(click to enlarge)The first movie in my Essential James Stewart marathon is Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder. A small town lawyer (Stewart) who would rather be fishing than in the courtroom takes on a case involving a soldier who claims he was temporarily insane when he murdered a bartender who allegedly raped his wife. The case is a tough one because the bartender was well-liked, the soldier demonstrates a combustible temper, and the wife is an incorrigible flirt.
The film which is ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Courtroom Drama" was nominated for seven Oscars but lost out to Ben Hur in 1960 for Best Picture and Best Director. Duke Ellington was featured in the film. His score won the Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. The film's poster (shown above, but not in color) has been voted the #1 movie poster of all time.
James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it. Part of the controversy surrounding this movie was its use of the words bitch, contraceptive, panties, penetration, rape, slut and sperm. It seems we still lived in puritanical America in 1959.
The film which is ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Courtroom Drama" was nominated for seven Oscars but lost out to Ben Hur in 1960 for Best Picture and Best Director. Duke Ellington was featured in the film. His score won the Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. The film's poster (shown above, but not in color) has been voted the #1 movie poster of all time.
James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it. Part of the controversy surrounding this movie was its use of the words bitch, contraceptive, panties, penetration, rape, slut and sperm. It seems we still lived in puritanical America in 1959.
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