Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder
	Theatrical release poster by Saul Bass
Directed by	Otto Preminger
Screenplay by	Wendell Mayes
Based on	Anatomy of a Murder; 1957 novel; by Robert Traver
Produced by	Otto Preminger
Starring	James Stewart; Lee Remick; Ben Gazzara; Arthur O'Connell; Eve Arden; Kathryn Grant; Joseph N. Welch; George C. Scott; Orson Bean; Russ Brown; Murray Hamilton; Brooks West
Cinematography	Sam Leavitt
Edited by	Louis R. Loeffler
Music by	Duke Ellington
Production; company	Carlyle Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 2, 1959 (New York);
Running time	160 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Box office	$8 million (rentals)

Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom drama^[2] film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Wendell Mayes was based on the 1958 novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name of Robert Traver. Voelker based the novel on a 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney.^[3]

The film stars James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West (Arden's husband), Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton. The judge was played by Joseph N. Welch, a real-life lawyer famous for dressing down Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings. It has a musical score by Duke Ellington, who also appears in the film. It has been described by Michael Asimow, UCLA law professor and co-author of Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (2006), as "probably the finest pure trial movie ever made".^[4]

In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[5]^[6]^[7]

^ ^a ^b "Wall St. Researchers' Cheery Tone". Variety. November 7, 1962. p. 7.
^ "Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - Otto Preminger | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
^ "Justice Story: The Murder Behind the Movie". Daily News. New York. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
^ Cite error: The named reference usfca.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ King, Susan (December 19, 2012). "National Film Registry Selects 25 Films for Preservation". Los Angeles Times.
^ Cannady, Sheryl; Ross, Donna (December 20, 2012). "2012 National Film Registry Picks in A League of Their Own" (Press release). Library of Congress. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
^ National Film Preservation Board. "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 15, 2020.