Legal Eagles: Top 10 Lawyers in Film

This week, in Conviction, Hilary Swank plays Betty Anne Wheeler, a working class mum who put herself through law school to get her brother out of jail. It sounds far-fetched, but it’s a true story and a tribute to the determination and faith of a remarkable woman.

They say that in America, everybody discovers his or her vocation on TV – which may account for the sheer volume of lawyers in that most litigious of nations. Certainly there has never been a shortage of colourful lawyers on the goggle box. From Ironside to Petrocelli and LA Law, each generation has its idea of what makes an attorney. (In this country, Rumpole of the Bailey still casts a giant shadow.)

The movies too – courtroom dramas are such a staple, lawyer probably comes in the top five film professions (after cop/detective, thief/killer, prostitute, and reporter, but before teacher, doctor, nurse, mechanic and soldier). Back in the 1940s and 50s, lawyers were usually the good guys, whether they were prosecuting gangsters or defending the wrongly accused. Think Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder or Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution. The exceptions were the mob lawyers who kept racketeers out of jail – like Robert Taylor, the cynical shyster in Nicolas Ray’s Party Girl, but even he came to regret it.

Our Top Picks

1. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

This is surely everybody’s ideal lawyer, and not only because he’s seen through the eyes of his two admiring children. Atticus seems to possess the wisdom of Solomon as well as the poise and intelligence of any great lawyer.

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2. Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow, Inherit The Wind (1960)

Another paragon of liberal values, Spencer Tracy played the reallife lawyer Clarence Darrow, who argued for the teaching of evolution in the famous Scopes monkey trial of 1925.

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3. Ron Silver as Alan Dershowitz in Reversal of Fortune (1990)

Another real life lawyer, Dershowitz was a colourful character who defended the aristocrat Claus von Bulow (Jeremy Irons) who was accused of attempting to murder his wife (Glenn Close) for her money. Silver plays him as a natural born showboat

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4. Paul Newman as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1981)

One of Newman’s best parts, an alcholic ambulance chaser who sniffs a chance at redemption in a medical malpractise suit, but seems to have bitten off more than he can chew. “Your honour, if you’re going to try my case for me at least try not to lose it…”

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5. Tom Cruise as Lt Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men (1992)

This is a better movie than The Firm (or indeed the other John Grisham flicks), and Cruise’s cross examination of Jack Nicholson is classic stuff from Aaron (Social Network) Sorkin.

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6. Reece Witherspoon as Elle Woods, Legally Blonde (2001)

There are a few notable women attorneys in the movies – Emma Thompson in In The Name Of The Father – but not so many as there might be. There is also an honourable substrata of unlikely candidates who step up to the bar, of which Elle is perhaps the icon, but which also includes Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich and Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny.

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7. Robert Duvall as Tom Haden in The Godfather (1972)

The best mob lawyer – or “consigliere” – of them all. Haden lives in the shadows, hovering in the backrooms, rarely stepping forward, yet in the moral universe of the Godfather films he remains a steadfast, loyal and reliable figure.

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8. William Hurt as Ned Racine, Body Heat (1981)

Not all lawyers are so smart, and Ned Racine is proof of that – a two-bit Florida attorney who is played like a fiddle by Kathleen Turner’s femme fatale Matty Walker in this steamy neo-noir mystery.

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9. Ryan Gosling as Willy Beachum, Fracture (2007)

Gosling is an ambitious young prosecutor hits on a career-making murder case where the accused (Anthony Hopkins) is almost too compliant. Things don’t work out the way Willy would like. Worth seeing for two great actors sizing each other up.

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10. Jacques Verges as himself, Terror’s Advocate (2007)

Directed by Barbet Schroeder, who made Reversal Of Fortune, this documentary portrait of a defense lawyer for several notable terrorists (including Carlos The Jackal) is a brilliant illustration of the moral quagmire that comes with the territory – as well as the rampant ego needed to survive

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Not forgetting Tom Cruise in The Firm, Matt Damon and Danny De Vito in The Rainmaker, Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon in The Client, Keanu Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate, Steve Martin in All Of Me, Al Pacino in And Justice for All, Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Adam’s Rib, John Travolta in A Civil Action or Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny.

Tom Charity<
tom.charity@lovefilm.com