Most scenes together: Paul Bieglerv & Parnell Emmett McCarthy (2), Paul Bieglerv & Judge Weaver (2)
You're a liar! You're a lousy, stinking liar!
I apologize to the court for my client's outburst. But it's almost excusable, since the prosecution has seen fit to put a felon on the stand to testify against an officer in the United States Army.
How can a jury disregard what it's already heard?
Objection. No evidence has been introduced to make Mrs. Manion's appearance relevant to this case.
Well, no evidence has been introduced to make Barney Quill's appearance relevant' you didn't object to the question then. Is that because you know Barney Quill bathed, changed and cooled off after he raped and beat hell out of this poor woman!
Your Honor, everyone in this courtroom is being tried except Frederick Manion! I must protest...
Now listen! This is a cross examination in a murder case, it's not a high school debate! What are you and Dancer trying to do, railroad this soldier into the clink?
Did you give the lieutenant the Well-Known Lecture?
If you mean, did I coach him into a phony story, no.
Maybe you're too pure, Paul. Too pure for the natural impurities of the law.
Mr. Paquette, what would you call a man with an insatiable penchant for women?
A what?
A penchant... a desire... taste... passion?
Well, uh, ladies' man, I guess. Or maybe just a damn fool!
Just answer the questions, Mr. Paquette. The attorneys will provide the wisecracks.
You're fired.
You can't fire me until you pay me.
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?
Panties, Your Honor.
Judge Weaver: Do you expect this subject to come up again?
Yes, Sir.
There's a certain light connotation attached to the word "panties." Can we find another name for them?
I never heard my wife call 'em anything else.
Mr. Biegler?
I'm a bachelor, Your Honor.
That's a great help. Mr. Dancer?
When I was overseas during the war, Your Honor, I learned a French word. I'm afraid that might be slightly suggestive.
Most French words are.
Dear Mr. Biegler, so sorry, but I had to leave suddenly: I was seized by an irresistible impulse. Frederick Manion.
Gin. I knew there was something wrong with that guy. I never saw a gin drinker yet you could trust.
Well, partner, what do you say we go and see our first client?
Who might that be?
Mary Pilant. We're going to administer Barney Quill's estate.
That's what i call poetic justice for everybody.
Yeah.
Your Honor, I don't think I can dignify this - -creature - - with any more questions.
As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad. People are many things.
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] I wanted to get your snickering over and done with. This pair of panties will be mentioned again over the course of this trial, and when it is, there will not be one laugh, 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 and the possible incarceration of another.
I'm just a humble country lawyer trying to do the best I can against this brilliant prosecutor from the big city of Lansing.
Look, Laura, believe me, I don't usually complain of an attractive jiggle, but just you save that jiggle for your husband to look at, if and when I get him out of jail.
Now, Mr. Dancer, get off the panties. You've done enough damage.
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.
