Pretty frank sexual talk for 1959

Yeah, it was nothing like I’ve ever seen before in a 1950’s era film. Surely adult moviegoers of the time were familiar that these things happened. Wasn’t there a lot of explicit “true confidential” magazines in that time frame that marketed sensationalist sex scandals? Courts certainly had to openly and fairly adjudicate rape cases and I was impressed with how this was handled with decorum in the courtroom scenes. Incidentally, MI UP tourists can still visit Perkins Park (where the Petersons lived in their trailer) or see the real life bullet holes in the walls at the Lumberjack or visit the very courthouse where the real trial occurred.

The only reason it didn't get censored because the words were used in the context of a trial. The director had to fight for that.

Preminger was known for pushing the limits with taboo topics.