lover by having sex with him.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Madonna, Willem Dafoe, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer
Votes: 16,390 | Gross: $13.28M
31. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Mystery
An 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?
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell
Votes: 71,344 | Gross: $11.90M
32. Just Mercy (2019)
PG-13 | 137 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Charlie Pye Jr.
Votes: 75,743
33. 10 to Midnight (1983)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An LAPD detective and his rookie partner are on the trail of a psychopathic young man who is murdering young women.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis
Votes: 9,357 | Gross: $7.10M
34. True Story (I) (2015)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
When disgraced New York Times reporter Michael Finkel meets accused killer Christian Longo - who has taken on Finkel's identity - his investigation morphs into a game of cat-and-mouse.
Director: Rupert Goold | Stars: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Felicity Jones, Maria Dizzia
Votes: 72,942 | Gross: $4.72M
35. The Whole Truth (2016)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A defense attorney works to get his teenage client acquitted of murdering his wealthy father.
Director: Courtney Hunt | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gabriel Basso
Votes: 33,014
36. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
R | 130 min | Biography, Drama
The story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson
Votes: 100,746 | Gross: $20.19M
37. High Crimes (2002)
PG-13 | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A successful lawyer's husband is arrested for murdering nine villagers in El Salvador in 1988 as a US soldier under a different name. She decides to defend him in military court and find out the truth about what happened.
Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Adam Scott
Votes: 48,240 | Gross: $41.54M
38. Gothika (2003)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A psychiatrist awakens as a patient in a mental institution, with no memory of the murder she's accused of committing. As she tries to regain her memory, a vengeful spirit manipulates her.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Charles S. Dutton
Votes: 119,196 | Gross: $59.69M
39. Jade (1995)
R | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A bright assistant D.A. investigates a gruesome hatchet murder and hides a clue he found at the crime scene. Under professional threats and an attempt on his life, he goes on heartbroken because evidence point to the woman he still loves.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna
Votes: 14,245 | Gross: $9.80M
40. Cape Fear (1962)
Passed | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
A lawyer's family is stalked by a man he once helped put in jail.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin
Votes: 31,889
41. Vengeance: A Love Story (2017)
TV-MA | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
One vigilante policeman comes to the aid of a single mother seeking to bring her rapists to justice.
Director: Johnny Martin | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Anna Hutchison, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Deborah Kara Unger
Votes: 8,879
42. Reasonable Doubt (2022– )
TV-MA | 53 min | Drama
Jax Stewart juggles work, family, friends, and a complicated personal life as a brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system every chance she gets.
Stars: Emayatzy Corinealdi, McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey
Votes: 2,155
43. Marshall (2017)
PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.
Director: Reginald Hudlin | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Sterling K. Brown
Votes: 26,813 | Gross: $10.05M
44. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Passed | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn
Votes: 22,885 | Gross: $8.33M
45. Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A newly elected District Attorney finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, Ian Holm
Votes: 8,804 | Gross: $9.88M
46. Brokedown Palace (1999)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two women are arrested for smuggling while vacationing in Thailand.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan | Stars: Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman, Jacqueline Kim
Votes: 24,055 | Gross: $10.11M
47. Franklin & Bash (2011–2014)
TV-14 | 60 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Lawyers and lifelong friends Jared Franklin and Peter Bash are recruited by a large firm's major partner after winning a high-profile case.
Stars: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Breckin Meyer, Reed Diamond, Malcolm McDowell
Votes: 14,474
48. Just Cause (1995)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Director: Arne Glimcher | Stars: Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Capshaw, Blair Underwood
Votes: 29,490 | Gross: $36.85M
49. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
PG | 114 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
A lawyer and a little girl must prove that a man claiming to be Santa Claus is the real thing.
Director: Les Mayfield | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J.T. Walsh
Votes: 43,881 | Gross: $17.19M
50. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Votes: 33,316 | Gross: $0.01M