How can a jury disregard
what it has already heard?
They can't, Lieutenant.
They can't.

Anatomy of a Murder is a classic courtroom drama. James Stewart is fantastic. However, the story would benefit from some dismemberment, as the poster suggests.

Paco Cinnema 2: Great movie of judgments with great actors especially James Stewart

I could have sworn I've seen this before but after watching it tonight I don't think so. I know why I wouldn't have committed, I mean it is 2hr40min. Plus I think I would have remembered a movie where Jimmy Stewart repeatedly says the words, "rape" and "panties." This was a good courtroom drama in any era but I am shocked at the material they're dealing with in a 1959 movie. Not only the material but how they leave things by the end.

This is where the spoilers come in: So Jimmy Stewart wins the case. He gets Ben Gazzara (aka the Bad Guy in Road House) off for murdering the guy who raped his wife. But the weird part is, the underlying current of this movie is this: His wife slept around and flirted with everyone in town, he was a jealous, angry wife beater with a temper, and Jimmy Stewart slowly learns this fact. But then he wins the case and everyone moves on, with the facts the same and nothing changes. That seems normal in a movie today but is shocking to see in 1957.

The script was really good but the acting really made it. It was nominated for several Oscars but the same year of "Ben Hur".

It did take Best Soundtrack, which was done by Duke Ellington. The main character the defendant's attorney played by Jimmy Stewart was a huge jazz fan, at the time of racial and socal strife as the country was addressing segregation and other inequities. Kinda poetic.

The ending is anti climatic, but lots of movies of the 50s were similar. Even now courtroom dramas in the movies tend to end similarly.

The best part of the movie is definitely Jimmy Stewart. Worth the watch.

Ironically, movie is too long and anticlimactic just like a real trial would be

This was…fine? For me there’s only so much you can do with courtroom movies, but this does do as well as you can expect. Really appreciated Jimmy Stewart’s performance and the way he displayed this subtle undercurrent of seediness–especially with Lee Remick’s enigma of a victim. Little shades here and there of his Vertigo persona, and I dug it. This movie felt ahead of its time in terms of subject matter–I was certainly surprised to hear such frank discussions of rape and for “panties” to play such a major role. Strange jazz score that didn’t age well, but also that’s perhaps because I hate jazz.