Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Joseph N. Welch: Judge Weaver

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Judge Weaver has stopped the testimony by Detective Sergeant James Durgo, State Police, and called the lawyers to his bench] 

  Judge Weaver : Mr. Biegler, you finally got your rape into the case, and I think all the details should now be made clear to the jury. What exactly was the undergarment just referred to?

  Paul Biegler : Panties, Your Honor.

  Judge Weaver : Do you expect this subject to come up again?

  Paul Biegler : Yes, Sir.

  Judge Weaver : There's a certain light connotation attached to the word "panties." Can we find another name for them?

  Mitch Lodwick : I never heard my wife call 'em anything else.

  Judge Weaver : Mr. Biegler?

  Paul Biegler : I'm a bachelor, Your Honor.

  Judge Weaver : That's a great help. Mr. Dancer?

  Claude Dancer : When I was overseas during the war, Your Honor, I learned a French word. I'm afraid that might be slightly suggestive.

  Judge Weaver : Most French words are.

• Judge Weaver : Now, Mr. Dancer, get off the panties. You've done enough damage.

• Judge Weaver : One judge is quite like another. The only differences may be in the state of their digestions or their proclivities for sleeping on the bench. For myself, I can digest pig iron. And while I might appear to doze occasionally, you will find that I am easily awakened, particularly if shaken gently by a good lawyer with a nice point of law.

• Paul Biegler : Mr. Paquette, what would you call a man with an insatiable penchant for women?

  Alphonse Paquette : A what?

  Paul Biegler : A penchant... a desire... taste... passion?

  Alphonse Paquette : Well, uh, ladies' man, I guess. Or maybe just a damn fool!

  [laughter in the courtroom] 

  Judge Weaver : Just answer the questions, Mr. Paquette. The attorneys will provide the wisecracks.

• Judge Weaver : For the benefit of the jury, but more especially for the spectators, The garment mentioned in the testimony was, to be exact, Mrs. Manion's panties.

  [spectators roar with laughter] 

  Judge Weaver : I wanted to get your snickering over and done with. This pair of panties will be mentioned again over the course of this trial, & when it is, there will not be one laughter, one snicker, one giggle or even one smirk in my courtroom. There is nothing comic about a pair of panties that resulted in the violent death of one man, & the possible incarceration of another.

• Judge Weaver : [as Biegler leaves the courtroom momentarily]  Judge Weaver... let's not make a Federal Case out of this.

  [followed by impish grin]