Editing Anatomy of a Murder (section)

==Reception and legacy==
[[File:Anatomy of a Murder 2.jpg|left|thumb|Where the body fell]]
The language used during the film startled [[Chicago]] Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]],<ref name="Shaul2">{{cite magazine |url = http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/discmich/anatomy.pdf |last1 = Shaul |first1 = Richard D. |title = ''Anatomy of a Murder'' |journal = Michigan History |date = November–December 2001 |volume = 86 |issue = 6 |page = 89 |archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/418/20061220154411/http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/discmich/anatomy.pdf |access-date = December 7, 2011 |archive-date = December 20, 2006 }}</ref> and his police commissioner. As a result, the film was temporarily banned in the heavily Catholic city.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869178,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110201052724/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869178,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = February 1, 2011 |title = Cinema: The New Pictures, July 13, 1959 |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date = July 13, 1959 }}</ref> Preminger filed a motion in federal court in Illinois and the mayor's decision was overturned. The film was allowed to be exhibited after the court determined that the clinical language during the trial was realistic and appropriate within the film's context.<ref>{{cite book |title = The Face on the Cutting Room Floor |url = https://archive.org/details/faceoncuttingr00schu |url-access = registration |first = Murray |last = Schumach |publisher = [[William Morrow and Company]] |year = 1964 |isbn=978-0306800092}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8pQuAAAAIBAJ&pg=7156,1608730 |title = Chicago Loses Bid to Censor Movie |work = [[The Deseret News]] |location = Salt Lake City |date = July 9, 1959 |access-date = October 28, 2011 }}</ref> ''Variety'' claimed that the film contained words never before heard in American films with the [[Motion Picture Production Code]] seal such as "contraceptive", (sexual) "[[orgasm|climax]]" and "[[spermatogenesis]]".<ref name=VarReview/>

In another federal lawsuit in Chicago, the daughter of the real-life murder victim from the 1952 case sued Dell Publishing and Columbia Pictures in July 1960 for libel over accusations that the book and movie "followed [the actual trial] too closely" and portrayed the two women in an unflattering light;<ref>{{cite news |title = ''Anatomy of a Murder'' Target of Libel Suit |url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27412806/anatomy_of_a_murder_target_of_libel_suit/ |work = [[Detroit Free Press]] |date = July 18, 1960 |page = 2B |access-date = January 19, 2019 |via = [[Newspapers.com]] }} {{free access}}</ref> the suit was dismissed less than a year later in May 1961.<ref>{{cite news |agency = [[Associated Press]] |title = ''Anatomy of a Murder'' Libel Suit Dismissed |newspaper = [[The News-Palladium]] |location = Benton Harbor, Michigan |date = May 17, 1961 |at = § 3, p. 11 |url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6176752// |via = Newspapers.com }}</ref>

''Anatomy of a Murder'' has been well received by members of the legal and educational professions. In 1989, the [[American Bar Association]] rated this as one of the 12 best [[trial film]]s of all time. In addition to its plot and musical score, the article noted: "The film's real highlight is its ability to demonstrate how a legal defense is developed in a difficult case. How many trial films would dare spend so much time watching lawyers do what many lawyers do most (and enjoy least) {{ndash}} research?"<ref>{{cite magazine |last = Verrone |first = Patric M. |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SpLZT79-g5IC&pg=PA96 |title = The 12 Best Trial Movies |journal = [[American Bar Association Journal|ABA Journal]] |date = November 1989 |volume = 75 |issue = 11 |pages = 96–100 |issn = 0747-0088 |access-date = June 10, 2015 |via = [[Google Books]] }}</ref> The film has also been used as a teaching tool in [[law school]]s, as it encompasses (from the defense standpoint) all of the basic stages in the U.S. [[criminal justice system]] from client interview and [[arraignment]] through trial. The film was listed as {{Abbr|No.|Number}} 4 of 25 "Greatest Legal Movies" by the American Bar Association.<ref name="brust">{{cite magazine |first1 = Richard |last1 = Brust |date = August 1, 2008 |url = http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/the_25_greatest_legal_movies |title = 25 Greatest Legal Movies |magazine = [[American Bar Association Journal]] |access-date = February 24, 2012 }}</ref>

The film grossed an estimated $11 million generating $5.5 million in [[theatrical rental]]s in the U.S. and Canada.<ref>{{cite news |first = Harri |last = Leigh |date = October 21, 2016 |title = Looking Back at ''Anatomy of a Murder'' |url = https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/content/news/Looking-back-at-Anatomy-of-a-Murder-397975791.html |work = Upper Michigan's Source |location = Negaunee, Michigan |publisher = [[WLUC-TV]] |access-date = December 14, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title = 1959: Probable Domestic Take |magazine = [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date = January 6, 1960 |page = 34 }}</ref> It earned rentals of $8 million worldwide.<ref name=wall/>

Film critics have noted the moral ambiguity, where a small town lawyer triumphs by guile, stealth and trickery. The film is frank and direct. Language and sexual themes are explicit, at variance with the times (and other films) when it was produced. The black and white palette is seen as a complement to Michigan's harsh [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Peninsula]] landscape.<ref name=RT/> The film is "made in black-and-white but full of local color".<ref name=Monaghan>{{cite news |url = http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901200303 |last = Monaghan |first = John |title = The Movie that Put Ishpeming on the Map: UP Plans Events this Summer to Mark 50th Anniversary of ''Anatomy of a Murder'' |date = January 20, 2009 |work = Detroit Free Press |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090124170935/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901200303 |archive-date = January 24, 2009 }}</ref>

[[Bosley Crowther]], film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'' said, "After watching an endless succession of courtroom melodramas that have more or less transgressed the bounds of human reason and the rules of advocacy, it is cheering and fascinating to see one that hews magnificently to a line of dramatic but reasonable behavior and proper procedure in a court. Such a one is ''Anatomy of a Murder'', which opened at the Criterion and the Plaza yesterday. It is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen... . Outside of the fact that this drama gets a little tiring in spots—in its two hours and forty minutes, most of which is spent in court—it is well nigh flawless as a picture of an American court at work, of small-town American characters and of the average sordidness of crime."<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1959/07/03/archives/screen-a-court-classic.html |last = Crowther |first = Bosley |work = The New York Times |title = A Court Classic |date = July 3, 1959 }}</ref>

''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' felt that it was well-paced, well-acted, and that the explicit language was warranted within the film's context.<ref name="Time"/>

In June 2008, the [[American Film Institute]] revealed [[AFI's 10 Top 10]], the best 10 films in 10 "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. ''Anatomy of a Murder'' was selected as the seventh best film in the courtroom drama genre.<ref name=Top10>{{cite news |publisher = [[American Film Institute]] |title = AFI's 10 Top 10 |date = June 17, 2008 |url = http://www.afi.com/10top10/crdrama.html |access-date = June 18, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080619174159/http://www.afi.com/10top10/crdrama.html |archive-date = June 19, 2008 |url-status = live }}</ref>

The February 2020 issue of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' lists ''Anatomy of a Murder'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."<ref>{{cite news|title=The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-oscar-best-picture-losers.html|magazine=[[New York Magazine]]|access-date=March 17, 2025}}</ref>

[[Rotten Tomatoes]], a [[review aggregator]], reports that [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes|100%]] of 50 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 8.70/10. The site's consensus states, "One of cinema's greatest courtroom dramas, ''Anatomy of a Murder'' is tense, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted, with great performances from James Stewart and George C. Scott."<ref name=RT>{{cite web |url = http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anatomy_of_a_murder |title = ''Anatomy of a Murder'' |work = Rotten Tomatoes |access-date = February 22, 2022 }}</ref>

===Awards and nominations===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="7"| [[32nd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Motion Picture]]
| [[Otto Preminger]]
| {{nom}}
| align="center" rowspan="7"| <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1960 |title=The 32nd Academy Awards (1960) Nominees and Winners |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=August 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706094204/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/32nd-winners.html |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |url-status = live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| [[James Stewart]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Arthur O'Connell]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[George C. Scott]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium]]
| [[Wendell Mayes]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography – Black-and-White]]
| [[Sam Leavitt]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]
| [[Louis R. Loeffler]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[13th British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film from any Source]]
| Otto Preminger
| {{nom}}
| align="center" rowspan="3"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1960/film |title=BAFTA Awards: Film in 1960 |publisher=[[British Academy Film Awards]] |access-date=September 16, 2016}}</ref>
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Best Foreign Actor]]
| James Stewart
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles|Most Promising Newcomer to Film]]
| [[Joseph N. Welch]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[12th Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures]]
| Otto Preminger
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1950s/1959.aspx?value=1959 |title=The 12th Annual DGA Awards |publisher=[[Directors Guild of America Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[17th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]
| {{nom}}
| align="center" rowspan="4"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/anatomy-murder |title=Anatomy of a Murder |publisher=[[Golden Globe Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
| [[Lee Remick]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture]]
| Joseph N. Welch
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture|Best Director – Motion Picture]]
| Otto Preminger
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[2nd Annual Grammy Awards|Grammy Awards]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition|Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1959 (more than 5 minutes duration)]]
| rowspan="3"| ''Anatomy of a Murder'' – [[Duke Ellington]]
| {{won}}
| align="center" rowspan="3"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/2nd-annual-grammy-awards |title=2nd Annual GRAMMY Awards |publisher=[[Grammy Awards]] |access-date=February 13, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Soundtrack Album – Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra – for Dancing|Best Performance by an Orchestra – for Dancing]]
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[Laurel Awards]]
| colspan="2"| Top Drama
| {{won}}
| align="center" rowspan="4"| 
|-
| Top Male Dramatic Performance
| James Stewart
| {{won}}
|-
| Top Male Supporting Performance
| Arthur O'Connell
| {{won}}
|-
| Top Female Supporting Performance
| [[Eve Arden]]
| {{draw|5th Place}}
|-
| [[National Board of Review Awards 1959|National Board of Review Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[National Board of Review: Top Ten Films|Top Ten Films]]
| {{draw|3rd Place}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1959/ |title=1959 Award Winners |publisher=[[National Board of Review]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[National Film Preservation Board]]
| colspan="2"| [[National Film Registry]]
| {{won|Inducted}}
| align="center"| <ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Meslow |first1=Scott |date=December 19, 2012 |title=The 25 Films Added to the National Film Registry in 2012 |url=http://www.theweek.com/article/index/238023/the-25-films-added-to-the-national-film-registry-in-2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216220756/http://theweek.com/article/index/238023/the-25-films-added-to-the-national-film-registry-in-2012 |archive-date=16 February 2013 |access-date=January 4, 2012 |website=The Week}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[1959 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| James Stewart
| {{won}}
| align="center" rowspan="2"| <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?awardyear=1959 |title=1959 New York Film Critics Circle Awards |publisher=[[New York Film Critics Circle]] |access-date = July 5, 2021 }}</ref>
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Wendell Mayes
| {{won}}
|-
| Online Film & Television Association Awards
| colspan="2"| Hall of Fame – Motion Picture
| {{won|Inducted}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oftaawards.com/film-hall-of-fame/film-hall-of-fame-productions/ |title=Film Hall of Fame: Productions |publisher=Online Film & Television Association |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[20th Venice International Film Festival|Venice International Film Festival]]
| [[Golden Lion]]
| Otto Preminger
| {{nom}}
| align="center" rowspan="2"| 
|-
| [[Volpi Cup for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| James Stewart
| {{won}}
|-
| [[12th Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Drama|Best Written American Drama]]
| Wendell Mayes
| {{nom}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |title=Awards Winners |date= |publisher=[[Writers Guild of America Awards]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205095022/http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |access-date=June 6, 2010}}</ref>
|}

====Other Honors====
[[American Film Institute]] Lists:
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies]]: Nominated<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/movies400.pdf |title = AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees |access-date = February 3, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150548/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/movies400.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]]: Nominated<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills Nominees |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/thrills400.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313152608/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/thrills400.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2011 |access-date=February 3, 2013}}</ref>
* [[AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores]]: Nominated<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150632/https://www.afi.com/Docs/100years/scores250.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2011 |access-date=February 3, 2013}}</ref>
* [[AFI's 10 Top 10#Courtroom drama|AFI's 10 Top 10]]: #7 Courtroom Drama<ref name="Top10"/>

''Anatomy of a Murder'' was one of 25 films added to the [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] in 2012.<ref name=":0" />