🏷 Discover The Best Trial Movies & TV Shows To Watch Today

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Uncover the Thrill of Justice: Top Trial Movies and TV Shows

Get ready to step into the world of high-stakes drama and gripping suspense as we delve into the best movies and TV shows centered around trials. From courtroom battles to dramatic verdicts, these gripping tales will keep you on the edge of your seat. Explore the most iconic trials in history and experience the thrill of justice served.

Cast

Martin Balsam

John Fiedler

Lee J. Cobb

E.G. Marshall

12 Angry Men (1957)

8.6 10.1K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 97 min.

Audience: NR

Story: The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

Plot: death penalty, anonymity, court case, judge, jurors, innocence, witness, knife, ...

Cast

O. J. Simpson

Nicole Brown Simpson

Marcia Clark

Danny Bakewell Sr.

O.J.: Made in America (2016)

8.4 263 votes

Genre: Crime, Documentary, History

Country: United States of America

Duration: 467 min.

Audience: NR

Story: A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

Plot: police brutality, american football, biography, los angeles, california, true crime, racial tension, sports documentary, ...

Cast

Tyrone Power

Marlene Dietrich

Charles Laughton

Elsa Lanchester

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

8.2 1.7K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Country: United States of America

Duration: 116 min.

Audience: NR

Story: An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man being tried for the murder of a socialite.

Plot: based on novel or book, nurse, widow, cigarette, letter, trial, murder, lawyer, ...

Cast

Ha Jung-woo

Ju Ji-hoon

Kim Hyang-gi

Don Lee

Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018)

8.1 758 votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Country: South Korea

Duration: 141 min.

Audience: NR

Story: As the deceased soul Ja-hong and his three afterlife guardians prepare for their remaining trials for reincarnation, the guardians soon come face to face with the truth of their tragic time on Earth 1,000 years earlier.

Plot: afterlife, hell, trial, based on comic, god, grim reaper, myth, goryeo dynasty, ...

Cast

Ha Jung-woo

Cha Tae-hyun

Ju Ji-hoon

Kim Hyang-gi

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017)

8.0 1.2K votes

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Country: South Korea

Duration: 139 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians. Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, he’s able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.

Plot: afterlife, hell, trial, based on comic, god, grim reaper, bromance, myth, ...

Cast

Maria Falconetti

Eugu00e8ne Silvain

Andru00e9 Berley

Maurice Schutz

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

8.0 1.1K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: France

Duration: 81 min.

Audience: NR

Story: A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

Plot: suffering, court case, judge, sentence, woman martyr, heresy, trial, religion, ...

Time: 15th century

Cast

Gregory Peck

Mary Badham

Phillip Alford

John Megna

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

8.0 2.9K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 129 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.

Style: melancholy, suspenseful

Plot: right and justice, rape, sibling relationship, based on novel or book, court case, court, isolation, becoming an adult, ...

Time: 1930s

Cast

Riz Ahmed

John Turturro

Bill Camp

Payman Maadi

The Night Of (2016) TV Show

8.0 1.3K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 8

Audience: TV-MA

Story: After a night of partying with a female stranger, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.

Plot: new york city, prison, muslim, murder, jail, lawyer, trial, miniseries, ...

In the Name of the Father (1993)

7.9 2.0K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Ireland

Duration: 133 min.

Audience: R

Story: A small-time Belfast thief, Gerry Conlon, is wrongly convicted of an IRA bombing in London, along with his father and friends, and spends 15 years in prison fighting to prove his innocence.

Plot: prison, rebellion, based on novel or book, parent child relationship, faith, biography, northern ireland, trial, ...

Time: 1970s

Place: ireland

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

7.8 1.2K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Country: United States of America

Duration: 161 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Plot: adultery, jealousy, rape, based on novel or book, court case, michigan, judge, hays code, ...

Cast

Elizabeth Olsen

Jesse Plemons

Lily Rabe

Patrick Fugit

Love & Death (2023) TV Show

7.8 485 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 7

Audience: TV-MA

Story: 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.

Plot: self-defense, based on true story, murder, miniseries, true crime, extramarital affair, bludgeoning, axe murder, ...

Place: texas

Cast

Anne-Marie Loop

Lambert Wilson

Pauline Brunner

Patrice Melennec

Ernest & Celestine (2012)

7.7 694 votes

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Crime

Country: Belgium, France

Duration: 80 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Celestine is a little mouse trying to avoid a dental career while Ernest is a big bear craving an artistic outlet. When Celestine meets Ernest, they overcome their natural enmity by forging a life of crime together.

Plot: friendship, underground world, musician, mouse, brotherhood, trial, prejudice, bear, ...

Cast

Richard Gere

Laura Linney

Edward Norton

John Mahoney

Primal Fear (1996)

7.7 4.0K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Country: United States of America

Duration: 130 min.

Audience: R

Story: Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.

Style: suspenseful

Plot: chicago, illinois, death penalty, child abuse, corruption, based on novel or book, court case, court, ...

Cast

👤

Randall Adams

👤

David Harris

👤

Gus Rose

👤

Jackie Johnson

The Thin Blue Line (1988)

7.6 417 votes

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Country: United States of America

Duration: 103 min.

Audience: 15

Story: An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.

Plot: death penalty, investigation, dallas, texas, trial, murder, police officer, miscarriage of justice

Place: texas

Cast

👤

Michael Peterson

👤

Ron Guerette

👤

Tom Maher

👤

David Rudolf

The Staircase (2004) TV Show

7.6 201 votes

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Country: France

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 13

Audience: TV-MA

Story: Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, presents a gripping courtroom thriller, offering a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial. In 2001, author Michael Peterson was arraigned for the murder of his wife Kathleen, whose body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the stairway of their home. Granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers, home and immediate family, de Lestrade's cameras capture the defense team as it considers its strategic options. The series is an engrossing look at contemporary American justice that features more twists than a legal bestseller.

Plot: true crime, falling down stairs, wife murder, murder trial, mysterious death

Cast

Patricia Arquette

Joey King

AnnaSophia Robb

Chlou00eb Sevigny

The Act (2019) TV Show

7.6 5.2K votes

Genre: Crime, Drama

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 8

Audience: TV-MA

Story: Gypsy Blanchard struggles to deal with the toxic relationship with her overprotective mother, but her attempts to free herself lead to murder.

Plot: biography, based on true story, anthology, tribunal, trial, true crime, munchausen syndrome by proxy, thriller

Cast

Daisy Edgar-Jones

Taylor John Smith

Harris Dickinson

David Strathairn

Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

7.5 2.3K votes

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance

Country: United States of America

Duration: 126 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Abandoned by her family, Kya raises herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. When her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder.

Plot: based on novel or book, artist, bullying, alcoholism, coming of age, survival, domestic abuse, first love, ...

Time: 1960s

Cast

Priyadarshi Pullikonda

Harsh Roshan

Sridevi Apalla

Sivaji Sontineni

Court: State vs. A Nobody (2025)

7.5 30 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance

Country: India

Duration: 149 min.

Story: A determined lawyer takes on a high-stakes case to defend a 19-year-old boy, challenging a system that has already branded him guilty.

Plot: trial, courtroom, legal battle, hopeful

Cast

Ralph Fiennes

Kate Winslet

David Kross

Lena Olin

The Reader (2008)

7.5 3.4K votes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Country: Germany, United States of America

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: R

Story: The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.

Style: cynical

Plot: based on novel or book, war crimes, women's prison, trial, female prisoner, reading aloud, love affair, law student, ...

Time: world war ii

Place: germany

Damages (2007) TV Show

7.4 238 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Country: United States of America

Seasons: 5

Episodes: 59

Audience: TV-MA

Story: Damages is an American legal thriller television series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler. The plot revolves around the brilliant, ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes and her protégée, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons. Each season features a major case that Hewes and her firm take on, while also examining a chapter of the complicated relationship between Ellen and Patty. The first two seasons center around the law firm Hewes & Associates. Later seasons center more on Patty and Ellen's relationship as Ellen begins to distance herself from Hewes & Associates and begins an independent career.

Plot: murder, lawyer, trial, female protagonist, psychological thriller, woman lawyer, ruthless, legal drama

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