When someone of a high profile is knocked off, you can bet dollars to donuts that at least the defense is going to try and besmerch the deceased. In this case, it's a popular local policeman (Pat Buttram) who gets the going over, allegedly stabbed to death by Nick Adams who was furious over passes made towards his wife Joey Heatherton. Hot headed Adams isn't the easiest client in the world for attorney Richard Chamberlain, and it's obvious that the marriage wasn't the best either, with Heatherton suspected of prostituting herself with Adams as her pimp.
Pretty racy for 1963, this covers a lot of topics that never could have been dealt with just a few years before, indicating that code changes were already happening unofficially. Jeanette Nolan, as Buttram's widow, is quite frankly in describing his increasing perversion, even describing his impotency. Linda Evans is their young daughter. Claude Rains plays Chamberlain's booze loving mentor, and James Gregory is the prosecutor.
I can't explain why this is not as well known as other courtroom dramas of the time, but the Oscar nominated Adams is both dead pan and volatile, and Nolan is memorable as well in what I found her best performance. Buttram is quite a sicko, someone easy to despise. This may not seem ground breaking now, or even remotely scandalous, but it certainly is quite gripping.
Pretty racy for 1963, this covers a lot of topics that never could have been dealt with just a few years before, indicating that code changes were already happening unofficially. Jeanette Nolan, as Buttram's widow, is quite frankly in describing his increasing perversion, even describing his impotency. Linda Evans is their young daughter. Claude Rains plays Chamberlain's booze loving mentor, and James Gregory is the prosecutor.
I can't explain why this is not as well known as other courtroom dramas of the time, but the Oscar nominated Adams is both dead pan and volatile, and Nolan is memorable as well in what I found her best performance. Buttram is quite a sicko, someone easy to despise. This may not seem ground breaking now, or even remotely scandalous, but it certainly is quite gripping.