The Greatest Legal Movie of All Time?

San Diego law prof Grant Morris (pictured) proclaims the "real winner" to this question in an article he recently posted to SSRN.  Here's the abstract:

In August, 2008, the ABA Journal featured an article entitled: “The 25 Greatest Legal Movies.” A panel of experts, described in the article as “12 prominent lawyers who teach film or are connected to the business” selected “the best movies ever made about lawyers and the law.” This distinguished panel ranked its twenty-five top legal movies, choosing To Kill a Mockingbird as its number one legal movie. The panel also selected twenty-five films as “honorable mentions,” which were listed in alphabetical order. In my opinion, however, the real greatest legal movie of all time was not selected as the winner. It was not ranked in the top twenty-five. It was not included in the twenty-five honorable mentions so that it would rank in the top fifty. I would wager that it was not even considered by the panel as a candidate for inclusion as a “legal” movie. In this article, I discuss the movie that should have been ranked first. I compare my choice with the experts’ choice, describing similarities and differences between the two movies. In To Kill a Mockingbird, an African American man is wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. Despite the best efforts of his attorney, he is convicted of that crime. Prejudice prevails over justice. In the movie I have chosen, another victim of prejudice is able to succeed due to the best efforts of his attorney. Justice prevails over prejudice. That difference convinces me that Dumbo is truly the greatest legal movie of all time.

The article is forthcoming in the San Diego Law Review.

P.S.  Dumbo (1941) did win an Oscar for its musical score, two fewer than To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (actor, screenplay, and art/set direction).

Comments

[Home Theater Seating]

Indeed its truly Greatest movie !!!