Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Otto Preminger's controversial courtroom drama. An Army guy pleads temporary insanity after murdering a man who raped his wife. Contained words never before heard in movies approved by the motion picture code, such as "contraceptive" and "spermatogenesis". There's also a scene where the judge and attorneys agree to refer to the woman's underpants as "panties" which causes laughter from Beavis & Butthead-like courtroom observers.

The movie followed real courtroom procedure. It wasn't like Perry Mason where the attorney was solving a mystery, but it still seemed contrived. Things went the defense's way arbitrarily. For example, when a jailhouse snitch testifies, it turns out he had a long criminal record that included convictions for voyeurism and indecent exposure. Then the prosecution complete misunderstands a defense witness's relationship with the victim and looks like an idiot. It was the opposite of The Verdict where nothing goes right for Paul Newman.

On the other hand, it was based on a novel by a state supreme court justice based on a case in which he was defense attorney.

The judge was played by Joseph Welch, the lawyer in the televised Army-McCarthy hearings. He was the HAVE-YOU-NO-SHAME guy who brought down McCarthy.

This is the movie that traumatized George C. Scott. He was nominated for an Oscar, he worried about it, dreaded the ceremony, then he didn't win anyway. He decided to never go through that again and never picked up his Oscar for Patton.

With James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazerra; Orson Bean, Eve Arden and Murray Hamilton.