Movies (and TV) at the Law Library

Errol Morris sets out to prove that a convicted hitchhiker did not kill a Dallas policeman in 1976 - and that the lowlife that fingered him did. Based on a true story.

A murder trial brings a small Mississippi town's racial tension to the flashpoint. Amid a frenzy of activist marches, Klan terror, media clamor and brutal riots, an unseasoned but idealistic young attorney mounts a stirring courtroom battle for justice.

Gregory Peck plays a southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The way in which it captures a time, a place, and above all, a mood, makes this film a masterpiece.

Depicts a jury of men who must decide the fate of a teenage boy who has murdered his abusive father. The jurors are from all walks of life, and bring with them their own opinions, prejudices, fears, and personal demons.

Portrays the experiences of a young man who is mysteriously arrested by agents of the police for an unspecific crime and is prepared for questioning and trial.

A four-hour documentary series arguing that "health and longevity are correlated with socioeconomic status, people of color face an additional health burden, and our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice. Each of the half-hour program segments, set in different racial/ethnic communities, provides a deeper exploration of the ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives be improving them" -- Container insert.

An alcoholic, failed attorney is reduced to ambulance chasing. A friend gives him a supposedly easy malpractice case which becomes a last chance to redeem himself and his career.

In this riveting, behind-the-scenes look at big business in the 1980s, an ambitious young broker is lured into the illegal, lucrative world of corporate espionage when he is seduced by the power, status, and financial wizardry of Wall Street legend Gordon Gekko. But he soon discovers that the pursuit of overnight riches comes at a price that's too high to pay.

A perfect 18-year marriage suddenly becomes unglued. Rather than just get divorced, Oliver and Barbara Rose declare war, fighting to the bitter end over their huge mansion and every possession in it. Not even the calculating guidance of Oliver's lawyer can stop this uncompromising twosome as their vicious battle sends them on an increasingly dark and dangerous path.

In the early '70s, the radically enraged, bomb-planting fringe group call Weathermen had the distinction of being as alienated from the anti-war counterculture as the counterculture movement was from the rest of America. The group planned to blow up an empty building, but on March 6, 1970, an explosive accidentally went off in the New York Greenwich Village area, killing three of its own members and turning the rest of its members into outlaws on the run.

Documentary about the American political asylum system that takes viewers within the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where bureaucrats ponder the sometimes life-or-death fate of immigrants seeking asylum. Includes confidential conversations between asylum officers, lawyers, translators, and refugees. It is the task of the asylum officer to identify where there exists a "well-founded fear" that an applicant's life may be placed in jeopardy by deportation. But with thousands of applicants, as many fraudulent as legitimate, the officers acknowledge that truth and justice are elusive and that subjectivity plays a decisive hand in their evaluations. Including horrific testimonials of torture and grievous accounts of loss, the film also implies that personality and prejudice, an officer's level of experience (cynicism or naivete), the applicant's credibility, and even the translator's interpretation of a testimony can also bear on the outcome.

"The 1962 World's Fair looked ahead to what the future might hold, and transformed Seattle into a world-class city. Share the vision, the excitement and the legacy of the Century 21 Exposition, when Seattle captures the world's imagination with cutting-edge technology, exotic Belgian waffles, outlandish burlesque shows and an American King. In answering the question, What will America become? Seattle invented its future as a tech-savvy portal to the Pacific Rim, and created an enduring center for the arts and sciences" -- container.

The world watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Many were shocked, not only by the scale of the disaster, but the slow, inept and disorganized response of the emergency and recovery efforts. Structured into four acts, each dealing with a different aspect of the events that preceded and followed Katrina's catastrophic passage through New Orleans. Tells the heartbreaking personal stories of those who endured this harrowing ordeal and survived to tell the tale.

n the 1960s and '70s, radical lawyer William Kunstler fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the 'Chicago 8' activists who protested the Vietnam War. When the inmates took over Attica prison, or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer. Kunstler also represented some of the most reviled members of society, including rapists and assassins.

An English professor, who alienates her students, has always had control over her life. That is until she is diagnosed with a devasting illness. She agrees to undergo a series of procedures that are brutal, extensive and experimental. She finds that the fine line between life and death can only be walked with wit.

A man is accused of murdering his wealthy woman friend in order to secure his inheritance. The defendant's mysterious wife stuns the courtroom by giving damaging testimony against her husband. The web of intrigue is finally unwoven in a shocking, chilling conclusion.

In 1960, Fred Arispe Cruz, a young man from San Antonio, Texas, was arrested for robbery, convicted and sent to a state prison farm to pick cotton. Inspired by the civil rights movement, Cruz, a Mexican American with only an 8th grade education, became jailhouse lawyer-- writ writer in prison parlance-- and the catalyst of prison reform in Texas. Because he helped other prisoners with lawsuits, the Texas Department of Corrections classified Cruz as an agitator, transferred him to the Ellis Unit "the Alcatraz of Texas," and subjected him to long periods in solitary confinement. Cruz filed a case against George Beto, director of the TDC, which Cruz won in the Supreme Court. This led directly to the 1974 class action suit that found the TDC system unconstitutional. As told by wardens, convicts, and former prisoners who knew him, the film weaves contemporary and archival film footage to evoke the fascinating transformation of Fred Cruz from prisoner to activist, and a prison system still haunted by its past.

The first Hitchcock film based on a true story. A nightclub musician is falsely accused of a robbery, an accusation that ruins his life.

In this unforgettable portrait of the early life of the Great Emancipator, young Mr. Lincoln, after teaching himself law, has barely started practicing when an Independence Day celebration ends with a stabbing. Abe first stops a lynch mob from killing brothers Matt and Adam Clay, and then defends them against a seasoned prosecutor and his crafty adviser. As presented here, Lincoln is a strong but peaceful frontier democrat, his quiet, awkward, folksy demeanor the outward manifestation of a deep humility, and a wise sadness at human folly. His awareness that his attempts to reconcile opposing forces--despite the occasional temporary victory--are doomed but necessary, hint at the character that will respond to the destiny that awaits him.