Anatomy of a Murder#Soundtrack

File:Anatomy of a Murder Trailer (1959).webm

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, small-town lawyer Paul Biegler, a former district attorney who lost his re-election bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano, and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge.

One day, Biegler is contacted by Laura Manion to defend her husband, US Army Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion, who has been arrested for the murder of innkeeper Bernard "Barney" Quill. Manion does not deny the murder, but claims that Quill raped his wife. Even with such a motivation, getting Manion cleared of murder would be difficult, but Manion claims to have no memory of the event, which suggests he may be eligible for a defense of irresistible impulse—a version of a temporary insanity defense. It is strongly implied that Manion is faking insanity, having been guided to it as a potential defense by Biegler. Biegler's folksy speech and laid-back demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that keeps the judge busy maintaining control. However, the case for the defense does not go well, especially as local district attorney Mitch Lodwick is assisted by high-powered prosecutor Claude Dancer from the Attorney General's office.

Furthermore, the prosecution tries at every instance to block any mention of Manion's motive for killing Quill. Biegler eventually manages to get the rape of Laura Manion into the record and Judge Weaver agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations. During cross-examination, Dancer insinuates that Laura openly flirted with other men, including the man she claimed raped her. Psychiatrists give conflicting testimony to Manion's state of mind at the time that he killed Quill. Dancer says that Manion may have suspected Laura of cheating on him because he asked her, a Catholic, to swear on a rosary that Quill raped her. This raises doubt as to whether the act was consensual.

File:Anatomymurder trailer 2.jpg (right) face one another, as George C. Scott (center) looks on]]

Quill's estate is to be inherited by Mary Pilant, whom Dancer accused of being Quill's mistress. McCarthy learns that Pilant is in fact Quill's daughter, a fact she is anxious to keep secret since she was born out of wedlock. Biegler, who is losing the case, tries to persuade Pilant that Al Paquette, the bartender who witnessed the murder, may know if Quill admitted to raping Laura but Paquette is covering this up, either because he loves Pilant or out of loyalty to Quill. Through Pilant, Biegler is unable to get Paquette to testify on behalf of Manion.

During the trial, Laura claims that Quill tore off her underwear while raping her; the underwear was not found where she alleged the rape took place. Pilant, previously unaware of any details of the case, hears this during the trial and then tells Biegler and later testifies that she found the panties in the inn's laundry room the morning after the alleged rape. Biegler suggests Quill may have attempted to avoid suspicion by dropping the panties down the laundry chute located next to his room. Dancer tries to establish that Pilant's answers are founded on her jealousy. When Dancer asserts forcibly that Quill was Pilant's lover and that Pilant lied to cover this fact, Pilant shocks everyone by stating that Quill was her father. Manion is found not guilty by reason of insanity. After the trial, Biegler decides to open a new practice, with a newly sober McCarthy as his partner.

The next day, Biegler and McCarthy travel to the Manions' trailer park home to get Manion's signature on a promissory note which they hope will suffice as collateral for a desperately needed loan. It turns out the Manions have vacated the trailer park, the superintendent commenting that Laura Manion had been crying. Manion left a note for Biegler, indicating that his flight was "an irresistible impulse", the same justification Biegler used during the trial. Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quill's estate; McCarthy says that working for her will be "poetic justice".

{{div col|colwidth = 25em}}

• James Stewart as Paul Biegler
• Lee Remick as Laura Manion
• Ben Gazzara as Lt. Frederick Manion
• Arthur O'Connell as Parnell McCarthy
• Eve Arden as Maida Rutledge
• Kathryn Grant as Mary Pilant
• George C. Scott as Claude Dancer
• Orson Bean as Dr. Matthew Smith
• Russ Brown as George Lemon
• Murray Hamilton as Alphonse Paquette
• Brooks West as Mitch Lodwick
• Ken Lynch as Sgt. James Durgo
• John Qualen as Deputy Sheriff Sulo
• Howard McNear as Dr. Dompierre
• Alexander Campbell as Dr. Gregory Harcourt
• Ned Wever as Dr. Raschid
• Jimmy Conlin as Clarence Madigan
• Royal Beal as Sheriff Battisfore
• Joseph Kearns as Mr. Burke, crime scene photographer
• Don Ross as Duke Miller
• Lloyd Le Vasseur as Court clerk
• James Waters as Army sergeant
• Joseph N. Welch as Judge Weaver

;Uncredited

• Duke Ellington as "Pie-Eye"
• Irv Kupcinet as Distinguished gentleman

{{Div col end}}

On July 31, 1952, Lt. Coleman A. Peterson shot and killed Maurice Chenoweth at a tavern in Big Bay, Michigan.{{cite news |title = Army Officer Held for Murder of Big Bay Tavern Proprietor: 'Mike' Chenoweth, Former State Policeman, Slain Following Alleged Rape |newspaper = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = July 31, 1952 |page = 1 |issn = 0898-4964 }} Voelker was retained as defense attorney a few days later.{{cite news |title = Atty. Voelker Retained by Lt. Peterson |work = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = August 5, 1952 |page = 2 |issn = 0898-4964 }} Peterson's wife Charlotte had claimed Chenoweth raped and beat her.

The trial started on September 15, 1952,{{cite news |title = Judge Arch Allows Motion by Prosecutor for Additional Witness in Murder Case |newspaper = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = September 15, 1952 |page = 2 |issn = 0898-4964 }} and Assistant Attorney General Irving Beattie assisted Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney Edward Thomas.{{cite AV media |last= Pepin |first= John |year= 2009 |title= Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture |type= DVD |location= Marquette, Michigan |publisher= WNMU-TV |at= 13:45}} Voelker used a rare version of the insanity defense called irresistible impulse that had not been used in Michigan since 1886.{{cite magazine |last = Thomson |first = Kimberley Reed |date = February 2003 |title = The Untimely Death of Michigan's Diminished Capacity Defense |magazine = Michigan Bar Journal |volume = 82 |issue = 2 |pages = 17–19 |issn = 0164-3576 }} The jury deliberated for four hours on September 23, 1952, before returning a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.{{cite news |title = Lt. Peterson Not Guilty Because of Insanity |newspaper = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = September 23, 1952 |page = 1 |issn = 0898-4964 }} Two days later, after Peterson was examined by a psychiatrist who judged him sane, he was released.{{cite news |title = Last Chapter Written in Murder Case: Judge Frees Lt. Peterson from Custody |newspaper = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = September 25, 1952 |page = 2 |issn = 0898-4964 }}

Peterson and his wife were divorced soon after the trial.{{cite news |last = Krajicek |first = David |date = January 17, 2009 |title = Killing of Michigan Bar Owner in 1952 Inspired Film Anatomy of a Murder |url = http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/killing-michigan-bar-owner-1952-inspired-film-anatomy-murder-article-1.423705 |work = Daily News |location = New York |access-date = July 4, 2018 }} Hillsdale Circuit Court Judge Charles O. Arch, Sr. tried the case because of the illness of a local judge.{{cite news |title = Circuit Court Opens Monday; 58 Cases Listed on Docket |newspaper = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |date = September 6, 1952 |page = 5 |issn = 0898-4964 }}

File:2009-0618-UP-MarquetteCtyCourthouse.jpg

Independently made,[https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2024/03/local-color-five-american-touchstones/ Local Color: Five American Touchstones|Jonathan Rosenbaum] the film was shot in several locations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Big Bay, Marquette, Ishpeming, and Michigamme). Some scenes were filmed in the Thunder Bay Inn in Big Bay, one block from the Lumberjack Tavern, the site of the 1952 murder that inspired much of the novel.{{cite web |url = http://www.nmu.edu/voelker |title = John D. Voelker |publisher = Northern Michigan University |website = 50th Anniversary: Anatomy of a Murder |access-date = December 7, 2011 }} The scene of the train was captured at the Ishpeming train station with the arrival of the daily Peninsula 400.{{cite book |last=Keyser |first=Lloyd A. |title=Chicago & North Western In Color |volume=3 |place=Scotch Plains, NJ |publisher=Morning Sun Books |date=2005 |isbn=978-1582481500 |page=16}}

The film was previewed on June 18, 1959, in Chicago, which Variety said was 21 days after filming had finished and a record for a big-budget film.{{cite news |work = Variety |date = July 1, 1959 |title = Film Reviews: Anatomy of a Murder |page = 6 |url = http://www.archive.org/stream/variety215-1959-07#page/n5/mode/1up |access-date = May 19, 2019 |via = Archive.org }} It had its first screening at the Butler Theater in Ishpeming and the Nordic Theater in Marquette on June 29, 1959. The world premiere for the film was held on July 1, 1959, at the United Artists Theater in Detroit.{{cite AV media |author = United Artists Press and Marketing |title = Anatomy of a Murder Premiere (1959) |url = http://www.ovguide.com/video/anatomy-of-a-murder-premiere-1959-922ca39ce10036ba0e116cc2092ccf3a |via = Online Video Guide |access-date = February 21, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170907034335/https://www.ovguide.com/video/anatomy-of-a-murder-premiere-1959-922ca39ce10036ba0e116cc2092ccf3a |archive-date = September 7, 2017 |url-status = dead }}

File:Anatomy of a Murder 1.jpg

The film examines the apparent fallibility of the human factor in jurisprudence.{{cite book |last = Frank |first = Jerome |year = 1973 |title = Courts on Trial |publisher = Princeton University Press |pages = 23–24. 318 }}{{cite book |last = Thomas |first = Edward Wilfrid |year = 2006 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Sn6fBTLwV9IC&pg=PA323 |title = The Judicial Process: Realism, Pragmatism, Practical Reasoning and Principles |publisher = Auckland University Press |pages = 318–324 |isbn = 978-0-521-85566-2 }} In various ways all of the human components—the counsel for defense and prosecution, the defendant and his wife, and the witnesses—have their own differing positions on what is right or wrong, and varying perspectives on integrity, justice, morality and ethics. The reliance on credibility of witnesses, and the "finding of facts" based upon those determinations, is the "Achilles heel" of the judicial process.

One controversial legal issue in this film is possible witness coaching, a violation of legal canons. The only plausible legal defense Lt. Manion has—the insanity defense—is virtually spelled out to a befuddled Manion by his prospective counsel,{{cite magazine |url = http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/discmich/anatomy.pdf |last1 = Shaul |first1 = Richard D. |title = Backwoods Barrister |magazine = Michigan History |date = November–December 2001 |volume = 86 |issue = 6 |page = 82 |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 }} who then temporarily suspends the conversation and suggests that Manion rethink his factual/legal position. Witness coaching by the prosecution is even more blatant as they call in other jail inmates awaiting sentencing to testify against Manion, which is portrayed as subornation of perjury to an extent. The first suggests that the defendant may be concealing the truth and manipulating his story in order to obtain the best possible verdict, and the latter that the prosecution dangled a possible lighter sentence through plea bargain as an incentive to perjury.{{cite web |url = http://www.usfca.edu/pj/articles/anatomy.htm |last = Asimow |first = Michael |title = Anatomy of a Murder: The 'Lecture' |date = February 1998 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100303070430/http://www.usfca.edu/pj/articles/anatomy.htm |archive-date = March 3, 2010 |df = mdy-all }}{{cite book |last = Saltzburg |first = Stephen A. |year = 2006 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Kieo-S5hQFkC&pg=PA28 |title = Trial Tactics |publisher = American Bar Association |pages = 225, 231 |isbn = 1-59031-767-X }}

File:Anatomy of a Murder 2.jpg

The language used during the film startled Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley,{{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 }} and his police commissioner. As a result, the film was temporarily banned in the heavily Catholic city.{{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 |date = July 13, 1959 }} 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.{{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}}{{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 }} Variety claimed that the film contained words never before heard in American films with the Motion Picture Production Code seal such as "contraceptive", (sexual) "climax" and "spermatogenesis".

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;{{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}} the suit was dismissed less than a year later in May 1961.{{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 }}

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 films 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?"{{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 = ABA Journal |date = November 1989 |volume = 75 |issue = 11 |pages = 96–100 |issn = 0747-0088 |access-date = June 10, 2015 |via = Google Books }} The film has also been used as a teaching tool in law schools, 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.{{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 }}

The film grossed an estimated $11 million generating $5.5 million in theatrical rentals in the U.S. and Canada.{{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 }}{{cite magazine |title = 1959: Probable Domestic Take |magazine = Variety |date = January 6, 1960 |page = 34 }} It earned rentals of $8 million worldwide.

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 landscape. The film is "made in black-and-white but full of local color".{{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 }}

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."{{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 }}

Time felt that it was well-paced, well-acted, and that the explicit language was warranted within the film's context.

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.{{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 }}

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."{{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}}

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 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."{{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 }}

American Film Institute Lists:

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: Nominated{{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 }}
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: Nominated{{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}}
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores: Nominated{{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}}
• AFI's 10 Top 10: #7 Courtroom Drama

Anatomy of a Murder was one of 25 films added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2012.

{{main|Anatomy of a Murder (soundtrack)}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Anatomy of a Murder

| type = soundtrack

| artist = Duke Ellington

| cover = Ellingtonmurder105.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1959

| recorded = May 29 and June 1–2, 1959

| venue =

| studio = Radio Recorders, Los Angeles

| genre = Jazz

| length =

| label = Columbia

| producer =

| chronology = Duke Ellington

| prev_title = Side by Side

| prev_year = 1959

| next_title = Live at the Blue Note

| next_year = 1959

}}

The jazz score of Anatomy of a Murder was composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and played by Ellington's orchestra. Several of Ellington band's sidemen, including Jimmy Hamilton, Jimmy Johnson, Ray Nance, and Jimmy Woode appear, and Ellington himself plays the character Pie Eye.{{cite web |title = Anatomy of a Murder |work = The Library of Congress |url = https://www.loc.gov/item/jots.200013378/ |publisher = Library of Congress |access-date = February 23, 2021 }}

Mervyn Cooke, in the History of Film Music, asserts that despite being heard "in bits and pieces" the score "contains some of his most evocative and eloquent music... and beckons with the alluring scent of a femme fatale." Including small pieces by Billy Strayhorn, film historians recognize it "as a landmark {{mdash}} the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoids cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and "rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the '60s."{{cite book |last = Cooke |first = Mervyn |year = 2008 |title = History of Film Music |publisher = Cambridge University Press |isbn = 978-0-521-01048-1 }}

The soundtrack album, containing 13 tracks, was released by Columbia Records on May 29, 1959. A CD was released on April 28, 1995, and reissued by Sony in a deluxe edition in 1999.{{cite web |url = http://www.depanorama.net/index.htm |title = A Duke Ellington Panorama |access-date = May 14, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170909014624/http://www.depanorama.net/index.htm |archive-date = September 9, 2017 |url-status = dead }}

Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concluded: "Though indispensable, I think the score is too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."{{cite news |last = Stryker |first = Mark |title = Ellington's Score Still Celebrated |date = January 20, 2009 |work = Detroit Free Press }}{{efn-ua|The score employs a "handful of themes, endlessly recombined and re-orchestrated. Ellington never wrote a melody more seductive than the hip-swaying "Flirtibird", featuring the "irresistibly salacious tremor" by Johnny Hodges on the alto saxophone." A stalking back-beat barely contains the simmering violence of the main title music" The score is heavily dipped in "the scent of the blues and Ellington's orchestra bursts with color."}}

The AllMusic review by Bruce Eder awarded the album 3 stars and called it "a virtuoso jazz score—moody, witty, sexy, and—in its own quiet way {{ndash}} playful".{{cite web |last = Eder |first = B. |url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/r110356 |title = AllMusic Review |website = AllMusic |access-date = May 17, 2010 }}

Ellington's score won three Grammy Awards in 1959: Best Performance by a Dance Band, Best New Musical Composition, and Best Soundtrack Album.

{{Music ratings

|rev1= AllMusic

|rev1Score= {{rating|3|5}}

|rev3 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

| rev3Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite book |editor-last = Swenson |editor-first = J. |year = 1985 |title = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |publisher = Random House/Rolling Stone |isbn = 0-394-72643-X |page = 69 }}

|rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev2score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1 = Cook |first1 = Richard |author-link1 = Richard Cook (journalist) |last2 = Morton |first2 = Brian |author-link2 = Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year = 2008 |edition = 9th |publisher = Penguin |isbn = 978-0-141-03401-0 |page = 436 }}

}}

After Traver's novel was published, St. Martin's Press planned to have it adapted for the stage, intending a Broadway production, which would then be made into a film. Before he died in December 1957, John Van Druten wrote a rough draft of the play adaptation. Some time after that, the publisher then made the film rights available, and these were purchased by Otto Preminger.{{cite web |url = http://www.nmu.edu/voelker/ |title = Anatomy of a Murder 50th Anniversary |publisher = Northern Michigan University }}

Eventually, Traver's book was adapted for the stage in 1963 by Elihu Winer. The written play version of Anatomy of a Murder was published 1964 by Samuel French, Inc. The play premiered at the Mill Run Theater in suburban Chicago on August 17, 1965, with John Voelker, family and friends present. {{cite book |last = Winer |first = Elihu |year = 1964 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RTlWonu9wDoC |title = Anatomy of a Murder: A Court Drama in Three Acts |location = New York |publisher = Samuel French |isbn = 0-573-60530-0 }}

On June 29, 2009, journalist and filmmaker John Pepin debuted Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture on public television stations across the state of Michigan. The anchor station for those broadcasts was WNMU-TV in Marquette, Michigan. The documentary reviews the original incident that spawned the bestselling book Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver and the making of Otto Preminger's motion picture. Pepin's documentary debuted on the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of "Anatomy of a Murder" in Ishpeming and Marquette, Michigan; the date was also the birthday of John Voelker. Pepin grew up on Barnum Street in Ishpeming, the same street where Voelker lived and where the Mather Inn was located, which is where the stars of Preminger's film stayed during production. Anatomy '59 features interviews with Anatomy of a Murder actors still alive in 2009, including Ben Gazzara, Kathryn Grant-Crosby, Orson Bean and Don Ross.{{cite news |work = The Mining Journal |location = Marquette, Michigan |department = Anatomy of a Murder 50th Anniversary Special Section |date = June 27, 2009 |title = Making History: Documentary Look at Making of a Classic |first = Christopher |last = Diem |page = 5 }}

• List of American films of 1959
• Mather Inn, hotel where the cast and crew stayed during filming, and site where Ellington wrote the score.
• List of homicides in Michigan

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• {{cite news |url = http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=71&category=events |last = Baulch |first = Vivian M. |work = The Detroit News |title = When Hollywood Came to the Upper Peninsula |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130102190224/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=71&category=events |archive-date = January 2, 2013 |df = mdy-all }}
• {{cite book |last1 = Bergman |first1 = Paul |last2 = Asimow |first2 = Michael |year = 2006 |title = Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies |location = Kansas City |publisher = Andrews and McMeel |isbn = 0-7407-5460-2 |name-list-style = amp }}
• {{cite magazine |archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/418/20061220154411/http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/discmich/anatomy.pdf |url = http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/discmich/anatomy.pdf |last = Bergman |first = Shirley J. |title = The Real Trial |journal = Michigan History |date = November–December 2001 |volume = 86 |issue = 6 |pages = 90–91 |archive-date = December 20, 2006 }}
• {{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E9snGGV1X5MC |editor1-last = Machura |editor1-first = Stefan |editor2-last = Robson |editor2-first = Peter |title = Law and Film: Representing Law in Movies |location = Cambridge |publisher = Blackwell Publishing |year = 2001 |isbn = 0-631-22816-0 |pages = 15, 17, 129 |name-list-style = amp }}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Anatomy of a Murder}}

• {{IMDb title|0052561}}
• {{TCMDb title|3737}}
• {{AFI film|52812}}
• {{Rotten-tomatoes|anatomy-of-a-murder}}
• [http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2155-anatomy-of-a-murder-atomization-of-a-murder Anatomy of a Murder: Atomization of a Murder] an essay by Nick Pinkerton at the Criterion Collection
• [https://archive.org/details/Anatomyo1959 Anatomy of a Murder] trailer at the Internet Archive
• [http://www.nmu.edu/anatomy50/ 50th Anniversary Celebration of Anatomy of a Murder] at Northern Michigan University
• [http://www.nmu.edu/anatomy50/lm_Anatomy%20of%20a%20Murder%20Reading%20Guide.pdf Reader's Guide]
• [http://www.nmu.edu/voelker/ Voelker Collection]

{{Otto Preminger}}

{{Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anatomy Of A Murder}}

Category:1959 films

Category:1959 crime drama films

Category:1950s legal drama films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:American courtroom films

Category:American crime drama films

Category:American legal drama films

Category:Films about lawyers

Category:Films based on American novels

Category:Films based on crime novels

Category:Films directed by Otto Preminger

Category:Films scored by Duke Ellington

Category:Films set in Michigan

Category:Films shot in Michigan

Category:Films with screenplays by Wendell Mayes

Category:Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra – for Dancing

Category:United States National Film Registry films

Category:Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Category:Columbia Pictures films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:1950s American films

Category:English-language crime drama films

Category:1959 independent films

Category:American independent films