Movie Drama
Set in the 1940's, James Earl Jones as an an old clockmaker faces racism and is tried for murder when the racist is killed. However, Kevin Kilner comes forward and claims to have commmitted the crime in self defense. All the while, Kilner's family life is in disarray with various crises including his daughter catching meningitis.
Similiar movies
Black and White
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.
Cry, the Beloved Country
A South-African preacher goes to search for his wayward son who has committed a crime in the big city.
Hope & Redemption: The Lena Baker Story
Based on true events, The Lena Baker Story recounts one African-American womans struggle to rise above the challenges of her life, to face the choices she makes, and to ultimately triumph over her...Lena Baker was the first and only woman to be sentenced to death by the electric chair in the state of Georgia and was executed in 1945. She was pardoned posthumously in 2005.
Heavens Fall
Successful New York attorney Sam Leibowitz travels to the South in 1933 to defend nine young black men accused of raping two women on an Alabama freight train.
A Lesson Before Dying
In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
Ruby Bridges
When six-year-old Ruby Bridges is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.
A Gathering of Old Men
A regular day in a Louisiana sugarcane plantation changes course when a local white farmer is shot in self defense. A group of old, black men takes a courageous step by coming forward en masse to take responsibility for the killing of a white racist, whom one of their members has shot. As the sheriff confronts the suspects, the young plantation owner stands alone in her daring defense of this group of men, provoking racial tension that makes a compelling drama.
The Sky Is Gray
Drama - From Ernest J. Gaines, author of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," comes a deceptively simple, yet emotionally complex tale of a young boy's discovery of what it's like to be black in Louisiana during the 1940's. James, the boy in question, has a raging toothache that necessitates a trip to the dentist. His mother (played by Emmy-winner Olivia Cole), accompanies James to town on an eye-opening odyssey where the boy gains valuable insights into poverty, racism - and his own sense of pride. With an exciting musical score by Webster Lewis, this multi-award winning film explores a child's discovery that the world is a complicated place... where things are never truly black or white... only shades of gray. - Olivia Cole, James Bond III, Margaret Avery
Color of Justice
Four young black men kill a white woman. Now the D.A. is very cautious how to pursue this case because it might start a riot. And adding fuel to the fire is a bombastic and vocal black community leader, who's saying that they will not have a fair trial and that they were justified in their actions because they were in fear for their lives
The River Niger
An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of Johnny's love and courage for the couple to make it through their strife, finding redemption in the River Niger.
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defence attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Davi will receive a scrupulously fair trial when the terrorist is extradited to America. The defence mounted by Leibman confounds and aggravates government prosecutor Sam Waterston--but he, like Leibman, remains a man of judiciary integrity.
Witness for the Prosecution
Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister is released from the hospital, where he stayed for two months following his heart attack. Returning to the practise of his lawyer skills, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering an elderly lady friend of his, Mrs. Emily French. While Leonard Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, she becomes the witness for the prosecution and strongly claims her husband is guilty of the murder.
As Summers Die
Set in a sleepy Southern Louisiana town in 1959, a lawyer, searches for justice as he volunteers to help a black woman whose property is being threatened by the Holts, the first family of the town, after she refuses to sell her valuable land.
A Stranger in the Kingdom
A Vermont town in the 1950s hires a new minister based on his war record, but are shocked, when he shows up, to find that he is black.
Similiar TV Shows
American Crime Story
An anthology series centered around some of history's most famous criminal investigations.
American Justice
Hosted by Bill Kurtis, American Justice looks at groundbreaking criminal cases, presenting viewers with an inside look at the case through the eyes of those directly involved, ranging from law enforcement officers to the victims.
Perry Mason
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
Philly
Philly is an American television series created by Steven Bochco that focused on criminal defense attorney Kathleen Maguire. It lasted a full season and was canceled due to low ratings. The final episode was advertised heavily as the series finale, a move not commonly used in network promotion, for a series lasting only one season. The complete series is not on DVD, but is viewable on Netflix in HD and 5.1 Surround Sound. The series briefly aired in syndication on Universal HD in 2008.
Picket Fences
Picket Fences is an American television drama about the residents of the town of Rome
Shark
Notorious Los Angeles defense attorney Sebastian Stark becomes disillusioned with his career after his successful defense of a wife-abuser results in the wife's death. After more than a month trying to come to grips with his situation, he is invited by the Los Angeles district attorney to become a public prosecutor so he can apply his unorthodox-but-effective talents to putting guilty people away instead of putting them back on the street.
When They See Us
Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park.
Matlock
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial, from the jury.
Divorce Court
The venerable courtroom show takes a look at real-life divorcing couples. The soon-to-be exes tell their stories to the judge, who gives the ruling and settles all the usual -- and unusual -- divorce issues by the end of the episode. This third incarnation of the show premiered on August 30, 1999, with the first having premiered in 1957. This current incarnation has seen different presiding judges: former Los Angeles prosecuting attorney Mablean Ephriam (1999–2006), former municipal court judge Lynn Toler (2006–2020), former NYC prosecutor Faith Jenkins (2020–2022), and former Brooklyn A.D.A. Star Jones (2022- ). Since the debut of the original series in 1957, it is one of the longest-running syndicated television programs of all time. Divorce Court also holds the record for the longest-running court show of all time, leading the second-place show The People's Court by two years.
Separate but Equal
A two-part miniseries. Dramatizes the events leading up to the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation, "Brown vs. Board of Education."
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
A unique look inside the mind of an infamous serial killer with this cinematic self-portrait crafted from statements made by Ted Bundy, including present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings from death row.
Chaos in Court
CHAOS IN COURT examines clips of dramatic, unexpected, and cathartic courtroom moments. Each episode brings the backstories of the crimes and legal proceedings to the forefront with insightful analysis from a diverse panel of experts including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and criminal psychologists. Featured within each episode are interviews with defendants, family members, and others who witnessed the action to help bring dramatic courtroom moments to life, and the emotional realities of what happens when the ultimate stakes are on trial.
Love & Death
Candy and Pat Montgomery and Betty and Allan Gore — two churchgoing couples — enjoy their small town Texas life… until an extramarital affair leads somebody to pick up an axe.
The Klansman
A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young woman has been violently raped. The white town fathers immediately declare that the attacker had to be black, and place the blame on Garth, a young black man. Assuming that the men in white sheets aren't intent on holding a fair and impartial trial, Garth takes to the woods as the Klansmen lynching party hunts him down.