Which Movie Best Makes Legal History?
The cases featured in these movies made history. Both, as landmark, influential and precedent setting cases, as well as, more infamous and sensational cases. Regardless of the reasons, all these cases went on to become well-known, influential and had a historical impact.
Which of these movies inspired by a real-life courtroom case or actual litigation that forever changed history is the most compelling legal story?
Discuss the topic here.
Which of these movies inspired by a real-life courtroom case or actual litigation that forever changed history is the most compelling legal story?
Discuss the topic here.
List activity
680 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
35 titles
- DirectorMimi LederStarsFelicity JonesArmie HammerJustin TherouxThe true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights, and the early cases of a historic career that lead to her nomination and confirmation as U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice.A biographical legal drama inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work in advancing gender equality and women's rights by winning multiple legal victories arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDjimon HounsouMatthew McConaugheyAnthony HopkinsIn 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.A historical drama inspired by the 1841 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Schooner Amistad, which upheld the liberation of kidnapped native Africans brought to the United States after the importation of slaves had been prohibited.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJulia RobertsAlbert FinneyDavid BrisbinAn unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.A biographical drama inspired by a Hinkley, CA groundwater contamination class action lawsuit against P.G. & E settled in 1996. It led to a US$333 million settlement, a record at the time.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsWoody HarrelsonCourtney LoveEdward NortonThe story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.A courtroom drama inspired by Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, in which the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment protected Hustler Magazine's right to parody public figures.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyFredric MarchGene KellyBased on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.A courtroom drama inspired by the Scopes Monkey Trial over the teaching of human evolution in 1925.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMark RylanceAlan AldaDuring the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.A fictionalized historical drama of the U. S. espionage trial of Soviet KGB spy Rudolf Abel. A case that is appealed to the Supreme Court in Abel v. United States for the lack of a search warrant for the seizure of Abel's ciphers and photography equipment.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsTom HanksDenzel WashingtonRoberta MaxwellWhen a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic-small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.A fictionalized drama inspired by two different real-life attorneys with AIDS who had sued their respective employers for wrongful termination in 1987 and 1990.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsTom CruiseJack NicholsonDemi MooreMilitary lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.A fictionalized drama inspired by a Guantanamo Bay Naval Base hazing incident by Marines and their subsequent attempted murder trial in 1986.
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsRuth NeggaJoel EdgertonWill DaltonThe story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.A biographical romantic drama inspired by Loving v. Virginia class action suit that invalidated all race-based prohibitions on marriage by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.
- DirectorRob MarshallStarsRenée ZellwegerCatherine Zeta-JonesRichard GereTwo death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.A fictionalized drama adapted from 1926 play which was inspired by two unrelated actual 1924 court cases involving two women, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, who were both suspected and later acquitted for murder.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsCharlize TheronJeremy RennerFrances McDormandA fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.A fictionalized drama inspired by the filing, Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. in 1988, the seminal case was the nation's first class-action lawsuit over sexual harassment.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsMeryl StreepTom HanksSarah PaulsonA cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents pushes the country's first female newspaper publisher and her editor to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.A historical political thriller inspired by United States v. Washington Post Co. and New York Times Co. v. United States and the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Post's and Times' right to publish the Pentagon Papers.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyBurt LancasterRichard WidmarkIn 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.A fictionalized historical drama inspired by the Judges' Trial of 1947, one of the twelve U.S. military tribunals held in Nuremberg in 1947, the most famous war crimes trials in world history.
- DirectorJonathan KaplanStarsKelly McGillisJodie FosterBernie CoulsonAfter a young woman suffers a brutal gang rape in a bar one night, a prosecutor assists in bringing the perpetrators to justice, including the ones who encouraged and cheered on the attack.A legal drama inspired by victim Cheryl Araujo treatment during trial. It sparked national outrage over how prosecutors treat victims in court and victim's privacy rights in 1983.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsKevin SpaceyBob BalabanDenis LearyA chronicle of the weeks after the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, and the subsequent recounts in Florida.A fictionalized historical drama inspired by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore case and preceding events that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election.
- DirectorSimon CurtisStarsHelen MirrenRyan ReynoldsDaniel BrühlMaria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.A fictionalized drama inspired by Republic of Austria v. Altmann case, the 2004 U. S. Supreme Court ruling secured her the right to sue a foreign government. She sought recovery of five paintings stolen by the Nazis during World War 2 from the collection of the Austrian National Gallery.
- DirectorMarc RoccoStarsChristian SlaterKevin BaconGary OldmanAn eager and idealistic young attorney defends an Alcatraz prisoner accused of murdering a fellow inmate. The extenuating circumstances: his client had just spent over three years in solitary confinement.A fictionalized drama inspired by Henri Young murder trial in 1941. His case highlighted inmate treatment and led to national prison reform and the closing of Alcatraz.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsKevin CostnerGary OldmanJack LemmonNew Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.A fictionalized historical drama inspired by the 1969 Clay Shaw conspiracy trial over his role in the Kennedy assassination.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsAlec BaldwinJames WoodsWhoopi GoldbergA Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white racist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.A biographical courtroom drama of the 1994 trial of the white supremacist, Byron De La Beckwith accused of the 1963 assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers. The twice prosecuted De La Beckwith previous trials both ended with all male and all white hung juries. His lawyers opposed the trial on the grounds that it violated his rights to a speedy trial, due process and protection from double jeopardy. Later, calling for a United States Supreme Court judicial review of his upheld Mississippi Supreme Court conviction.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.A fictionalized biographical drama inspired by the falsely convicted Guildford Four of a 1974 pub bombing and their subsequent exoneration and release from prison.
- StarsSidney PoitierBurt LancasterRichard KileyA dramatization of the American court case that destroyed the legal validity of racial segregation.A historical drama depicting the landmark Supreme Court desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education and its companion case, Briggs v. Elliott. United States Supreme Court mandated individual states to desegregate public schools, based on the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.A historical drama inspired by the events leading up to and including to her ecclesiastical trial for the crime of heresy, based on her claim of visions and signs from God.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsChristopher PlummerFrank LangellaEd Begley Jr.Ali's biggest match, his fight with the US government. A film about the politics and hubris surrounding the Vietnam War and the revenge exacted on America's greatest sportsman of the 20th century because he refused to fight in that war.A fictionalized drama inspired by the Clay v. United States case, in which the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court overturned Muhammad Ali's criminal conviction for refusing to report for induction into the United States military during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.A biographical drama about Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England who refused to sign a letter asking Pope Clement VII to annul King Henry VIII of England's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and refused to take an Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England. His subsequent trial and manufactured evidence led to More's conviction for treason and forever changed the course of English history.
- DirectorRobert L. CollinsStarsHenry FondaJosé FerrerJohn HousemanThe story of Clarence Earl Gideon and his fight for the right to have publicly funded legal counsel for the needy.A historical drama film depicting the events surrounding Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that criminal defendants have the right to an attorney even if they cannot afford one.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsOrson WellesDean StockwellDiane VarsiTwo wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.A fictionalized historical drama of the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping and murder trial characterized at the time as "the crime of the century. The famous duo were saved from the electric chair by an impassioned summation railing against capital punishment by lawyer Clarence Darrow. This despite their perceived intellectual superiority, believed absolution of responsibility and the heinousness of the act they thought was the perfect crime.
- DirectorNicholas HytnerStarsDaniel Day-LewisWinona RyderPaul ScofieldA Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.A historical drama inspired by the Salem witchcraft trials.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsMeryl StreepSam NeillDale ReevesA mother whose child was killed in a dingo attack in the Australian Outback fights to prove her innocence when she is accused of murder.A fictionalized drama inspired by Azaria Chamberlain 1980 trial, her wrongfully imprisonment highlighted the issue of ‘trial by media’, after her nine-week-old baby was abducted and killed by a dingo.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRobin WrightJames McAvoyTom WilkinsonMary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.A historical drama of the trial and execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. The movie focuses on a likely innocent Mary Surratt caught up in the blood thirst of a nation clamoring for justice. Her execution helped to strengthen the presumption of innocence principle and further the elimination of the use of the death-penalty.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChadwick BosemanJosh GadKate HudsonThe story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.A biographical courtroom drama depicting the defense of Joseph Spell by attorneys, Samuel Friedman and Thurgood Marshall. Spell, an African-American chauffeur stood accused of raping his employer, a wealthy white woman in The State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsVan HeflinLionel BarrymoreRuth HusseyBiography of Andrew Johnson, who followed Abraham Lincoln into office and became the first President of the United States ever to be impeached.A biographical historical drama based on the life of Andrew Johnson including his presidential impeachment trial. The trial and acquittal were among the most dramatic events during the Reconstruction Era and forever defined the scope of presidential powers in this battle with U.S. Congress.
- DirectorEric TillStarsJoseph FiennesBruno GanzPeter UstinovDuring the early sixteenth century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the Catholic Church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.A historical drama loosely based on the life of Martin Luther and a series of trials by the Holy Roman Empire to recant his teachings. His refusal opened the door of religious freedom, as well as, led to today's 540 million worshipers in churches inspired by his Reformation.
- DirectorCathy AllynNick LoebStarsJon VoightNick LoebStacey DashDr. Bernard Nathanson and Dr. Mildred Jefferson square off in a national battle in this untold conspiracy that led to the most famous and controversial court case in history.A courtroom drama about the events surrounding the landmark 1973 United States Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. Alternate Movie: Roe vs. Wade (1989)
- DirectorAaron SorkinStarsEddie RedmayneAlex SharpSacha Baron CohenThe story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.Famous trial of Chicago 7 charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Alternate Movies: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial (1970), Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (1987)
added 05 April 2021 - DirectorSusan SaladoffStarsChuck AllenJudy AllenJay AngoffHow the infamous McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit and similar cases were exploited as part of a right wing crusade to weaken civil justice.Another Landmark or Famous Legal Case Movie Not Listed
Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants is a trial and verdict that was used by corporations as the poster child for tort reform. Critics of the verdict portrayed a society driven by compensation culture and led the charge to make it tougher to bring suits. (pictured example: Hot Coffee (2011))
added 05 February 2023