Synopsis
A virtuoso
James Stewart plays a small-town Michigan lawyer who takes on a difficult case: the defense of a young army lieutenant (
Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering a local tavern owner who he believes raped his wife (
Lee Remick). This gripping envelope-pusher, the most popular film by Hollywood provocateur
Otto Preminger, was groundbreaking for the frankness of its discussion of sex – but more than anything else, it is a striking depiction of the power of words.
