Contest!
Physical Evidence. Absence of Malice. Reasonable Doubt. Presumed Innocent. Q and A. The Verdict. Witness for the Prosecution. Anti-Trust. Under Suspicion. Class Action. Intolerable Cruelty. Irreconcilable Differences. A Civil Action.
Movies (mostly courtroom dramas, but often suspense thrillers,* and even the occasional romantic comedy) that use scraps of legal jargon for their titles have been around a long time. The question is: how long? Is it 1949’s Witness for the Prosecution, or is there something that predates it?
More to the point, why doesn’t the IMDb have a “genre search” function?
And, what are some other scraps of legal jargon that haven’t been used yet? Malice Aforethought, Murderous Intent, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, In Chambers, Suspended Sentence, Motion to Dismiss, Approach the Bench, I guess this could go on all day.
*Many of the suspense thriller titles on this list, one can see, also fall into the “Adjective Noun” genre of sure-fire moneymaking titles. Other examples being Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon, Final Analysis, Basic Instinct, Narrow Margin, Stray Dog, Hidden Fortress, Minority Report, Dark Water. I tell ya, nothing says “thriller” like Adjective Noun. It makes it a breath of fresh air when they come up with the occasional surprise like the imperative statement Die Hard, or the puzzling whatsit Face/Off.
3 Days of the Condor
I know what’s wrong with the CIA. It’s been infiltrated by Europeans.
I can kind of understand why we’ve got a Swedish triggerman in Max von Sydow, but why is Romanian John Houseman Cliff Robertson’s boss? And why has no one noticed? They don’t even bother to disguise their accents. Why doesn’t Cliff Robertson stand up in the middle of his briefing and say “Hey! This guy’s Romanian!”
In addition to them, one of Redford’s co-workers is a Canadian and his sexy Chinese-American friend is played by Chungking-born Tina Chen. No wonder he’s a sitting duck, he doesn’t even know that he’s surrounded by foreigners!
Similarly, why is German Josef Sommer the President of the United States in X-Men: The Last Stand? No wonder we’re losing the war on terror.
Anyway, SPOILER ALERT, Redford discovers that a high-up CIA guy is planning his own secret invasion of “the Mideast.” “It’s all about oil!” he splutters as he holds the old codger at gunpoint. Redford, fit to be tied that the will of the American electorate has been suborned by a rogue CIA guy, takes the story to the New York Times and then, for some inexplicable reason, decides to tell his boss Cliff Robertson before the Times has printed the story.
Back then, see, we used to have an actual free press, before Judy Miller was employed to sell the US the invasion of Iraq and Bob Woodward (Bob Woodward!) was hired to be a lackey cheerleader for the stupidest fucking moron to ever occupy the Oval Office.