It’s not surprising that this one remained on the list. It’s the searing story of the 1948 war crimes trials of four German judges accused of allowing their courts to become complicit with the Nazis in crimes against humanity. Directed by Stanley Kramer, the film features Spencer Tracy as Dan Haywood, an American judge struggling to understand how the accused, once-esteemed jurists, chose to follow orders rather than their consciences. Burt Lancaster plays Ernst Janning, one of the accused judges who eventually confesses and offers insight into why Germans such as himself felt bound by duty to their country rather than by their own sense of morality.

Trivia: The 11-minute closing speech from Judge Haywood (Tracy) was filmed in one take.

See our August 2018 cover story: “The 25 Greatest Legal Movies.”