Anatomy of a Murder

While Alfred Hitchcock demonstrated in "Frenzy", how a sensitive and responsible film maker can shoot a rape scene with dignity, Anatomy of a Murder is a remarkable film on a Rape trial handled with extraordinary decency and dignity.

Consider this

Attorney

"Did you find anything there pertaining to the story Mrs. Manion told you?"

Witness

"We looked for a certain undergarment of Mrs. Manion, but did not find it?

Judge

Will the attorneys for both the sides approach the bench, please?

Once the attorneys approaches the judge, the judge asks them in a hushed tone asks them,

" What exactly was the undergarment just referred to?"

Attorney

"Panties your honour"

Judge"

"Do you expect this to come up again?"

Attorney

"Yes, Sir"

Judge

"There is a light connotation, attached to the word panties, Can we find another name for it?

Another Attorney

" I have never heard my wife call them anything else"

After some deliberation and having found no other substitutes, the Judge declares,

"For the benefit of the jury, but more especially for the spectators, the undergarment referred to in the testimony was to be exact, Mrs. Manion's panties"

Spectators laugh, once the spectators get done with their laughs

Judge continues

"I wanted you to get your snickering over and done with. This pair of panties will be mentioned again in the course of this trial and when it happens, there will not be one laugh, one snicker, one giggle or even one smirk in my courtroom. There isn't anything comic about a pair of panties which figure in the violent death of one man and the possible incarceration of another"

Anantomy of a Murder is an education in several aspects, most importantly in how leaders bring respect to institutions especially through their conduct. One of the best Judges I have seen in films.

There is so much to learn from this film, but watch out of George Scott, "x-raying" his witnesses standing as close as possible to them, with an intensity that cold unsettle even the viewer of the film. 

While justice might look grey in the end, there seems to be hope for poetic justice.

Recommended for every professional who aspires for even an iota of professional excellence.