12 Angry Men
1957 Directed by Sidney Lumet
Synopsis
Life is in their hands. Death is on their minds.
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
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12 reasons why 12 Angry Men is the best film of the 1950s:
1. It’s a high concept film that delivers beyond the unique hook to create compelling and flawed human characters.
2. The performances are sensational from Henry Fonda (empathetic and unwavering) attempting to change the minds of the other jurors, to the rest of the cast led by Lee J. Cobb. Considering it has such a sizeable main cast it is amazing how well developed each and everyone of them is with the lean script giving each of the perfectly cast actors a moment to shine.
3. It uses the claustrophobic single location to great effect, accentuating the sweltering heat and tense atmosphere amongst the conflicted men.
4.…
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Part of the Rewatchathon: popular classics
There is a certain predictable inevitability when watching a classic when you're a bit older than the first time you watched it. You up the rating to reflect its classic status. I'm glad to say that this is also the case for 12 Angry Men.
The always underwatched Sidney Lumet's first feature film proves to be the first promise he made for all the marvellous films he has made after it. 12 Angry Men is a dialogue driven cross section of male America in the fifties and it is unflinching in how it dares portray the pettiness and weaker sides of us humans. Weaknesses that are still present some 50 years after this was…
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Experienced with television at the time but new to cinema as a whole a young and amateur Sidney Lumet went and directed one of the finest feature film debuts of all time. Not many directors that start out making masterpieces.
12 Angry Men is a example of a chamber play type of film where the entire film/plot takes place in one particular setting. In many cases of films who have tried this, most have failed to bring forth with it a sense cinematic language and visual story telling. They often wind up being a recorded play with nothing more than spoken dialogue. Lumet's camera moves all around that jury deliberation room and brings life into it and its characters. It…
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One of those perfect marriages of scripting, casting and direction. So much so that it transcends time. 12 Angry Men is as significant and modern today as it was half a century ago. Lee J. Cobb in particular stood out as really spectacular this time around- but all 12 are as distinct and individual as ever. One of the great achievements in the medium.
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...If you want to vote not guilty, then do it because you're convinced the man is not guilty - not because you've had enough. And if you think he's guilty, then vote that way, or don't you have the guts to do what you think is right?
-Juror #11I love great character performances, big or small, in good or bad movies. I'll often love a film that has nothing going for it except for one amazing character driven performance. Characters that are fully fleshed out with past histories, flaws, hopes, dreams, ect, ect...
All these don't need to be spelled out for you or explained, but instead just by the characters actions, the way they speak, their reactions to…
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One of the most perfect movies ever made. A true masterpiece in every sense of the word.
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To watch 12 Angry Men is to watch master craftsmen construct something of beautiful simplicity. Sidney Lumet's debut film is a meticulously crafted story that has one of the greatest scripts ever written, some of the finest acting ever seen, and some of the most wonderful production values ever created.
Effortless, peerless, timeless; 12 Angry Men is perfect filmmaking.
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My all-time favorite film. Nowadays, heroes are defined as cape-wearing mutants or martial-art trained professionals fighting in the streets. While I, too, love those movies, it's this story that reminds me that all it takes to be a true hero in our society is to have the courage & tenacity to do what's right, even when the cards are stacked against you, everyone around you is pushing you to do otherwise & you know it would be easier to just give in.
That's just as hard as flying for most of us.
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What a marvelous movie. The characters feel so fleshed out yet you don't know anything about them, not even their names. And the tension is palpable, 12 guys sitting in a room and it's really intense. Absolutely brilliant.
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My favorite movie.
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Thank God this movie came out before a "top 50 reasons the Puerto Rican kid in 12 Angry Men definitely did it" YouTube video could ruin it. It's so easy to root for Henry Fonda's accessible liberalism and the spirit of democracy that you end up discounting any of the damning facts of the case. It's one of the best examples of getting overwhelmed by a film's emotion in spite of your own logic.
Watching it again, I felt as if Fonda overplayed his role a bit, especially in the speech for which he literally looks into the camera to lecture us about justice. He's asked to do one too many movie star things. Luckily, he has the best character…
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This is the only version I've watched. And it's a tense one. You're put right in the JURY ROOM with these guys. Right from the start you find out, it's the hottest day of the year, and the room has no AC. It's tough to not feel warm watching these actors. They sell the heat, and the tension. You can't help but feel this movie in the gut. Masterfully cast and directed.
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A first time viewing and what can I say but this is excellent. Sometimes I find films from this era a hard slog due to the pacing being a lot slower back then. Also the setting here for the most part in one small setting could be trying. However this is a tight film, with well rounded characters and sharp dialogue with a couple of satirical moments.
This film has a timeless quality, especially with it's plot and characterisation. Everything in it feels like it could happen today. I'll admit it that it's unlikely a jury today would be all male, yet that's purely an observation of when the film was made.
A classic.
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1 man is really angry and the others just want to watch football
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Simply WOW, this film is amazingly powerful considering it theater like setting all based in one room, the fact that you can visualise the crime they are discussing and you can understand all of the arguments and while I am sure you will guess the ending the journey is perfect.
I love the ideas they explore and all of the characters are their own type and all of them get a chance for some development and you can see the story from their point of view and if you are not gripped then you are not paying attention, seriously though this is worth seeingif you enjoy films.