12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men (1957)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Starring: 12 performers delivering excellent performances all around

From: United Artists

This is a classic which deserves the lofty reputation it has: 

This is not exactly how jury deliberations are supposed to go-some moments may have resulted as a mistrial in real life-but that's not the point and this does deserve such a lofty reputation.

In 2019 on both IMDb and Letterboxd this is ranked near the very top and it's a hell of a feat for a film from the late 50's where 96 minutes are spent with a dozen sweaty white men arguing with each other and almost all of the picture is in one room. After viewing 12 Angry Men, you realize the praise is warranted, and the script really does not need to be changed much if you want to imagine it as a modern tale. A jury of twelve white men are adjourned and have to judge the guilt or innocence of an 18 year old man (who you briefly see and is a minority, which does cause prejudice in some) accused of killing his father with a switchblade knife. At first only Henry Fonda votes Not Guilty; as he tries to convince everyone why he feels this way, more and more doubt creep in; apparently the defense attorney did a poor job and as you hear more evidence of the case, you likely will believe there is reasonable doubt.

All twelve jurors are well-rounded characters and enough time is spent with each one to where you feel like you know them. Not all of them I was as familiar with as I was with Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, or E.G. Marshall, but they all did a swell job, each one different from the others and it was fascinating seeing how they all reacted whenever Fonda presented evidence that shook the foundation of their almost-unanimous belief that the prosecution easily proved the defendant was guilty. It was not constant yelling at each other, either-while that happened sometimes, mature discussions also took place. In addition, there are several incredibly powerful moments where no words are said but the actions of the characters say more than enough.

The fact that this is Sidney Lumet's feature film debut is astonishing; he directed random TV shows before then but he did a masterful job here making a film set almost entirely in one room never dull when it comes to appearance; the camera zooms in and out in a natural fashion instead of a distracting showy style. As this is on Amazon Prime, if you have this service and have not watched 12 Angry Men before, being able to view this for free is a treat and you will likely be over the moon like I am. As I alluded to earlier, the themes presented here are still relevant today... biases between different classes of people, bigotry (unfortunately), the flaws and also triumphs of the legal system we have in the United States, etc. Saying that a film is a must-see for anyone seriously interested in this craft seems like a cliché by now... in this case, that label does apply and all hardcore film buffs must experience this at least once.