Movies like Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (1960) is a drama movie directed by Stanley Kramer. The list below collects the movies that people who loved it enjoyed most, best known first.
1. Philadelphia (1993)
★ 7.7 · 4,787 votes · Drama
Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.
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2. The Judge (2014)
★ 7.3 · 4,589 votes · Drama
A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.
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3. Molly's Game (2017)
★ 7.2 · 4,151 votes · Drama, Crime
Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.
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4. 12 Angry Men (1957)
★ 8.6 · 10,477 votes · Drama
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.
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5. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
★ 8.0 · 1,136 votes · Drama, History
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.
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6. A Time to Kill (1996)
★ 7.4 · 3,128 votes · Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
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7. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
★ 7.2 · 3,806 votes · Crime, Drama, Thriller
Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.
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8. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
★ 7.8 · 1,228 votes · Crime, Drama, Mystery
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.
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9. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
★ 8.0 · 2,980 votes · Drama
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.
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10. Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
★ 7.5 · 3,522 votes · Thriller, Mystery, Crime
A woman is suspected of her husband's murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness.
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11. The Reader (2008)
★ 7.5 · 3,501 votes · Drama, Romance
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.
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12. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
★ 7.5 · 2,002 votes · Comedy, Drama
Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini, a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who has just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. When he arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend to try his first case, it's a real shock - for him and the Deep South!
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13. In the Name of the Father (1993)
★ 7.9 · 2,065 votes · Drama
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.
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14. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
★ 8.2 · 1,789 votes · Drama, Mystery, Crime
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.
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15. The Rainmaker (1997)
★ 7.0 · 1,564 votes · Drama, Crime, Thriller
Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrappy, unlicensed paralegal, he finds himself in a David-versus-Goliath courtroom battle that tests his ethics, courage, and belief in justice.
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16. Fracture (2007)
★ 7.3 · 4,487 votes · Thriller
A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.
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17. Primal Fear (1996)
★ 7.7 · 4,213 votes · Crime, Drama, Thriller
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.
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18. Bridge of Spies (2015)
★ 7.2 · 7,468 votes · Thriller, Drama
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
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19. Liar Liar (1997)
★ 6.7 · 6,461 votes · Comedy, Fantasy
Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
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20. Juror #2 (2024)
★ 6.9 · 2,681 votes · Drama, Thriller
While serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, family man Justin Kemp finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict—or free—the accused killer.
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