Best movies like A Civil Action
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies related to A Civil Action? Offer your insights to guide others to tv series and movies you've already watched that might appeal to them also. Support expanding the assembly of people recommending videos to one another. We encourage your participation!
Plot Summary:
Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to "get rid of" a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obsession, to the extent that he is willing to give up everything - including his career and his clients' goals, in order to continue the case against all odds.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, thought provoking, serious, disturbing, sincere, realistic, inspirational, feel good, sad
Best tv shows and movies like A Civil Action (1998):
Similar in 80%
Our Fathers (2005)
Plot Summary:
In the '80s, priests and especially the Father Geoghan arrested for sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Law, also indicted, and the diocese was aware of the actions of these men of the church and was kept secret for years, until the victims decide to seek redress.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 567
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Clarence Brandley, a black man wrongly accused in 1980 of the murder of a 16-year-old white high school girl named Cheryl Ferguson. Brandley worked at Conroe High School, where Ferguson was visiting as a member of the Belleville High School volleyball team. Three days after her body was discovered, Brandley was arrested as the murderer. Jew Don Boney, a popular activist and Houston city council member, leads the fight to uncover the truth about the Ferguson murder. Mike DeGeurin, a Texas attorney, is brought in to act as the head defense attorney for Brandley, and is joined by a former minister, Jim McCloskey. The lawyers discover that not only is there a complete lack of evidence against Brandley, but the District Attorney, James Keeshan, has been strategizing with the presiding judge. After nine years in prison, three trials and a stay of execution that saved Brandley's life, justice finally prevails as Brandley is granted his freedom.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 165
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, emotional, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious
Similar in 77%
The Rose Garden (1989)
Plot Summary:
In Germany, an old man attacks another old man and is arrested. The attacker refuses to speak. A female lawyer is appointed to him. She discovers that the attacker has numbers tattooed on his arm and the attacked man was a German officer.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, West Germany, Austria
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, psychological, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 85%
The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)
Plot Summary:
Arthur Goldman is a rich Jewish industrialist, living in luxury in a Manhattan high-rise. He banters with his assistant Charlie, often shocking Charlie with his outrageousness and irreverence about aspects of Jewish life. Nonetheless, Charlie is astonished when, one day, Israeli secret agents burst in and arrest Goldman for being not a Jewish businessman but a Nazi war criminal. Whisked to Israel for trial, Goldman forces his accusers to face not only his presumed guilt--but their own.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: sad, independent film, tense, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, talky
Similar in 80%
Prosecuting Casey Anthony (2013)
Plot Summary:
"Prosecuting Casey Anthony" reveals Florida prosecutor, Jeff Ashton’s inside story of the true crime drama that captivated and then shocked the nation when Caylee Anthony’s mother, Casey, was acquitted of killing her daughter, despite what many thought to be overwhelming evidence of guilt. The movie is seen from Ashton’s (Lowe) perspective and it takes viewers behind-the-scenes of both the investigation into Caylee’s tragic death and the ensuing trial, shedding new light on the many questions of what happened to the two year-old girl, how Ashton and his fellow prosecutors built their case and why a woman so shrouded in suspicion was proclaimed innocent. With in-depth information about the case and the accused, "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong and why Ashton remains convinced of Casey Anthony’s guilt.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: disturbing, serious, captivating, realistic, emotional, detective, bleak, gloomy
Similar in 85%
One Angry Juror (2010)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Sarah Walsh, a tough New Orleans attorney who serves on a murder trial jury and does some investigating of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, tense, independent film
Similar in 82%
Color of Justice (1997)
Plot Summary:
Four young black men kill a white woman, the D.A. is very cautious in how to proceed.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Plot Summary:
In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, sincere, tense, realistic, talky, philosophical
Similar in 89%
Court (2014)
Plot Summary:
A sewerage worker's dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is tried in court on charges of abetment of suicide. He is accused of performing an inflammatory song which might have incited the worker to commit the act. As the trial unfolds, the personal lives of the lawyers and the judge involved in the case are observed outside the court.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: India
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, psychological, captivating, social, satirical, gujarati, sincere, clever, serious
Similar in 82%
A Stranger in the Kingdom (1999)
Plot Summary:
A Vermont town in the 1950's hires a new minister based on his war record and capable presentation, but then are shocked when he shows up and is a black man. Things go completely wrong for.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 224
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 87%
Inherit the Wind (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: gothic, sincere, thought provoking, clever, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky
Similar in 79%
Witness for the Prosecution (1982)
Plot Summary:
Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister is released from the hospital, where he stayed for two months following his heart attack. Returning to the practise of his lawyer skills, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering an elderly lady friend of his, Mrs. Emily French. While Leonard Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, she becomes the witness for the prosecution and strongly claims her husband is guilty of the murder.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, mind bending, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful, witty, contemplative, talky
Similar in 76%
The Judge (2014)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 199000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, suspenseful, sentimental, semi serious, realistic, sad, motivational, inspirational, sincere
Similar in 85%
The Rainmaker (1997)
Plot Summary:
When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, intense, tense, thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, scary, inspirational
Similar in 82%
North Country (2005)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: dramatic, sincere, emotional, factual, disturbing, inspirational, realistic, educational, rough, touching
Similar in 75%
L.A. Law (1986)
Plot Summary:
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: realistic, stylized, clever, serious, thrilling, detective, telenovela
Similar in 81%
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Plot Summary:
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Japan, UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, talky, tense, suspenseful, serious, captivating, clever, witty, neo noir
Similar in 90%
The Attorney (2013)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1980s, South Korea is torn by student protests over the lack of representation in the government. Song Woo-Seok is a successful attorney in Busan specializing in tax law. His views regarding civil liberties are changed by student activist Park Jin-woo. When Jin-Woo is brutally tortured and put on trial for his activism, Woo-seok decides to defend Jin-woo as his client.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Dark Waters (2019)
Plot Summary:
A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against the DuPont chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 98000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, factual, thought provoking, political, motivational, social, compassionate, sexy, feel good
Similar in 78%
Class Action (1991)
Plot Summary:
Liberal activist lawyer Jedediah alienated daughter Maggie years ago when she discovered his many affairs. Now a conservative corporate lawyer, Maggie agrees to go up against her father in court. To gain promotion, she must defend an auto manufacturer against charges that their explosion-prone station wagons are unsafe. As her mother begs for peace, Maggie takes on her dad in a trial that turns increasingly personal and nasty.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, thought provoking, touching, serious, realistic, talky, emotional, clever, contemplative, exciting
Similar in 81%
A Time to Kill (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 177000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, sincere, suspense, serious, political, realistic, tense, brutal, intense, emotional
Similar in 81%
...and justice for all. (1979)
Plot Summary:
An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is asked to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial. But if he doesn't do it, the judge will have him disbarred.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, disturbing, clever, offbeat, humorous, witty, cynical, captivating, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Michael Clayton (2007)
Plot Summary:
A law firm brings in its 'fixer' to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 172000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, tense, political thriller, disturbing, clever, political, psychological, realistic
Similar in 82%
A Cry in the Dark (1988)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of Lindy Chamberlain: During a camping trip to Ayers Rock in outback Australia, she claims she witnessed a dingo taking her baby daughter, Azaria, from the family tent. Azaria's body is never found. After investigations and two public inquests, she is charged with murder. The case attracts a lot of attention, turning it into a media sideshow.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Australia, UK, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, tense, emotional, suspense, thought provoking, serious, sincere, sad, compassionate
Similar in 85%
Philadelphia (1993)
Plot Summary:
No one would take his case until one man was willing to take on the system. 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.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 254000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, tear jerker, sincere, emotional, thought provoking, compassionate, inspirational, lgbt cinema, crying
Similar in 75%
The Insider (1999)
Plot Summary:
Tells the true story of a 60 Minutes television series exposé of the tobacco industry, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 178000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: political, suspense, cerebral, clever, intense, fast paced, tense, sincere, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
The Verdict (1982)
Plot Summary:
Frank Galvin is a down-on-his luck lawyer, reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing. Former associate Mickey Morrissey reminds him of his obligations in a medical malpractice suit that he himself served to Galvin on a silver platter: all parties willing to settle out of court. Blundering his way through the preliminaries, he suddenly realizes that perhaps after all the case should go to court; to punish the guilty, to get a decent settlement for his clients, and to restore his standing as a lawyer.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, atmospheric, intense, sincere, thought provoking, touching, serious, suspenseful, clever
Similar in 76%
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Plot Summary:
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 214000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: inspirational, factual, uplifting, touching, feel good, motivational, political, captivating, entertaining, social
Similar in 81%
I Am Sam (2001)
Plot Summary:
Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam shames high-priced lawyer Rita into taking his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, touching, tear jerker, sad, sentimental, sincere, serious, heartbreaking, sweet
Similar in 80%
A Few Good Men (1992)
Plot Summary:
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 282000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, serious, realistic, tricky, clever, suspenseful, feel good, entertaining, sincere