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Abstract: Classic movies often are classic for a number of reasons, sometimes including a particular scene indelibly impressed on one’s mind that forever instantly identifies the film. King Kong atop the Empire State Building and the shower scene in "Psycho" (both in the original versions) quickly come to mind. Ask someone about the "The Caine Mutiny" who hasn’t seen the movie for many years and only dimly remembers the plot, and the one impression he or she likely will recall is Bogart on the witness stand slowly disintegrating under withering cross-examination and nervously rolling two steel balls around in his hand. No movie scene better captures two central features of our criminal justice system that too often are taken for granted: the importance of trial by jury and the concomitant right to directly confront one’s accuser.
Movie, trial, witness
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