My Favorite Courtroom Movies & Series
The legal genre generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film's narrative. The focal point are events occurring within a courtroom, but may include any phases of legal procedure, such as jury deliberations or work done at law firms.
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List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
21 titles
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn 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?
- DirectorJon AmielStarsRichard GereJodie FosterLanny FlahertyA farmer returns home from the Civil War, but his wife begins to suspect that the man is an impostor.
- CreatorDick WolfRick EidStarsJerry OrbachJesse L. MartinDennis FarinaNew York's finest police detectives and prosecutors fight to make the city a safer place. With integrity as the guiding force from investigation to verdict, the teams weigh every perspective in their commitment to finding justice.
- CreatorDick WolfStarsMariska HargitayChristopher MeloniIce-TThis series follows the Special Victims Unit, a specially trained squad of detectives in the New York City Police Department that investigate sexually related crimes.
- CreatorScott AlexanderLarry KaraszewskiSarah BurgessStarsSarah PaulsonAnnaleigh AshfordSterling K. BrownAn anthology series centered around America's most notorious crimes and criminals.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsTyrone PowerMarlene DietrichCharles LaughtonA veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise.
- CreatorBlake MastersDick WolfStarsCorey StollRachel TicotinAlfred MolinaLos Angeles police detectives investigate crimes and district attorneys prosecute the offenders.
- DirectorGary FlederStarsJohn CusackRachel WeiszGene HackmanA juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.
- CreatorAntonio CamposStarsColin FirthToni ColletteMichael StuhlbargTells the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, and the 16-year judicial battle that followed.
- CreatorRon FitzgeraldRolin JonesStarsMatthew RhysJuliet RylanceChris ChalkIn booming 1932 Los Angeles, a down-and-out defense attorney takes on the case of a lifetime.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsMatthew McConaugheySandra BullockSamuel L. JacksonIn Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsWoody HarrelsonCourtney LoveEdward NortonThe story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.
- StarsMichael PetersonDavid RudolfRon GueretteThe high-profile murder trial of American novelist Michael Peterson following the death of his wife Kathleen Peterson in 2001.
- CreatorHoward GordonJimmy McGovernStarsFarrah AvivaAbigail BreslinMalcolm-Jamal WarnerChronicles ordinary people getting caught up in extraordinary situations, where one wrong turn leads to another, until it's too late to turn back.
- DirectorRichard LangStarsRaymond BurrBarbara HaleWilliam KattHorror writer David Hall reserves a hotel and invites his "friends" for the weekend. Each wants to sue him for some reason. Perry's friend Jordan is one of the guests. He is seen in the hotel's high tower when David is thrown to his death.
- DirectorRon SatlofStarsRaymond BurrBarbara HaleWilliam KattAn old flame of Mason's is up for a government position. A man tries to blackmail her, telling her husband her secret will prevent her appointment. When the husband approaches him, he finds he is dead and gets himself charged with murder.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRobin WrightJames McAvoyTom WilkinsonMary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.
- CreatorErle Stanley GardnerStarsRaymond BurrBarbara HaleWilliam HopperThe trials of a master criminal defense attorney handling the most difficult cases in support of the innocent.
- CreatorMitchell BurgessRobin GreenStarsDonnie WahlbergBridget MoynahanWill EstesRevolves around a family of New York cops.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsAlec BaldwinJames WoodsWhoopi GoldbergA Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white racist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.