Due to popular demand, Northern Michigan University's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center has added a second viewing of the film Anatomy of a Murder in the Marquette County Courthouse. Screenings are now scheduled at 1 p.m. Monday, July 1 and Tuesday, July 2. Seating will be first come, first served, with a suggested donation of $5 at the door.
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of its release, Anatomy of a Murder is being shown in the same courtroom where the original trial that inspired the book and film took place, and where many of the movie's scenes were shot. This is a rare opportunity to see the film in the Marquette County Courthouse.
On July 1, 1959, the film had its world premiere in Detroit (after two earlier previews in Marquette County). It went on to garner seven Academy Award nominations and was a box office hit. Entirely filmed and edited in Marquette County, Anatomy of a Murder has been called the seventh best courtroom drama in cinema history by the American Film Institute. It was based on the 1958 bestselling novel by the same name by Robert Traver, the pen name for Michigan Supreme Court justice and Ishpeming native John Voelker.
The film stars James Stewart as a former district attorney who is hired by an accused murderer (Ben Gazzara) to defend his case. It also stars Lee Remick, Eve Arden, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West (Arden's husband), Orson Bean and Murray Hamilton. The judge was played by Joseph N. Welch, a real-life lawyer famous for dressing down Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings. The musical score was composed by Duke Ellington, who also appears in the film.
These viewings are being sponsored by Kendricks, Bordeau, Keefe, Seavoy & Larson, P.C.; Superior Title & Mineral Examiners; and the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU. Seating is limited to 108 people per viewing.