like his previous film, "judgment at nuremberg" (1961) was also a fictionalized account of a real trial, this one about the nuremberg trials held after the defeat of the nazis in world war ii. it also starred spencer tracy as the leading judge, along with numerous other stars. richard widmark played the american military prosecutor and maximilian schell the defense attorney. the film was nominated for eleven academy awards and won two, for schell as best actor and abby mann for best screenplay. reviews were extremely positive. critic hollis alpert wrote in his review: