"Anatomy of a murder" and Otto Preminger are two topics that meld perfectly together. Preminger cut his teeth on noir pictures ("Laura") and more or less established the precedent. This film represents the pinnacle of that career.

A renown stage director, Preminger always sought out realism in his films (such as using Joe Welch, the famous councel who defended the Army during the McCarthy hearings, to play the judge. Everyone remembers his line, "...have you no shame, sir." It was the only movie he ever did.) and looked for realistic performances, which is probably why he hated working with actors like Marilyn Monroe, whom he considered phoney. Part of the reason for his successful films revolved around his ability to cast them with people he considered talented.

I was familiar with writer, John Voelker, as I grew up in Michigan and Voelker had a reputation around the state as one of "premier" Supreme Court justices. I never went to the notorious bar where the incident took place in the UP (evidently, the owners kept the body outline in the bar as a sales gimick, although it may have been moved for display purposes).

I found your review and analysis insightful and susinct, as usual Oscar. Do I suspect this was part of a class project? At any rate, your contribution to this film's understanding is invaluable to any reader of this site, and appreciated by as many. I would highly recommend to this site's readers to watch the DVD first and then read Oscar's incredible in-depth examination.