The screenplay by Wendell Mayes was based on the 1958 novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name of Robert Traver.

[5][6][7] In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, small-town lawyer Paul Biegler, a former district attorney who lost his re-election bid, spends most of his time fishing, playing the piano, and hanging out with his alcoholic friend and colleague Parnell McCarthy and sardonic secretary Maida Rutledge.

Biegler's folksy speech and laid-back demeanor hide a sharp legal mind and a propensity for courtroom theatrics that keeps the judge busy maintaining control.

Biegler eventually manages to get the rape of Laura Manion into the record and Judge Weaver agrees to allow the matter to be part of the deliberations.

Pilant, previously unaware of any details of the case, hears this during the trial and then tells Biegler and later testifies that she found the panties in the inn's laundry room the morning after the alleged rape.

Biegler suggests Quill may have attempted to avoid suspicion by dropping the panties down the laundry chute located next to his room.

Biegler states that Mary Pilant has retained him to execute Quill's estate; McCarthy says that working for her will be "poetic justice".

[16] Independently made,[17] the film was shot in several locations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Big Bay, Marquette, Ishpeming, and Michigamme).

[23][24] In various ways all of the human components—the counsel for defense and prosecution, the defendant and his wife, and the witnesses—have their own differing positions on what is right or wrong, and varying perspectives on integrity, justice, morality and ethics.

Witness coaching by the prosecution is even more blatant as they call in other jail inmates awaiting sentencing to testify against Manion, which is portrayed as subornation of perjury to an extent.

The first suggests that the defendant may be concealing the truth and manipulating his story in order to obtain the best possible verdict, and the latter that the prosecution dangled a possible lighter sentence through plea bargain as an incentive to perjury.

[21] In another federal lawsuit in Chicago, the daughter of the real-life murder victim from the 1952 case sued Dell Publishing and Columbia Pictures in July 1960 for libel over accusations that the book and movie "followed [the actual trial] too closely" and portrayed the two women in an unflattering light;[30] the suit was dismissed less than a year later in May 1961.

In addition to its plot and musical score, the article noted: "The film's real highlight is its ability to demonstrate how a legal defense is developed in a difficult case.

"[32] The film has also been used as a teaching tool in law schools, as it encompasses (from the defense standpoint) all of the basic stages in the U.S. criminal justice system from client interview and arraignment through trial.

[1] Film critics have noted the moral ambiguity, where a small town lawyer triumphs by guile, stealth and trickery.

The site's consensus states, "One of cinema's greatest courtroom dramas, Anatomy of a Murder is tense, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted, with great performances from James Stewart and George C.

"[56] [A] The AllMusic review by Bruce Eder awarded the album 3 stars and called it "a virtuoso jazz score—moody, witty, sexy, and—in its own quiet way – playful".

[57] Ellington's score won three Grammy Awards in 1959: Best Performance by a Dance Band, Best New Musical Composition, and Best Soundtrack Album.

After Traver's novel was published, St. Martin's Press planned to have it adapted for the stage, intending a Broadway production, which would then be made into a film.

[61] On June 29, 2009, journalist and filmmaker John Pepin debuted Anatomy '59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture on public television stations across the state of Michigan.

The documentary reviews the original incident that spawned the bestselling book Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver and the making of Otto Preminger's motion picture.

Pepin's documentary debuted on the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of "Anatomy of a Murder" in Ishpeming and Marquette, Michigan; the date was also the birthday of John Voelker.