12 Angry Men
by Sidney Lumet
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Actor: E.G. Marshall, Henry Fonda, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, Martin BalsamDirector: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Henry Fonda
Cinematographer: Boris Kaufman
Editor: Carl Lerner
Producer: George Justin
Producer: Reginald Rose
Writer: Reginald Rose
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
Published: 2001-03-01
DVD Release Date: 2001-03-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of 12 Angry Men
DVD Review: 1 Great Script + 1 Director Named Lumet + 12 Jurors + 12 Fine Acting Performances = 1 Heckuva Good Movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
How many times have you seen the "One Juror Holdout" theme played out in movies and (especially) on TV shows? Probably quite a few. But none done quite so well and so very convincingly as 1957's wonderful "12 Angry Men".
This black-and-white classic court drama was directed by Sidney Lumet and co-produced by one its star actors, Henry Fonda. The film premiered in movie theaters on April 13th, 1957.
This was Sidney Lumet's very first feature film as a director. He had only directed television programs up until "12 Angry Men". Lumet's first theatrical effort turned out to be a very good one indeed, belying its low budget and short three-week shooting schedule.
Did you know ..... That "12 Angry Men" was originally written for a TV program? The teleplay version was aired in 1954, as an episode of the TV series "Studio One".
The film was remade in 1997 (as a Made-for-Cable-TV movie), with Jack Lemmon starring in the Henry Fonda role. In many scenes, that newer version is pretty much a word-for-word duplication of the '57 film. The '97 version is OK, too. But the original is superior overall (IMO), with better jury-room atmosphere and that certain 1950s-period detail and aura that could never be replicated in later decades. William Friedkin (one of my favorite movie directors) directed the '97 version of "Angry Men". I hadn't realized that Friedkin was involved in the remake until doing some research for this Amazon review.
The '57 version of "Angry Men" earned three Oscar nominations, including one for "Best Picture" of the year (it lost out to "The Bridge On The River Kwai").
Henry Fonda stars in the film as "Juror #8". Fonda's arguments, as he attempts to persuade his fellow jurors of the defendant's "possible" but by no means "certain" innocence, play out exceptionally well in this film. This is due in no small part to Fonda's fine performance. Each of his eleven fellow actors (jurors), to a man, do quite nicely in their respective parts as well.
Very nearly all of this 96-minute film was shot in the "jury room", a perfectly natural setting for the movie considering the subject matter, of course. From what I've read, an actual jury room was used to shoot "12 Angry Men", which further enhances the gritty, realistic look of this B&W classic. The old-time jury quarters come complete with high ceiling and big (sticky) windows. Another realistic touch was the rickety and troublesome electric fan that juror Jack Warden just can't seem to get started (until the light switch is flipped on).
We get to see outside of that confining 16x24-foot jury room for only a very few minutes -- at the beginning and end of the movie. Those brief scenes include a nicely-done courtroom segment which depicts the trial's judge (portrayed by Rudy Bond) giving the jury the appropriate instructions before turning the murder case over to them. Note the bland, banal, and seemingly-uncaring manner in which the judge issues his instructions to the jury. I thought this was a good piece of writing here -- to have the judge, at the end of another long day in the sweltering non-air-conditioned courtroom, speak to the jury in a rather detached way. It's obvious that this judge has given out these exact same instructions many times prior to this trial. It's become merely "routine", and his robotic-like words are telling us that he could probably say this stuff in his sleep.
After the jury files into the back room, we get our only look at the defendant in this murder trial -- a young 18-year-old Hispanic boy who is accused of knifing his father to death late one night. The boy glances at the jurors as they leave the courtroom; and it's hard at that early point in the film to not feel some compassion and sympathy for this young man whose life is in the hands of the twelve men he just watched leave the room. It's another fine piece of (silent) writing here, to give the audience one brief look at the person whom the film's story is really all about. The young defendant, played by John Savoca, never says a word here, and never utters a sound, but he says a lot with just his facial expressions during those few short seconds he's on camera.
Very little music accompanies this movie (besides the low-key theme that plays under the opening credits and some additional music at the end of the picture). I'm guessing that Mr. Lumet was of the opinion that the tension in the jury room was ample enough to propel the film forward, and that a minimal amount of music was required. I think that's correct too.
The cast here is comprised of all men. Not a woman juror to be found. Even the two "alternate" jurors who were dismissed at the start of the picture are men (we get a brief glimpse of those two male alternates in one shot during the short courtroom scene).
I think it might have been interesting if one or two female jurors had been inserted into this Reginald Rose screenplay. But it was decided to go with an all-male jury instead. And I certainly can't fault the results. It's a film that works extremely well, despite the cliched premise (i.e., "11 vs. 1 in a jury room").
Screen time is divided up pretty evenly between the "Twelve Angry Men" throughout the film. And each and every one of these twelve actors is worth watching here. They're all very good. If the words "top-notch ensemble cast" ever applied to a motion picture, that phrase certainly would adequately describe this film's troupe of actors.
It's a cast filled with familiar faces (or soon-to-be-familiar faces, from a "circa 1957" perspective). As I look over this cast of 12, I'm reminded of something from a TV fan's standpoint .... and that is the connection between 8 of these 12 actors and one of the best-written television series ever aired, "The Fugitive" (which ran from 1963 to 1967). Eight of these "jurors" made guest appearances on "The Fugitive", some of them appearing in multiple episodes of that TV show.
The majority of this "angry dozen" also showed up on lots of other TV programs in the years following the release of this film -- including many episodes of "The Twilight Zone", which (like "The Fugitive") proved to be a familiar stomping ground for several of these actors, with five of them logging guest appearances on that Rod Serling-created anthology program.
Here's a rundown of the film's exceptional cast (complete with some random chunks of miscellaneous info and bio data re. each of these "jurors"):
"Juror #1" (The Jury Foreman) -- Played by 37-year-old Martin Balsam. .... Martin was one of the last "holdouts" in the film, changing his vote from Guilty to Not Guilty quite late in the movie. .... Martin is possibly best-known for his part as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in 1960's "Psycho". His "meeting" with "Mother" on the stairs is a memorable scene in that Hitchcock shocker. .... Balsam passed away of a heart attack in February 1996. He was 76.
"Juror #2" -- John Fiedler. .... John was the youngest of the twelve jurors (at age 32), besting Robert Webber for this "youngest" honor by just four months. .... Fiedler made scads of TV guest-starring appearances, including his memorable recurring role as "Mr. Peterson" in "The Bob Newhart Show" during the 1970s. .... He was also famous for providing voices for cartoon characters. .... The Wisconsin-born Fiedler died, at the age of 80, in June 2005.
"Juror #3" -- Lee J. Cobb (age 45). .... A distinguished film actor ("The Exorcist"; "The Three Faces Of Eve"; "The Dark Past"), Cobb was the very last "Angry" juror to have his vote swayed. His emotion-filled breakdown at the end of the film put a cap on the roller-coaster ride of feelings he exhibits throughout the movie. An extra nice touch is when Henry Fonda's character helps Cobb on with his jacket after all the other jurors have left the room. Fonda shows his compassion toward Cobb here, despite the violent outbursts Cobb aimed at Fonda earlier. A nice finishing touch of humanity here. .... Cobb was 64 when he passed away in 1976.
"Juror #4" -- E.G. Marshall (42 years old). .... Marshall acted in dozens of movies and made over 130 TV appearances (mostly in the early days of the medium). .... Was born in Minnesota in 1914. Died in 1998.
"Juror #5" -- Jack Klugman (34 years of age during filming) -- Famous for his TV characters ("Oscar Madison" and "Quincy"), Jack's acting career began in the very earliest days of television (in 1950). .... Klugman is also remembered fondly by this writer for his parts in the TV series "The Twilight Zone". .... Klugman, like two of his jury-mates, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (the other two Philly-born actors in the cast being Ed Binns and Joe Sweeney).
"Juror #6" -- Edward Binns. .... There's a nifty little "connection" between Binns and Henry Fonda (besides this picture) -- i.e., both appeared in the 1964 film "Fail-Safe" as well ("Grady, this is the President!!"). Binns was playing bomber pilot "Grady" when he was being screamed at by "President" Fonda. Another "Fail-Safe"/"12 Angry Men" tie-in is the fact that Sidney Lumet directed both movies. .... Ed Binns passed on in December of 1990 (when he was 74). He was 40 when he played "Juror Number Six".
"Juror #7" -- Jack Warden. .... Jack provides most of the comic relief in this movie. He gets in several zingers at the expense of Baltimore Orioles' baseball fan Jack Klugman -- "Baltimore? What have they got, except good groundskeeping?" -- "And pop-ups are fallin' for base hits wherever we look!". .... Warden was 36 in early 1957 when "Angry Men" was filmed. .... Jack's acting career, in both TV and in the movies, extends back to 1951.
"Juror #8" -- Henry Fonda. .... The most recognized name in the cast, Fonda was 51 when he made "12 Angry Men". .... Henry was famous for his many highly-memorable big-screen roles, in such films as "Mister Roberts", "The Grapes Of Wrath", "Young Mr. Lincoln", and "On Golden Pond". .... I'm also very partial to Fonda's performance in "Fail-Safe", in which (as mentioned previously) he portrayed the President of the United States. .... Henry Fonda left behind a legion of faithful fans and a legendary roster of film roles when he died on August 12th, 1982, at the age of 77.
"Juror #9" -- Joseph Sweeney. .... Sweeney was the oldest (72) and one of the most likeable of the 12 jurors in the film. .... Joe was one of only two jurors whose name was revealed in the movie (Mr. "McCardle"). .... Sweeney only made six movies, with "12 Angry Men" being his last. His first film was a 1918 silent flick called "Sylvia On A Spree". .... The 79-year-old Sweeney passed away on November 25, 1963 (the very same day that America buried its assassinated President, John F. Kennedy).
"Juror #10" -- Ed Begley (Sr.). .... Begley, 56, played the bigoted "Juror Number Ten", whose "Not Guilty" vote does not come without a vigorous fight ("Ya know what I mean?"). .... I've always liked this guy in everything I've seen him in, from Barbara Stanwyck's father in the screen version of the famous radio play "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948), to "Patterns" (both the TV version in 1955 and the film adaption the following year), to a skillful performance in "The Fugitive" in 1964, to his very funny part as a court judge in a 1965 episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" ("Mr. Petrie, is it your intention to go through the ENTIRE alphabet?!" LOL!). .... Ed Begley, in April 1970, died at the age of 69.
"Juror #11" -- 51-year-old George Voskovec. .... The Austrian-born Voskovec was the only juror (actor) who was not a native of the United States. .... His lineup of credits includes several movie parts and better than fifty TV roles. .... Date of death: July 1, 1981 (age 76).
"Juror #12" -- Robert Webber (age 32). .... Like many of these other actors, Webber's list of TV acting credits is about a mile long. Just prior to his death (of Lou Gehrig's Disease) in 1989, Robert had been a regular in the TV series "Moonlighting". .... He was also a common sight in 1970s-era television crime dramas.
THE DOPE ON THIS
"MGM Home Entertainment, Inc." placed this DVD on the home-video market on March 6th, 2001. "12 Angry Men" is part of MGM's "Vintage Classics" series of DVDs.
The disc sports a very-pleasing Widescreen (1.66:1) image and two Dolby Digital audio soundtracks (English 2.0 Mono and French 2.0 Mono). It's not an Anamorphic video transfer we see here, but picture detail looks excellent nonetheless. Very little to complain about, IMO. French and Spanish subtitles are on the disc, too.
The Original Theatrical Trailer for "12 Angry Men" is the lone bonus supplement offered up on the disc. Run time for the trailer is 2:13. As with many trailers of this era, watch for the "alternate" takes of scenes (which are not quite the same as what end up on screen in the final cut of the movie). Lee Cobb's "fuming tirade" scene, for instance, is a different "take" than the one in the finished film, with some extra (snarling) dialogue added as well.
I get a kick out of old trailers. And while this one for "12 Angry Men" doesn't include the melodramatic screen-filling written passages that some (even older) movie trailers contain, the narration we find here has that same 'overdone' effect. An example being when this completely-inaccurate narration is heard in the trailer: "Twelve men turned into twelve clawing animals!" ... Huh?? 12 clawing animals? This is not true at all. Only one of the jurors would even remotely fit that description (Cobb).
The overly-dramatic music used for the trailer is not to be found in the movie itself either. Fun-to-watch stuff though.
The DVD Menus are quiet and static in nature. Four choices are available from the disc's Main Menu screen -- "Play"; "Scene Selections" (four Menu screens used for the movie's 16 chapters); "Theatrical Trailer"; and "Languages".
No paper insert is included.
I'd also like to point out a mistake in the movie description that is found on the back of the DVD case. For some reason the author of that descriptive blurb claims: "Eleven jurors are convinced that the defendant is guilty of murder. The twelfth has no doubt of his innocence".
The above passage is not accurate. The 12th juror referred to there (Fonda) is not at all completely convinced of the defendant's innocence. Fonda's character (revealed as "Mr. Davis" in the final reel) states numerous times during the movie that he "isn't sure" if the boy is guilty or innocent. In fact, he says "I don't know" when asked point-blank by a fellow juror "Do you really think he's innocent?". So, I just wanted to point out this erroneous info being given to unaware DVD buyers who might take the package's blurb to heart. Certainly not an Earth-shaking error, but still worth pointing out.
There's another minor error on the packaging as well. The box claims that the film received "four" Academy Award nominations...which is wrong. It received three.
To close this "Angry" dissertation ;) .........
"12 Angry Men" has been one of my favorite motion pictures for a long time now. It's certainly one of the best-written and competently-acted dramas of its kind ever produced. And this sparkling-looking DVD edition only makes me want to revisit this film all the more. And I'll bet that the odds are 11-to-1 in favor of other DVD owners feeling that same way after viewing this Digital Disc.
Pretty good odds, huh? (Or are they?) ~wink~
Description of 12 Angry Men
Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/20/2008 Run time: 96 minutesBestsellers in DVD
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