Gideon's Trumpet

True story of Clarence Gideon's fight to be appointed counsel at the expense of the state. This landmark case led to the Supreme Court's decision which extended this right to all criminal defendants.

Cast

Henry Fonda

as Clarence Earl Gideon

José Ferrer

as Abe Fortas

John Houseman

as Chief Justice / Offscreen Narrator

Fay Wray

as Edna Curtis

Dean Jagger

as 6th Supreme Court Justice

Sam Jaffe

as 1st Supreme Court Justice

Nicholas Pryor

as Jacob

William Prince

as 5th Supreme Court Justice

Lane Smith

as Fred Turner

Richard McKenzie

as Judge Robert McCrary

Reviews

Similar Movies

Whirlpool

An ex-convict tries to connect with the daughter who doesn't even know he exists.

⭐ 6.4

La Strada

When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.

⭐ 7.9

Bandyta

Shipped off to a Romanian orphanage to finish his sentence, a British criminal finds romance but also discovers corruption inside the facility.

⭐ 5.8

Johnny Handsome

A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him to prison.

⭐ 6.3

The Blues Brothers

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

⭐ 7.7

Women Behind Bars with Trevor McDonald

Trevor McDonald goes to Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana to speak with some of the women that live there.

⭐ 0.0

The King of Comedy

Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.

⭐ 7.8

The Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

⭐ 8.7

Bang, Boom, Bang

Bank robber Kalle Grabowski escapes from prison while his unemployed smalltime crook buddy is sitting around doing nothing after he just lost all their money. A fast paced comedy from German director Peter Thorwarth.

⭐ 7.5

Black Lemons

Rosario Inzulìa, a young man involved with the Mafia, was sentenced to labor camp, forced to pay also for crimes he didn't commit. After eight long years of imprisonment he's finally released. Rosario goes back to Sicily, where he learns that his wife died in an accident. He tries to rebuild his life, but when he finds out that his wife was murdered, he decides that it's time to take action: alone against the Mafia!

⭐ 5.0

Salvador (Puig Antich)

The story of Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last political prisoners to be executed under Franco's Fascist State in 1974.

⭐ 6.8

Con Air

Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure predators”, to a new super-prison. Poe faces impossible odds when the transport plane is skyjacked mid-flight by the most vicious criminals in the country led by the mastermind — genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, and backed by black militant Diamond Dog and psychopath Billy Bedlam.

⭐ 6.8

American Me

During his 18 years in Folsom Prison, street-gang leader Santana rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits.

⭐ 7.4

Animal 2

Now serving a life sentence for murder, James "Animal" Allen returns to fighting for cash in order to help his troubled son on the outside. However, with his newfound fame as a fighter, Animal uncovers a jailhouse conspiracy that threatens to cause racial tensions to explode.

⭐ 5.4

Traitor

When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir Horn.

⭐ 6.7

Money Talks

Sought by police and criminals, a small-time huckster makes a deal with a TV newsman for protection.

⭐ 6.1

Buffalo '66

Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

⭐ 7.1

He Got Game

A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.

⭐ 6.7

Inn of the Floating Weeds

Young gangster wannabe is framed for a murder and sent to prison.

⭐ 0.0

Requiem

When a young boy comes in to see a doctor abourt a red mark on his face, the doctor's wife welcomes him into the consulting room instead. As they talk, she offers him something to eat and then notes that his manner of eating is just like that of her previous husband, who died in prison many years earlier. It turns out that the young man had been his cell mate for a year, and he tells her the story of how her husband died. She then remembers (in flashbacks) how she had helped her first husband rid himself of his sexual repression, and how she had promised him she would marry her current husband if she were widowed. It seems her doctor-husband was a man who could remain untouched through any political climate, and was much admired by her first husband. Now that her memories have been awakened by the young man's account, she ignores the repeated phone calls of her current husband and decides to rid this young man of his own sexual repressions.

⭐ 4.8