The fourth and by far the most recent

Well, the Oscars are next week, and in honor of that (and because it is so easy), I thought I would once again do something I’ve done three times in the past: provide a list of 10 (more) legal movies. In past such columns, I’ve first listed the other movies I’ve already reviewed; this time I can’t do that, because I’d have no room for new content. But be assured — I’ve already covered To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, and many others. Here are another ten:

10. Witness for the Prosecution (1957): Tyrone Power’s last film (he would die the next year, only 44, while filming Solomon and Sheba). He’s an American living in England accused of murder. His biggest problem, though, is that the star defense witness is his wife — and she detests him. Still, the real fun of this film is Charles Laughton’s role as the I’ll but cantankerous barrister who defends Power. Laughton hates being followed by a stern nurse (Elsa Lanchester) who tries, usually without success, to prevent his consumption of cigars and brandy.

9. On the Basis of Sex (2018): A fictionalized account of the early years of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life in law school and legal practice, overcoming first misogyny in school and then discrimination in the workplace. Is it any wonder she made fighting sex discrimination her life’s work? Ginsburg is played by English actress Felicity Jones who barely resembles her, but gives it a game try, although in real life Ginsburg was nowhere near as nervous as portrayed. Still, the most remarkable thing is that the producers made this while RBG was still alive.

8. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956): A newspaper publisher (Sidney Blackmer) and a novelist (Dana Andrews) are disgusted by a local district attorney who gets multiple murder convictions based on circumstantial evidence. To embarrass the D.A., they fabricate flimsy evidence suggesting that Andrews committed an unsolved murder, hoping to surprise everyone with the real evidence after Andrews has been convicted. To say more would be telling, but . . . complications ensue. This one has a double surprise ending that most viewers likely will not see coming.

7. M (1931) Peter Lorre’s first notable film, it forever typecast him as a sinister figure — playing a compulsive child murderer. The police dragnet hunting Lorre is so effective that the Berlin underworld searches for him, too, because it’s cutting into their profits. Still, the most unforgettable image may be the faces of the criminal “jury” who ultimately sit in judgment on Lorre’s character — showing the hard life in Germany in the early 1930s.

6. Gideon’s Trumpet (1980): In 1961, Clarence Gideon was charged with burglary of a pool room and was denied legal representation. The state of Florida did not provide free counsel to poor people unless they faced the death penalty. Gideon’s handwritten petition to the Supreme Court changed all that, and in 1964 the court ruled that the right to “assistance of counsel” included poor defendants, too. Henry Fonda, playing Gideon (at age 75!) had had many parts like this before — especially Tom Joad — and his portrayal here is effortless.

5. The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973): Little remembered today, or if remembered at all, because it became the pilot for the television series Kojak. It’s based on a true story, though, the 1963 murders of two “career girls,” which was also a footnote to the 1966 Miranda case. If nothing else, the film does demonstrate why advising a suspect of his right to remain silent makes a lot of sense — because otherwise innocent people get convicted and guilty people go free.

4. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940): An early American film with Peter Lorre — who looks, if that’s possible, even creepier than he did in M. The story involves a journalist whose testimony sends a man to death row, but he’s troubled by dreams that he might had identified the wrong man. This is often cited as the first film noir, released a year before The Maltese Falcon.

3. The Trial of the Chicago Seven (2020): Mostly pure courtroom drama from Aaron Sorkin, a fitting follow up to his play (and the film) A Few Good Men. It tells the story of the political prosecution of so-called radicals back in 1970 of people like Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden for “incitement to riot” at the 1968 democratic convention — even though most “rioting” was done by the Chicago Police. The defendants managed to turn the courtroom into a circus, thanks to the heavy hand of Judge Julius Hoffman (no relation to Abbie).

2. The Rack (1956): An early film for Paul Newman, playing a service man court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy during the Korean War. Newman is really on trial before two juries: The military tribunal and his ramrod-stiff military father (Walter Pidgeon). A surprisingly grim script from Rod Serling.

1. Michael Clayton (2007): A product liability lawsuit might not seem like the best vehicle for a legal thriller, and the film is occasionally hard to follow because scenes and images will be repeated, but it’s well-worth sticking with it, because the payoff is extraordinarily memorable. Tilda Swinton won an Oscar for her portrayal of a lawyer who takes her job way, WAY too seriously.

Really, Tilda — you were going to settle the case anyway.