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Home , Atticus Finch, Barbara Stanwyck, Brian Donlevy, Buck Jones, Debra Winger, Dirty Harry (pinball)

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Bringing Bogie ut of the Courtroom Closet: Law and Lawyers in Film Prof Rennard Strickland

Casablanca (19421is a film of mystery and romance. Warner Brothers cultivated that aura of intrigue not only about the place but also about the man Rick. His mysterious past is among the reasons Casablanca is ranked by general audi- ences as the most popular American film of all time. Questioning Rick's past seems almost subversive, somehow disloyal, unfair to the memory of . And yet, there is no doubt about it: the mysterious Rick Blaine was a law- yer-a criminal attorney at that! Rick, surely the most famous cine- matic bar owner in history, was also admitted at the bar of justice. Before coming to Casablanca for the waters, Rick had been a practicing attorney first in City and then in Paris. The old was good at doing what it set out to do; in Casablanca it sought to obscure the past of the man Bogart immortalized on the screen. And Prof. Rennard Strickland the film did just that! It is absolutely impossible from the film itself to estab- lish Rick's legal credentials. Closeting Rick was a deliberate decision by the film's producers. senting themselves. Rick has also taken The proof that Rick was a lawyer has up running a bar and restaurant, the been buried for almost half a century in Law is a kaleidoscopic profession. lawyer's favorite way to personal bank- yellowing corporate files at Warner No doubt lawyers have a great ruptcy. Howard Koch, one of the screen- Brothers. There it is-in black and writers who transformed the script for white-in the "memorandum of screen many varied images of themselves the unproduced play Everybody Comes to development" from Stephen Karnot, and of their enterprise. Rick's into the Oscar winning scenario for dated 12/11/41. Just as the movie audience Casablanca, was a Columbia Law School does not know Rick's legal background, graduate and a member of the New York the other film characters-save one-do Bar. not know, either. The studio memo sets Even after you know that Rick is a Rick is not the image most forth Rick's past as follows: lawyer, there are only the slightest ironic conjure up when they think of silver Rick Blaine ... is a taciturn man of hints in the film, a subtle clue or two that screen lawyers. There are many more mystery to his patrons .... Only Rinaldo, might suggest his abandoned profession. famous screen attorneys. Over more than French Prefect of Police, Rick's professed Rick, when negotiating the sale of his eight decades the motion picture industry friend, knows of his background as a cafe to Blue Parrot owner Sydney Green- has produced courtrooms full of famous famous criminal lawyer [and of] his aban- street, represents his own interests about and infamous barristers. Cinematic law- donment of career and flight into oblivion. as badly as most lawyers do when repre- yers have shaped the way Americans 5

think about the legal profession. In an exchange between the beautiful young assistant prosecutor and a handsome young partner in an early episode of "L.A. Law," they talk about their lawyer role models. "Like in , (1962),"he says. And she replies, "No, with me it was in Inherit the Wind (1960)."

Film and law seem to have been made for each other. Real-life courtroom dramas are themselves highly theatrical,

If the legal profession is to compre- hend the public view of law and lawyers, American film must be seen as more than a pleasant or even challenging diversion. For the image of the lawyer-indeed even the behavior of lawyers themselves-has been significantly influenced by the magic of the great stereopticon. In fact, it has become so pervasive that the ABA Section on Tort and Insurance Practice recently published a guide for the use of Law dominates American life and cul- cases, much more thrilling than the films in teaching professional responsibil- ture in ways not even imaginable to our movies." ity to law students. The future impact on founding fathers and certainly not com- Almost from the beginning, trial both the public and the bar will be far prehensible to the vast majority of our scenes provided the infant greater with more than sixty-five percent fellow inhabitants of this planet. There is with an setting in which the crude of American television households continuing truth in Alex de Toqueville's technology of the pioneer cinema could equipped with VCRs. Ours is a visual oft-quoted dictum that in America, function. As sound came, the limited culture and the moving image on the sooner or later, all questions become mobility of the courtroom added to the screen is a primary transmitter, indeed, legal ones. It is also true, as Garth Jowett already attractive elements of filming on creator of the culture. has asserted, film is a democratic art. a single set; fixed points of sound and Law is a kaleidoscopic profession. No Thus, it is only natural that in a society lighting combined with apt opportunity doubt lawyers have a great many varied like America, the filmmaker and the law- for dramatic revelations. images of themselves and of their enter- maker would have both a natural affinity For almost a century now, law and prise. And like the blind man and the ele- and a jealous distrust. lawyers have appeared in every imagina- phant, the image of the profession Most screen lawyers are not as roman- ble genre of film. Not surprisingly, screen depends upon whether you are grasping tic as Rick and most settings are consid- lawyers most frequently appear in crime the trunk or the tail. Lawyers themselves erably more mundane than Casablanca. and criminal dramas. Attorneys, and par- live and work in a world of law, court- Nonetheless, some of the screen's most ticularly judges, dominate many tales of rooms, conferences, and libraries. For the memorable moments belong to the law. settlement and empire building. vast majority of America's non-lawyers Film and law seem to have been made "True-life dramas," especially famous, the longest, most continuous and sus- for each other. Real-life courtroom dra- notorious or sensational trials, provide tained association with legal institutions mas are themselves highly theatrical. rich opportunities for filmmaking. Screen is in the world of film. It is not in the John Waters, the quintessential outlaw biographies based on the lives of famous bright light of a line-up, or from the jury moviernaker, notes in his autobiographi- lawyers and jurists are fairly common. box, or even standing before a judge that cal observations, Shock Value (1981),that The classic social problem film often the average American learns about law. "trials are the most entertaining of all turns upon a legal issue or solution; the Most Americans know Perry Mason; American spectacles, always better than court-martial is a convenient forum for fewer recognize even the name of Wil- the theater, and except for a few special the greater issues of . The liam Rehnquist. 6

so-called "Woman's Picture" is often entangled with a question of justice. Finally, the screen comedy, particularly the old-fashioned screwball kind, has contributed significantly to our image of law and lawyering. Futuristic or science fiction films often raise questions of jus- tice. A great epic spectacular or even a musical may address legal issues. The best law and lawyer films are about the struggles of mankind, of great men and women and especially of ordinary citi- zens in extraordinary situations. Humphrey Bogart's screen roles illus- trate the range of film images of attor- neys. The romantic Rick in Casablanca was neither Bogart's first nor last per- formance at bar. His lawyers reflect the extremes to which the screen has sub- jected the legal profession. Bogart's law- yers have varied from a crusading Tho- mas E. Dewey-like D.A. protecting when she turns "state's evidence" in (1937)to the crooked "mouthpiece" who steals tainted money from his co-conspirator while Cagney "takes the rap" in (1938). The screen's view of the dichotomy in the legal profession-of Society Lawyer (1939)versus Criminal Lawyer (19511-is no more vividly portrayed than in Knock of law and lawyers in American life. Seen on Any Door (1949).Bogart is forced to back-to-hack, The AsphaltJungle and Mag- resign from his blue chip, silk stocking Small-town lawyer Finch is the nificent Yankee show the legal profession law firm when he chooses to represent quintessential American attorney. at its best and worst. young accused murderer . Like Bogart, there are others whose Years ago, Bogart had represented He is the dream that young law- screen ethos has made them ideal cine- Derek's innocent father and now believes matic lawyers. Spencer Tracy, Henry he provided an inadequate defense in the yers hope to achieve and that old Fonda, , Gregory Peck, earlier trial. In a classic drama supporting lawyers regret having lost. , and Redford have the sociology of the forties and fifties, all grown up on the screen as lawyers Bogart himself, the legal profession, and moving from the green kid just out of law society at large bear the heavy burden for school to the beaten-down, threadbare, a good boy gone bad because his father's lawyer in master- struggling hack or the wise and wily lawyer was too busy. Appropriately, minded a great caper and is then so dis- senior counselor. Of this group, Spencer Bogart's last screen performances for reputable that he double-crossed his part- Tracy deserves to hold the screen lawyer Warner Brothers is as the lawyer crusad- ners in crime. An indelible screen image prize for sustained service at the bar, hav- ing, once again, against the kingpins of from this film of the early fifties is sleazy ing started as a young lawyer in It's A the underworld in The Enforcer (1951). lawyer Calhern with , Small World (1936j, sparred with his attor- An even more striking black versus his devastatingly beautiful mistress. Film ney-wife Katherine Hepburn in Adam's white view of law and lawyers comes out historians believe the chance for Calhern Rib (1949j,financed from his legal prac- of MGM. No actor has ever, in such a to recreate his stage role of Oliver Wen- tice the elaborate wedding of daughter short time, played such contrasting law- dell Holmes, Jr. in The Magnificent Yankee in Father of the Bride yers as did , the great old was Metro's reward to a faithful contract (1950j,and repented of dubious behavior, workhorse of Mayer's stable. Both The player. Certainly, his portrayal of this giving his life to atone, in The People Asphalt Jungle and The Magnificent Yankee heroic Supreme Court Jus- Against O'Hara (19511.Toward the end of were released in 1950. Calhern's crooked tice is one of the great idealized portraits his career, Tracy brought to the screen an 7

inspired recreation of a fictionalized confronting mob violence and as lawyer Thaddeus J. Loophole in At The in mortal combat with in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), and the (1939). What a crazy, helter-skelter in Inherit the tragically doomed prison escapee in You view of the self-important lawyer! And, Wind (1960) and the troubled judge pre- Only Live Once (1937). of course, in the end Groucho saves the siding over Nazi war crime trials in Gregory Peck's in To Kill Big Top from bankruptcy while singing (1961). a Mockingbird (1962) is a cinematic high "Lydia the Tattooed Lady." In I'm No A superb contrast in the various areas point in the idealized portrayal of a law- Angel (1933) argued her own of law can be seen in Paul Newman's yer as guardian of society. Small-town case as her own attorney before a Judge society lawyer, a big-firm tax manipula- lawyer Finch is the quintessential Ameri- she attempted to seduce. This courtroom tor, in (1959), can attorney. He is the dream that young scene is one the true masterpieces of her and in his failed slovenly alcoholic ambu- lawyers hope to achieve and that old law- comedic art. The antics of lawyer Edward lance chaser of (1982). Simi- yers regret having lost. Atticus is an Everett Horton and his fraudulent effort larly, Jimmy Stewart's perpetually blush- ideal, a standard of aspiration. He is, in to establish adultery provide the back- ing bridegroom lawyer in Made for Each so many ways, like a modern Abraham ground for The Gay Divorcee (1934), the Other (1939) has become not only older Lincoln, who is the favorite American first and but wiser by the time of Anatomy of a dream of the country lawyer. Lincoln, starring -vehi cle. Murder (1959). Redford similarly goes himself, has been brought to the screen What red-white-and-blue-blooded from the bridegroom associate in Barefoot in films as heroic as 's Young American does not thrill at the thought in the Park (1967) to the aging seducer in Mr. Lincoln (1939) and as poetic as Robert of the American judicial system in action (19861· Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in (1940). in (1951)? District Attor- No actor ever felt the impact of the If lawyers could choose but one film to ney Jess White (destined to find more law from more angles than . argue for their role in civilization, surely permanent employment as a May tag He is a struggling frontier barrister in it would be To Kill a Mockingbird. repairman) and college professor Ronald Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), a grizzly old Satirical comedies give us a less ideal- Reagan (also to go on to other work) plea special counsel in The Strangler ized lawyer. The attorney's professional bargain the fate of the burglarizing (1968), a juryman. in pomposity is perfect for pricking and chimp. Highlights among lawyer come- (1957), the eloquent everyman cowpoke nobody did it better than dies include the slapstick of in Disorder in the Court (1935); the Disney dilemma of our webfooted hero in on Trial (1947); the flower child antics of attorney Peter Sell- ers in I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968); the revelation of good-natured lawyer that he can win only by being nasty in The Meanest Man in the World (1943); the sketch in which propelled his client from a $2 fine for littering to death row in (1946); and that wonder- fully free-spirited trial at the conclusion of the musical ! (1955) when Charlotte Greenwood threatens the terri- torial marshal with a fabricated tale of his indiscretion. And is there anything sillier than Benji in The Shaggy D.A. (1976)?

The lawyer both acts and is acted upon but seems always trapped by forces and fates which suggest the inevitability of defeat. 8

gers, and then to show his contempt for Stoddard actually tears the pages from his law books. In the final showdown, of course, it is Wayne with his gun who pre- pares the way for the election of the new United States Senator, Ransom Stoddard, known forever as "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence." As notes when the aged senator tries to set the record straight, "This is the West and when the legend becomes fact, we print the legend." Law and lawyers are central to that legend. The world of film nair or the dark cin- ema is inhabited with as disreputable a bunch of lawyers as ever flickered across the screen. Some of these attorneys are scheming and corrupt, like Calhern in The Asphalt jungle (1950),others are the weak pawns of powerful, devastating femme fatales like who dominates Kirk in his very first film The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).From works like The Lady from Shanghai (1948),through the neo-noir classic Body Heat (1981),the lawyer uses and is used in a world which is dark, bit- ter, and doomed. The lawyer both acts and is acted upon but seems always trapped by forces and fates which sug- Comedies like The Fortune Cookie as ' Law for Thcson (1936)or gest the inevitability of defeat. These (1966)and the more recent From the Hip Johnny 's Oklahoma justice powers of moral corruption have rarely (1987)raise serious questions about the (1951).Just a few of the titles tell the been more chillingly combined than in actual operation of the legal system. story: Ghost Town Law, Gun Law, Six- the story of 's ambitious Much of the popularly expressed dissat- Shooter justice, Land Without Law, Law of lawyer in Force of Evil (1948). isfaction with the tort system flashes the Range, , Lawless Prairie, Race, the great and haunting issue of across the screen in The Fortune Ccohie. and Beyond the Law. Director Bill Wilder tells the tale of Jack American civilization, has tested law and lawyers on the screen just as it continues Lemmon, the television sports camera- man, who is knocked down on the side- to test every fiber of American society. To lines at a football game and of Walter Kill a Mockingbird (1962)is, in the final Matthau, his ambulance-chasing lawyer! In fact, there were probably more analysis, about how law and lawyers deal brother-in-law, who pressures this plain- with justice and race. Similarly, Intruder women lawyers on the screen in in the Dust (1949)places Faulkner's law- tiff into exaggerating damages. Thus, an all-tao-familiar and popularly perceived the thirties than there were in the yer Gavin Stevens in the center of an lawyer-client-insurance company battle exploding racial crisis. Hollywood's courtroom. And yet the portrayal reflection of society's cowardice, fear, is underway. Matthau won a much- and ambivalence on the hard questions deserved Oscar for his on-target portrayal was tragically stereotypic. of race surfaced in Twentieth Century of the lawyer as shyster. The struggle of law and outlaw is cen- Fox's cutting of John Ford'sjudge Priest (1934).In the version Fox ultimately tral to the world of the movie west. The broader American historical myth of a All of the elements of law and order released, seems to be the New Eden and of the coming of civiliza- in the settlement myth come together in classic Southern benevolent bigot while tion to a savage land is intimately tied to John Ford's often underrated masterpiece old Steppin Fetchit comes across as the these same struggles. The words "law," The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962). worst of the shuffling stereotypic Black "lawless," "code," and "justice" appear Jimmy Stewart as Ransom Stoddard is the clowns. Unfortunately, the sensitive in the titles of hundreds of westerns, par- young lawyer come west to Shinbone motion picture Ford believed he created ticularly the backlot "B" Saturday Mati- with law books in a valise. cannot be reconstructed because after nee films of , Rex as Tom Doniphon is the old hand ready their editing Fox destroyed the film nega- Allen, the " Kid," Whip Wilson, with a gun, standing alert to protect his tives. Ford later remade the picture as , and even , Gene girl and even the greenhorn lawyer (1953)because in Autry, John Wayne, George O'Brien, and against the likes of as Liberty the earlier version Foxhad excised the Hopalong Cassidy. Standards of the Cow- Valence. In the opening scene Valence pivotal and humanizing scene in which boy genre include films with titles such has stopped the stage, robbed the passen- Judge Priest saves the Black from lynch- 9

prudential questions come to the screen in the filming of important literary works. Not often successful films, either artistically or financially, the "classics" nonetheless ask significant questions about law. The dilemma is there on the screen in 's Billy Budd (19621and the film of William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1963)raised the frighten- ing spectre of the origins and enforce- ment of law. Ronald Coleman made law- yer Sidney Carton truly heroic in A Tale ot Two Cities (1935);there was something magical about 's Hester in the silent adaptation of Nathaniel Haw- thorne's The Scarlett Letter (1926).One wishes that The Brothers Karamozov (19581could have been more lively but the ultimate questions of the Grand Inquisitioner are still shattering. Women and minorities as lawyers are not as new to the screen as might be sus- pected. In fact, there were probably more women lawyers on the screen in the thir- ties than there were in the courtroom. And yet, the portrayal was tragically stereotypic. The Lady Objects (19381is the "lady lawyer" film at its most absurd. It is a sort of combination musical, gang- ster, romance in which, as the one-sheet Inherit the Wind (1960),Witness for the poster proclaims, "a man [is] Prosecution (1957),The Night ofJanuary on trial for his life with his wife [as]his Courtroom films are notoriously 16th (1941),Rope (1948),and The Magnifi- mouthpiece." The message was as sexist cent Yankee (1950)originated on the stage. as it was mixed. A promotional card for inaccurate. Critics and lawyers Others such as Twelve Angry Men (19571 The Lady Objects, distributed to theaters who see these errors generally pass were first performed on television. The to be displayed in the lobby, contained epic historical dimension of the stage the following confession of the lawyer/ them over in the name of dramatic drama A Man for All Seasons (1966) wife: "Gentlemen of the Jury! If my hus- license. Occasionally the mistakes translated into a truly great film which band murdered this other woman ... I raises fundamental questions about law am to blame! I've been a success as a are so irritating and grossly in and the law's servants. lawyer ... but a failure as a wife!" Is it error that the profession rises up. Films recognize that in law there is any wonder that women must still strug- both formal and informal authority. Fritz gle against such images? Another film of Lang captured this in the classic M (1931), this time which featured a female lawyer his transcendent view of the ambivalence is 's Career Women (1936) ing. Whatever his presidential record on of justice in Berlin between the wars. which proclaimed in the one-sheet, "All I civil rights, the actor , the tragic child murderer, is Wanted was Love and Now They Want to stood up as the battling Southern liberal cornered by criminals of the Berlin Hang me!" district attorney fighting the Ku Klux underworld who bring him to trial in Adam's Rib (1949)was probably the Klan in Storm Warning (1950). their own way and on their own terms. best of the Tracy/Hepburn comedies and Many of the best films about law were ValLewtons's Bedlam (1946)is an equally presents a woman as a lawyer who is the rooted in real cases or actual incidents. satisfying depiction of the ironic turning equal of her lawyer husband. As the end- Dramatic conflicts as in the Dreyfus case of justice. Boris Karloff, as the sadistic ing reveals, it is still a product of the have appeared again and again in criti- head of the infamous English asylum, is times. As early as Bordertown (1935)the cally praised films such as The Life of tried by inmates including who Hispanic lawyer came to the screen but Emile Zola (19371and the lesser I Accuse! has been falsely committed by Karloff. hardly in a flattering profile. With few (1958).'s Winterset The question of the law, and what law is, exceptions, early black attorneys were 11936),the popular poetic verse rendition troubles the trapped passengers in Alfred the intellectual and moral equivalents of of a Sacco-Vanzetti-like drama, was lifted Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). Amos 'n Andy's Lawyer Calhoun. almost directly from stage to screen, asks: "Whose law? We're on our own Recently black lawyers have been subject bringing to Hollywood experienced New here. We can make our own law." to the same screen indignities as white York actors who were prepared to handle Not surprisingly, the broadest juris- attorneys in films like Action Jackson the difficult dialogue. Films such as 10

(1988) about a Harvard Law School grad- uate who takes law into his own power- ful fists. By contrast, the young black lawyer in A Soldier's Story (1984) is bright, sensitive, and determined. With the present law school enroll- ment hovering around fifty percent men and fifty percent women, the screen has found the attorney a glamorous role for rising lady stars and aging superstars. Most actresses of the seventies and eighties have had a turn at the counsel- or's table. Included are: Jagged Edge (1985); , Le~al Eagles (19861; Luci Arnez. Second Thoughts (1983); , The Big Easy (1986); Goldie Hawn, Seems Like Old Times (19801; Cher, Suspect (19871; and , The Big Chill (1983). Many of these roles must have been as embarrassing to as to the legal profession. A few have been funny in the best tradition of the old slapstick comedy and others have been gripping, even touching. On the whole, even the thirties may have been better times for the cine- ~a's women at the bar. It is hard to imag- me even poverty-row quickie producers turning out anything as tasteless, stupid, balancing of individual interest in favor and insulting to men, women, and as- of a larger party cause in the use of a sorted racial groups including the Ameri- Movies-especially social dramas legal defense fund. An eighties filmmaker can Indian as Second Thoughts (1983). introduced the crisis of the "biological Law students and law professors have about law and lawyers-are, like clock" of lawyer Mary Kay Place in The not escaped from harsh and comic treat- all of us, products of a specific Big Chill (19831. Film historians have ment. The most widely known drama of ?etailed the fifties consensus psychology the law school is Paper Chase (19731for time. in Twelve Angry Men (1957) and the forties which won the Best Sup- view of juvenile crime in Knock On Any porting Oscar as Professor Kingsfield, Door (1949). Film-time and real-time Ronald Coleman's professor in The Talk came together in the fall of 1981 when through Harvard Law School and the pas- of the Town (1942) makes it to the United Sandra Day O'Connor was named to the sage of his bar examination. States Supreme Court but only after Cary United States Supreme Court just as Jill Grant and expose him to a Movies-especially social dramas about law and lawyers-are, like all of us, Clayburgh's treatment of the (19811about the first woman on the high products of a specific time. Jack Nichol- human side of justice. Even earlier, court was being released. son's drunken philosophical lawyer in Edward G. Robinson played a law school The seventies and eighties sense of the dean who becomes a public prosecutor (1969) is a late-sixties film ver- sion of alienation, just as his impotent failure of criminal justice and the aliena- to rid his city of corruption in I Am the tion of the middle classes was apparent barrister seeking the service of Rita Law (1938). Joy in the Morning (1965) is a on the movie screen before it was Moreno in Carnal Knowledge (1971) is a ro.mantic but hard-edged story of a strug- reflected at the ballot box. man of the fifties seen through the eyes glmg law student and his young wife. (1971) is probably the most visible but Diary of a High School Bride (19591 is a of the early seventies. The Court-Martial of Breaker Morant (1979) may be about an certainly not the most violent of the reac- typical domestic drama about a law tions against the public perception of Australian in the Boar Wars but it is school husband and his teenage wife. A "turn 'em loose justice." Titles like Death informed and inspired by the experiences not-so-typical story is j.D,« Revenge Wish (1974), and Victims (1982) convey (19761, a black horror melodrama in of the Vietnam era. The somber black and white feature Trial (19551, centered the anger and hostility of these dramas. which the body of law student Lou Gos- In a more specifically legal setting are sett is possessed by a dead 's on the defense of a Mexican boy accused of a murder- crime, is a McCarthy era films like And Justice for All (1979) in vengeful spirit. The entertaining To Race which attorney fights against the Wind (19801 follows a blind student anti-communist drama questioning the 11

as the district attorney sets into motion the tragic and escalating dilemma of ex- con . In , bachelor lawyer John Payne saves 's Santa Claus, restores little 's faith, and marries her mother, the beautiful Maureen O'Hara. And all of this occurs because as Kris Kringle's attorney, Payne gets intro- duced into evidence in Santa's sanity hearing several tons of Santa's mail which the U.S. Post Office delivers to the courtroom. In truth, most lawyers are neither San- tas nor sadists. Much of the everyday life of the American attorney is not the stuff of which dreams are made; the real world lawyer is rarely the subject of cine- matic drama. In a society dominated by the mass media, the Atticus Finches and Thaddeus J. Loopholes inevitably seize the screen, understandably overshadow- ing the lawyer who reads abstracts, files wills, and defends shoplifters. For this reason the intelligent and entertaining documentary is so important. The legal profession, indeed, the orga- nized bar itself, ought to be about the business of supporting the production of vivid and interesting accounts of the errors generally pass them over ~nthe world of law and lawyering. The profes- name of dramatic license. Occasionally sion needs first-rate, highly accurate por- In truth, most lawyers are neither the mistakes are so irritating and grossly trayals of the important real world work Santas nor sadists. Much of the in error that the profession rises up. Sid- of the American lawyer. The last thing ney Lumet's highly acclaimed film The we need is chauvinistic lawyer propa- everyday life of the American Verdict (19821was at the center of such ganda trumpeting a message that the attorney is not the stuff of which serious attacks from the bar. Attorneys world is getting better and better because were particularly offended at the cavalier in America the lawyer is our most impor- dreams are made; the real world misuse of the rules of evidence, the tant product. . . lawyer is rarely the subject of patently absurd conduct of Production of honest, entertaining. and his twelve associates, and the hero and exciting films is possible; there could cinematic drama. Paul Newman's own less-than-ethical even be an audience, particularly behavior. The concern was not that the through educational television. It is not screen must portray all lawyers as pure, accidental that the most gripping- or the legal system as incorruptible, but the horrors of a legal system in which the indeed, the most disturbing and energiz- that the arena in which the struggles take ing-documentaries of the post-War era ends of justice seem lost. The Star Cham- place ought at least reasonably to reflect ber (1983)chronicles the perceived fail- are the work of , a the way the law itself operates. ures of courts which let loose guilty crim- lawyer turned cinema master. The com- In conclusion, let us look at contrast- inals on "mere technicalities" and the mercial film is not able to be so honest. ing movie images of a lawyer as shyster even greater dangers when officers of the Without documentary film, the lawyer in and a lawyer as savior. A pair of classic law surrender to lawlessness. Cape Fear the mind's eye will no doubt remain a films released in 1947, of Death and (1962)is a thoughtful and disturbingly bizarre combination of Groucho Marx, Miracle on 34th Street, represent the violent enactment of the dilemma of the Gregory Peck, and Mae West. extremes of the screen lawyer. Kiss of lawful lawyer versus the lawless outlaw. One of the reasons for the extremely Death is remembered as the nair classic In this film, Gregory Peck is driven to low level image of the legal profession in which laughingly violate the law by the savagery of Robert today is that too many lawyers like H~m- pushed in her wheel- Mitchum whom he has earlier sent to phrey Bogart's Rick have closeted then. chair down a flight of stairs. And yet the prison. The human dimensions of this humanity and are reluctant to reveal this real villains of Kiss of Death are District film make Peck's seeming inevitable side of their professional as well as per- Attorney D'Angelo, played as a corrupt- choice of violence truly devastating. sonallife. Rick says, "I don't stick my ing destroyer of the downtrodden, and The film provides a brutal contrast with neck out for nobody." We love Rick and the backroom lawyers who protect the To Kill a Mockingbird which was released we love the movie Casablanca precisely criminal and betray the law itself. These in the same year. because that is not so-and we know that lawyers are at best an extremely dirty Courtroom films are notoriously inac- it is not so. gray. The ethical failure of curate. Critics and lawyers who see these