Anatomy of a Murder Still Captivates Movie Fans, Draws Crowds to Marquette
Question of Why the Film Was So Sensationally Received is Answered
June 19, 2011
By: Dave Rogers
John Voelker and Lee Remick during filming of 1959 Anatomy of a Murder. (Library of Michigan photo)
Marquette County Courthouse where Anatomy of a Murder trial was filmed in 1959.
MARQUETTE, MI--As we prowled through the gothic stone cathedral of law and celebrity, the Marquette County Courthouse, the question arose:
Why are so many people still so interested in the event that occurred here in 1952 -- The murder trial that later was featured in the film "Anatomy of a Murder"?
After all it was what today we would consider a garden variety murder: beautiful wife of Air Force officer parties in bar; wife is lured outside, raped by bar owner; enraged husband shoots and kills bar owner.
Lots of cases in Bay County and the area would rival that scenario.
Why was the U.P. crime and trial so sensational that a book written about it lasted 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, that the movie was nominated for Academy Awards, that it launched the career of a stunning new actress, and most of all -- why is it timeless?
About 50 people crowded on a bus for the tour Friday that was the opening event in the 62nd annual Upper Peninsula History Conference of the Michigan Historical Society.
Anatomy of a Murder, a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film, was directed by Otto Preminger, famed Hollywood director who visited Marquette, "fell in love with it" and decided to do all the filming on site.
"One of the most extraordinary films ever made," opined the Los Angeles Times. But WHY? The question persisted in my mind.
John Pepin, reporter extraordinaire for the Marquette Mining Journal, described the film from the aspect of its impact on Marquette. Pepin helped make a documentary "Anatomy '59," marking the half century anniversary of the movie.
The reporter recalled being a young boy living on Barnum Street in nearby Ishpeming, just down from the law office of John Voelker, prosecutor turned defense attorney, turned supreme court justice turned author.
Mr. Pepin showed himself a gumshoe of outstanding persistence when he tracked down the four actors in the film still living: Ben Gazzara, Orson Bean, Kathryn Grant Crosby and Don Ross.
Voelker was a Michigan Supreme Court Justice when he wrote the best-selling novel about the crime and trial under the pen name Robert Traver. Voelker based the novel on the 1952 murder case in which he was the defense attorney.
Besides Ms. Remick, the film stars James Stewart, George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West (Arden's husband), musician Duke Ellington, Orson Bean, and Murray Hamilton.
The judge was played by Joseph N. Welch, Washington lawyer who won praiseworthy notoriety for berating Commie-bashing Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy Hearings.
"Irresistible impulse" was the description summarizing the defense of NGRI (Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity) that freed Lt. Coleman Peterson, the Air Force officer.
Peterson had shot and killed Maurice Chenoweth in his Lumberjack Bar in Big Bay after the incident.
The film has been described by a law professor as "probably the finest pure trial movie ever made."
Circuit Judge Thomas Solka of the 25th Judicial Circuit Court in Marquette took to the bench Friday between cases to regale the visitors with the history of the courthouse, his observations on the famous trial and former judges.
Not only had defense attorney Voelker presented a case that freed Peterson from murder charges, he had gotten him discharged from an order committing him to a state hospital.
The movie "zinger" was described: when Voelker and another attorney arrived at Peterson's mobile home to try to collect the $7,000 bill for legal services, they found the couple gone. The park owner handed them a note from Peterson: "I had an irresistible impulse to leave."
BUT, WHY SO FAMOUS A FILM, WHY, WHY???
A critic explains: "This was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to address sex and rape in graphic terms."
Note: Documentary DVDs of "Anatomy 59" are available for $29.95, including postage and handling. To order, call Public TV 13: 800-227-9668(or 227-1300 in Marquette) Monday-Friday, 8-5 pm ET.
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