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My name is John Tariot. I am a television producer with Full Circle
Productions in the Boston area.
 
We are working on a television program, and are seeking comments from 2
on-line sources to which this message is being cross-posted: SCREEN-L and
CJMOVIES.
 
The working title of the program is "Presumed Inncocent?"
 
The show focuses, first,  a statement everyone in  the U.S. can repeat by
heart: that we are all "presumed innocent 'till proven guily beyond a
reasonable doubt," and the fact that this "right" does not exist in the
Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, or any
other written law.
 
Yet, not only do we know it, it really does exist. It exists in the body of
Common Law- the unwritten body of laws passed down through the ages, with
roots in England, and further back into Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman
history. We are also exploring this right in the history of other cultures as
well, i.e. American Indian, Asian, Muslim, and others.
 
We will go on to look at the rights of the accused, our rights, where they
are, why they exist, and the dynamics of this unwritten body of common law
which, while it doesn't seem to really exist, still binds us together- and is
pervasive throughout so many cultures back to the beginnings of civilization.
 
One of the reasons we know this right so well is that it has been uttered by
hundreds of unjustly accused (and even justly accused) movie villains/heroes.
We are beginning to compile a list of movies in which "presumed innocent"
plays a role. This is where we could use some help.
 
Among the films we are looking at:
 
Law and Order
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Verdict
Adam's Rib
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Absence of Malice
Twelve Angry Men
The Caine Mutiny
Key Largo
Mutiny on the Bounty
To Kill a Mockingbird
Witness for the Prosecution
Billy Budd
Mr. SMith Goes to Washington
The Maltese Falcon
Bonnie & Clyde
The Ox-Bow Incedent
All About Eve
The Apartment
Deliverance
Midnight Cowboy
Spellbound
The Manchurain Candidate
The Thin Man
 
Additions to, or comments on this list would be greatly appreciated.
 
-John Tariot, Producer
-Full Circle Productions