"It's possible for a lawyer to be really stupid, isn't it?" Juror No. 8

The day was hot. The jurors dutifully filed into the jury room, having received the judge's instructions and found that the fan did not work. It was a murder trial and the eighteen year old hispanic boy was accused of killing his father. It was the jury's task to determine whether the boy was guilty or not guilty according to the evidence presented in the unseen trial. They had been advised a guilty verdict would result in the death penalty with no possibility of mercy. For the next ninety minutes we will hear points pro and contra the case and what constitutes a reasonable doubt...

12 Angry Men is a morality play that examines the group dynamics among the twelve jurors, all white males. The 1957 film's subject was controversial in its day but is quite mild by today's standards.

This was Henry Fonda's pet project and he produced it himself after all the studios turned thumbs down on it as a sure money loser. Based on a 1954 television drama by Reginald Rose, who also wrote the screenplay, Fonda hired TV director Sidney Lumet and cast himself as the star, the pivotal Juror No. 8. The other jurors were chosen from talented actors who had proved themselves in the infant medium television. Jack Warden, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, E. G. Marshall, Robert Webber, as well as Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec (Spy Who Came in From the Cold), Edward Binns, and John Fiedler.

Back to the jury room: after some small talk and preliminary remarks about the heat and removal of some jackets, the men gather around the table and decide to vote right off. After all, it's an open and shut case and they all have places to be and things to do. Well, almost. Juror No. 8 (Henry Fonda) is the sole dissenter. This makes a few jurors angry and some baffled but Fonda will not be denied. He wants to discuss the case...

The camera by Boris Kaufman floats among the members and makes many memorable compositions, the actors say their lines with conviction and appropriate body language. The screenplay is well written but manipulative as hell. Fonda gets all the good lines, coming off as calm and good natured but his arguments are mostly non-sequiturs. Even the most logical of the jurors, E. G. Marshall, finally caves in in exasperation, seeming to want to be somewhere else - anywhere else. Lee J. Cobb - the most memorable juror - who tries to bully the others makes several convenient freudian slips, coming off as truly stupid as does Ed Begley who is cast as a transparent racist. These criticisms are minor, as the film is well done, but it should be realized that Fonda's character was exhibiting salesmanship of some pretty bankrupt ideology, i.e., there is no real truth, everything is subjective. The lack of strong moral convictions in several of the characters was also underscored. In these areas I found Lumet's emphasis to be heavy handed, despite the film being compelling.

The MGM DVD is presented in well preserved Black and White, in 1.85:1 theatrical format, and comes with the theatrical trailer as the sole extra. Even in a dialog-heavy film like this, no English subtitles are provided. With 12 Angry Men as number 25 on the AFI top 100 films of all time, this is a pretty poor DVD package.

Three other of Lumet's films I highly enjoyed were The Verdict , The Pawnbroker , and Long Day's Journey Into Night

Thanks for reading!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day