Rating: 4.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 39/52 | Hollywood Classics
This movie is where “I’m just a poor country lawyer…” comes from!
Duke Ellington’s score and Saul Bass’s title credits set a swinging mood before we meet Paul Biegler, driving a 1950 Pontiac Chieftain De Luxe with the top down, as the sun sets, as he enters the city limits of Iron City, Michigan. Paul’s friend and local drunk, Parnell McCarthy, sees Paul pull up to his house, where he also practices law as an attorney. Hanging on the mounted deer horns is a note from Paul’s secretary, Maida, to reach out to Laura Manion in Thunder Bay. Parnell comes in, and the two share a drink. Parnell is worried about Paul’s habits since Paul lost his re-election bid for district attorney after 10 years in the position. Parnell was an attorney in his time and recognized the familiar patterns.
The phone rings with Laura Manion. Parnell tells Paul to say yes if she asks Paul to represent her husband. Paul isn’t quite so gung-ho and wishes to meet the man and get more information before making any commitments. After Paul schedules an appointment for the following day, Parnell gives Paul the rundown. The story goes that Barney Quill raped Mrs. Manion, and Mr. Manion, a lieutenant in the US Army, comes to Quill’s inn and shoots Barney five times with a Luger P08, killing him. The following day, Maida opens the shop and finds Parnell passed out on the couch. She hints to Paul that money is tight and that he should get paid for the Manion case.
Paul meets Laura, who looks like a femme fatale, with her sharp sunglasses and a Yorkshire terrier named Mutt. Inside, she removes her sunglasses to reveal a black eye, just one of the many marks Barney Quill left behind. Mr. Manion, or Manny as Laura calls him, is worried about Paul’s lack of experience as a defense attorney. Manny believes he should get off because Quill raped his wife. Paul informs him that such “unwritten laws” are a myth. If Manny had caught Barney in the act, he might have had a defense—not only that, but he didn’t call the police and took justice into his own hands. Paul won’t give Manny a justification or defense for why he killed Barney—Manny has to figure that out for himself.
Maybe you're too pure, Paul—too pure for the natural impurities of the law.
The film follows the case as Paul learns the details and helps build a defense.
Otto Preminger often shot monochrome well into the 60s. Here, it shifts a contemporary audience’s expectations about what happens in a black-and-white movie. So, when Laura talks about Barney calling her an “army slut,” we’re pulled into the grim present.
This film marked several firsts for Hollywood. The film is based on a book that is based on a real murder that occurred in Big Bay, Michigan, in 1952 at the Lumberjack Tavern, in which the filmmakers shot several scenes—this would be the first time a Hollywood movie used an actual murder location for the movie. Also, the trial proceedings do not mince words when it comes to the alleged rape and beating, leading to bans of the film that Preminger had to file motions against to get the movie shown.
The film’s brilliance is its play with audience expectations. The Jimmy Stewart we get is not the idealist of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but the jaded lawyer who is willing to defend a self-proclaimed murderer.
The film lets Jimmy Stewart be the sassiest and most sarcastic I’ve seen him. He’s got a quip for everything, especially when the subject isn’t all that funny. This carries over into the courtroom, where he pulls all sorts of tricks. He also has a stupid recurring bit that I love: He searches his pockets for matches or a lighter he doesn’t have before asking for one or taking one from the scene.
As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad, but people are many things… Everybody loves something or someone.
The movie explores the audience’s relationship with Laura through Paul. To him, she dresses scantily, which he loves, and she believes all men want something from her, including Paul. Paul interrogates how she dressed on the night Barney raped her, suggesting but not outright saying that she may have “asked for it.” But in the court of law, the word “panties” causes such an uproar that the judge assembles the prosecution and defense to think of an alternative word. When no alternative is found, the judge’s word usage sends the courtroom into laughter.
It’s wild seeing young Ben Gazzara! The earliest movie I can remember seeing him in was The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, which came out nearly twenty years after this one.
I love the rough edges of Paul and Manny’s relationship. Neither likes the other, but both need each other for one reason or another. Manny is probably 20 years younger than Paul, and this film came out after Rebel Without a Cause, so some of the hostility feels generational—the older generation, especially the small-town types, expect a certain respect. In contrast, the younger generation just wants a straight answer for once.
The officer at the bar is one of the best drunk portrayals I’ve seen on screen. He’s military, so he has total body control, and like all drunks, he’s trying to pretend like he isn’t. His form is rigid, but his words have the occasional slur and bluntness that betray his attempts.
The procedural structure of the movie might bore some audiences, especially those raised on Law & Order, given its two-hour and forty-minute runtime. Still, I think the pacing of the film is damn near perfect, giving us all the texture we need to get a grip on our characters without really understanding them. This includes a bizarre final scene that has gross implications.