I did a whole series of reviews on Pre-Code films, that brief period of talking pictures before the Hays Production Code began enforcing its decency standards on all movies to be shown in the US. Otto Preminger’s gripping 1959 courtroom drama represents the other side of that code, the beginning of a Post-Code era that continues today. The always-great Jimmy Stewart stars as a small town attorney charged with defending his client, Lt. Manion (a young Ben Gazzara), against the charge of murder by using the insanity defense. Manion’s wife was raped, and Manion ran right out and shot the rapist dead.
Because Stewart is using the rape as a reason for Manion’s insanity, the nearly-three hour drama features many frank and clinical discussions of rape, sex, and violence. There have always been courtroom dramas, but Preminger’s Production Code-be-damned desire to see this one authentic throughout ruffled quite a few feathers and began the slow decline of the Hays Code (Wilder’s Some Like It Hot began putting it to bed, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was the final nail in the coffin).
It’s the authenticity that really stands out here. In today’s world of criminal procedurals on every network and syndicated up and down, a film like this could feel dated, but it doesn’t. It feels like it laid the groundwork for all these other stories by just getting to the bare bones of it: no outlandish twists, no sensationalist moments of melodrama, just the prosecution and the defense going at it. The cast is stellar, grounded by good ol’ boy Stewart, facing off against George C. Scott (in only his second film role). Fun fact: the judge in the film is played by Joseph Welch, whom you may know better for uttering these words at Senator McCarthy in 1954: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
Absolutely a must see, both for its place in cinematic history and for its own powerful, confident storytelling. In fact, Criterion is releasing a digitally restored hi-def Blu-Ray of the film on Feb 21.
