Subgenre Sampler
Courtroom: 206 Films to Buy & Rent
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
- Dir. Barbet Schroeder
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Ron Silver
- In his best performance, Jeremy Irons won an Oscar for portraying Claus Von Bulow, a European émigré who was accused of trying to poison his wife…
A Dry White Season (1989)
- Dir. Euzhan Palcy
Feat. Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon, Marlon Brando…
- Enraged by the brutal, senseless murder of his black gardener’s son by a racist ‘special policeman’, a South African schoolteacher (Sutherland)…
Criminal Law (1989)
- Dir. Martin Campbell
Feat. Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper…
- Hot shot lawyer Gary Oldman successfully defends psycho–killer Kevin Bacon, only to find he had made a costly misjudgement.
Music Box (1989)
- Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest…
- Jessica Lange plays the attorney daughter of a Hungarian immigrant (Mueller–Stahl), now accused of WW2 war crimes. Her quest for the truth…
True Believer (1989)
- Dir. Joseph Ruben
Feat. James Woods, Robert Downey, Kurtwood Smith
- A jaded attorney and an idealistic young clerk defend a Korean man who is in jail for a murder he may not have committed. Woods as usual plays a…
Accused, The (1988)
- Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Jodie Foster, Kelly McGillis
- Jodie Foster won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a rape victim who suffered the additional ordeal of prosecuting her attackers in the face of…
Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark) (1988)
- Dir. Fred Schepisi
Feat. Meryl Streep, Sam Neill
- Jack–of–all–accents, Meryl Streep, does wonders as Lindy Chamberlain, the woman accused of murdering her child in the Australian…
Judgement in Berlin (1988)
- Dir. Leo Penn
Feat. Martin Sheen, Sean Penn, Sam Wanamaker…
- Stolid courtroom drama about the trial of an man who hijacked an airplane in order to flee East Germany for the West, Martin Sheen plays the American…
Rampage (1988)
- Dir. William Friedkin
Feat. Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell
- This grapples with the psychology of murder and the moral dilemma surrounding the death penalty. A vicious serial killer is prosecuted but how will…
Shame (1988)
- Dir. Steve Jodrell
Feat. Tony Barry, Deborra-Lee Furness
- Stranded in an outback town, a female lawyer defends a young rape victim when her plight is met with nonchalance by the townsfolk.