The 22 Best Courtroom Thriller Films of All Time

Cross-examinations, hung juries and the occasional surprise witness. Some earned their place with a verdict, others with a single closing speech.

1. 1
   12 Angry Men

   A 1957 drama in which one juror challenges eleven others over a young defendant's fate.
   1000pts
2. 2
   …And Justice for All

   A 1979 legal drama with Al Pacino as an idealistic lawyer facing corruption in the courts.
   671pts
3. 3
   To Kill a Mockingbird

   A 1962 drama with Gregory Peck as a Southern lawyer defending a Black man falsely accused.
   587pts
4. 4
   Erin Brockovich

   A 2000 true-story legal drama with Julia Roberts as a legal clerk building a case against a utility.
   468pts
5. 5
   A Time to Kill

   A 1996 John Grisham adaptation about a lawyer defending a father who killed his daughter's attackers.
   468pts
6. 6
   The Rainmaker

   A 1997 Grisham adaptation with Matt Damon as a rookie lawyer taking on an insurance company.
   468pts
7. 7
   Runaway Jury

   A 2003 thriller about a juror who manipulates a trial against a gun manufacturer.
   468pts
8. 8
   A Few Good Men

   A 1992 military court-martial thriller with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.
   468pts
9. 9
   Presumed Innocent

   A 1990 thriller with Harrison Ford as a prosecutor accused of murdering a colleague.
   419pts
10. 10
    Witness for the Prosecution

    Billy Wilder's 1957 Agatha Christie adaptation with a famous twist ending.
    419pts
11. 11
    Reversal of Fortune

    A 1990 drama with Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow, accused of attempting to kill his wife.
    363pts
12. 12
    The Client

    A 1994 John Grisham thriller in which a boy who knows too much hires a lawyer to protect him.
    363pts
13. 13
    Judgment at Nuremberg

    A 1961 drama following the postwar trial of Nazi-era German judges.
    299pts
14. 14
    Michael Clayton

    A 2007 thriller with George Clooney as a law-firm fixer pulled into a corporate cover-up.
    299pts
15. 15
    Primal Fear

    A 1996 thriller in which a lawyer defends an altar boy accused of murdering an archbishop.
    299pts
16. 16
    The Firm

    A 1993 thriller with Tom Cruise as a young lawyer who discovers his new firm's dark secrets.
    299pts
17. 17
    The Verdict

    Sidney Lumet's 1982 drama with Paul Newman as a washed-up lawyer taking a malpractice case.
    226pts
18. 18
    The Accused

    A 1988 drama in which a prosecutor pursues a case after a brutal assault, with Jodie Foster.
    226pts
19. 19
    Anatomy of a Murder

    Otto Preminger's 1959 trial drama with James Stewart defending an army officer accused of murder.
    226pts
20. 20
    Philadelphia

    A 1993 drama with Tom Hanks as a lawyer fired for having AIDS who sues his former firm.
    140pts
21. 21
    Anatomy of a Fall

    A 2023 French drama in which a writer stands trial after her husband's mysterious death.
    0pts
22. 22
    Just Mercy

    A 2019 drama about a lawyer fighting to free a man wrongly sentenced to death.
    0pts

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