What is your favorite"courtroom"movie scene of all time?

Question

My favorite movie scene in a courtroom is in"Sommersby"(1993)starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.Richard,as John Sommersby is in court on charges of attempting to impersonate the husband of Laural Sommersby played by Jodie,to attain the property and livelihood of John.As a returning soldier in the Post-civil War south,John's identity is called into question by suspicions held by his supposed wife Laural and the towns-folk.They believe this is a con-man who stole John Sommersby's identity after John was killed in the war,but knew him enough to save valuable information about his life and personality.Having a similar look of John(if he is a con-man),the small hometown all gather to greet him as he returns from the Civil War at the films start.Once in court,Laural(Jodie Foster)takes the stand.She is cross-examined by John's attorney with the question;Laural why do you say this man is not your husband?Re:I know he is not because I love this man!

Yeah!What a memorable scene in"A Few Good Men"and I must admit that member-Lov'n IT... got it first since I know which scene she is referring to(handling Jack's truth).Very powerful stuff indeed! Members be sure to explain the scene after the title in case I did not see a movie you picked.Thanks!

There's more people!Think other top actors! I know you can come up with them.Don't give up after Jack!Focus!!!

Answer 1

The scene in A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

Answer 2

My favorite courtroom drama is "A time to kill" Such a facinating story!!

Short plot summary: in the deep south, racism is still high. A 10 year old black girl is brutally raped by two white rednecks. THe girl barely survives, but her father is so outraged (knowing that becaue of racism, the men will likely recieve only a slap on the wrist) that he hides in the court house and when the rednecks come in to face justice, he blows them away with a machine gun. HIS trial revives the KKK and brings an interesting moral dilemma to the town. Yes, he should not have taken justice into his own hands, but was he mentally stable at the time? Does he really deserve the death penalty for what he did? Can his (white) lawyer survive being targeted by the KKK? The story is told through the eyes of the Father's lawyer. It is SUCH a good courtroom drama.

Favorite scene: The prosecution (who wants the death penalty for the father) calls as a witness the police officer who was leading the rapists (in cuffs) to their trial. The officer was accidentally hit when the Father blew the rapists away, and is now missing half a leg. Everyone expects the witness to positively identify the Father as the gunman and assure his conviction. They expect his leglessness to tug at hearts and enrage the jury. But the Father seems to know something no one else does when he insists that HIS attourney ask the policeman if he thinks the he (the father) should go to jail for what he did. The policeman hobbles up the aile and takes his seat. The prosecution gives the expected questions, then the defense (father's attourney) asks two questions. "Do you think he intended to shoot you?" No. Do you think he should go to jail for what he did?"
" No. He did what I would have done"
"What do you mean?"
"I have a little girl. Someone rapes her, he's a dead dog. I'll blow him away just like Carl Lee did. He's a hero.. Turn him loose!! TURN HIM LOOSE!!"

keep in mind this man is missing a leg because of what the father did. And the emotion is high as he yells at the Jury to turn the father loose.

AWESOME courtroom moment. Just had to share.
HIghly reccomend the movie

P.S. An unbelieveable cast as well
Sammuel L. Jackson- enraged father on trial.
Matthew Macougnahey- Jake Brigance, father's attourney.
Sandra Bullock- assistant to Brigance
Oliver Platt- Brigance's friend
Donald Sutherland- retired lawyer friend of Brigance
Kiefer Sutherland- kkk out to kill Brigance
The prosecuting attourney is also a big name awesome actor, but I can't remember his name at the moment.

Answer 3

Without doubt - "A Few Good Men".
"You can't handle the truth!"
Jack Nicholson was superlative.
Everything abt the scene was very well crafted.
Right from Tom cruise's lead up to the Jack's outburst... one thing led to the other so smoothly... Brilliant!!

Answer 4

Definately the scene in A Few Good Men...Jack Nicholson is awesome as always.

Answer 5

A Time To Kill -- I don't usually cry at movies but the final scene where Matthew McConaghey describes the rape and says, "Now imagine she's white", I almost broke down. Great movie and a rare one that's better than the book in my opinion.

Answer 6

A Time to Kill starring Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson & Matthew McConaughey

Answer 7

"The Verdict" - Paul Newman and James Mason. The scene where Kaitlin Bree tells Mason (who plays a REAL jerk-lawyer...is there any other kind?) that the Dr. lied and told her to change the admitting form. Mason is fantastic of course and his reaction is priceless...after badgering her and calling her a liar he is completely stunned. Great scene.

Answer 8

All good answers! I'll go with A Fish Called Wanda. Seeing Archie's whole world crashing about him is hilarious.

Answer 9

I have to say, one of my favorites, is the movie.... I cannot remember the name of the movie.

It has Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, it is a military movie.
But the classic line, "You can't handle the truth!!"
the best!!!

Another is Liar, Liar with Jim Carey.

Answer 10

I love an old great courtroom mystery :Witness for the Prosecution (1957).