Ian Peters - 12 Angry Men

My Criteria for a “Good Movie” – Click Here (no, Rhineland State College doesn’t actually exist)

12 Angry Men was a film directed by Sidney Lumet in 1957, adapted from the play of the same name.  The film is about twelve jurors in a New York courtroom who must decide the fate of an 18 year old boy who allegedly stabbed his father.  However, not only was his guilt on the line, so was his life, because the punishment for the crime was the death penalty.

The film opens on the courtroom, showing the jurors from a wide angle, with the judge looking bored from the case.  Then the camera has a medium shot panning through all the jurors, then fading to the boy, who looks worried.  After showing the credits, viewers are welcomed to the next hour and a half of the movie, the deliberation room.

There are twelve jurors in the room, all from different backgrounds.  In the first vote, all but one juror votes guilty (noting that the vote must be unanimous).  This leads to a long debate over whether or not the boy should be sentenced to death or not.  Juror #8 (the initial one to vote not guilty) rationalizes his vote saying, “Well, I think that testimony that can put a boy into the electric chair should be that accurate.”

The jurors’ different backgrounds are significant to the telling of the story.  We have a stockbroker who relies solely on fact, a man from the slums (where the defendant was also from), an indifferent sports fan, a naturalized foreigner, an observant old man, an indecisive executive, the foreman, an eager young man, two pushy and stubborn men, a tough painter, and the protagonist.  This diversity not only encourages strong, healthy debate, but also enables the jurors and viewer to see how the different jurors think and react to different statements.

The actors all did an excellent job playing their parts, especially Lee J. Cobb as the stubborn man who is still angry over an argument he had with his son several years earlier.  George Voskovec also played a naturalized immigrant very well, showing how much he truly appreciated the right to a fair trial and jury of a defendant’s peers.

One thing that is notable about 12 Angry Men is how much detail is presented from the case.  While the viewers never see the actual courtroom, other than the end of the trial at the beginning of the film, the viewer is presented with more than enough evidence to make their own decision over the guilt of the defendant.  This also shows how the jurors were reasonable enough to make their decision based on all of the evidence presented to them, including some observations made by the men.

The camera shots in 12 Angry Men are done in an interesting way.  At the beginning of the film, the deliberation room seems large enough to handle the twelve men, although not comfortably.  Near the end of the film, there are closer up shots, making the room seem smaller, which creates an illusion of claustrophobia.

The story of 12 Angry Men is very relatable, whether it is someone who is wrongly accused of committing a crime or, more realistically, somebody sitting on a jury who wants to make sure that the defendant is tried appropriately and fairly.

All in all, 12 Angry Men is an excellent film, and is ranked 87 out of 100 in the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Films (and I rate it a 20/20 on the Rhineland Published Films Rubric).  I recommend that every American citizen watches this film.