12 Angry Men (1957)

A jury holdout attempts to prevent a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to reconsider the evidence.

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Reginald Rose (story), Reginald Rose (screenplay)

Stars:

Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam

Top Rated Movies #5 | Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Martin Balsam	...	Juror 1
John Fiedler	...	Juror 2
Lee J. Cobb	...	Juror 3
E.G. Marshall	...	Juror 4
Jack Klugman	...	Juror 5
Edward Binns	...	Juror 6
Jack Warden	...	Juror 7
Henry Fonda	...	Juror 8
Joseph Sweeney	...	Juror 9
Ed Begley	...	Juror 10
George Voskovec	...	Juror 11
Robert Webber	...	Juror 12

Storyline

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case of murder soon becomes a detective story that presents a succession of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room.

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Plot Keywords:

jury | dialogue driven | courtroom | trial | prejudice | 

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Taglines:

They have twelve scraps of paper... Twelve chances to kill!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Studios [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

12 Angry Men

Filming Locations:

New York County Courthouse - 60 Centre Street, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$350,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion-Nova Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "unusual-looking knife" in this movie is an Italian stiletto switchblade with a Filipino-style Kriss blade.

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Goofs

Juror #9 reveals that be had noticed that a key witness that testified seeing the murder from afar when awakened in bed, had marks on her nose typically left by eye glasses, raising reasonable doubt the truthfulness of her testimony. In his subsequent line of questioning with the be-speckled Juror #4, Juror #9 then mentions he has 20/20 vision. Yet, upon subsequent close-ups, Juror #9 clearly has the same marks on his nose that the witness and Juror #4 had, indicating that he also wears glasses, invalidating his earlier claim of 20/20 vision.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Man in corridor: You did a wonderful job, wonderful job!
Judge: To continue, you've listened to a long and complex case, murder in the first degree. Premeditated murder is the most serious charge tried in our criminal courts. You've listened to the testimony, you've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case, it's now your duty to sit down and try to separate the facts from the fancy. One man is dead, another man's life is at stake, if there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to...

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the film, the actors are billed in order of their juror numbers; thus Henry Fonda, although the star of the film, appears 8th.

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Connections

Referenced in Three Angry Men (2017)

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Soundtracks

Dance of the Cuckoos
(uncredited)
Music by Marvin Hatley
Portion whistled by Jack Warden

User Reviews

Simple but great.

'12 Angry Men' is an outstanding film. It is proof that, for a film to be great, it does not need extensive scenery, elaborate costumes or expensive special effects - just superlative acting.

The twelve angry men are the twelve jurors of a murder case. An eighteen-year-old boy from a slum background is accused of stabbing his father to death and faces the electric chair if convicted. Eleven of the men believe the boy to be guilty; only one (Henry Fonda) has doubts. Can he manage to convince the others?

The court case provides only a framework, however. The film's greatness lies in its bringing-together of twelve different men who have never met each other before and the interaction of their characters as each man brings his own background and life experiences into the case. Thus, we have the hesitant football coach (Martin Balsam), the shy, uncertain bank clerk (John Fiedler), the aggressive call company director (Lee J. Cobb), the authoritative broker (E.G. Marshall), the self-conscious slum dweller (Jack Klugman), the solid, dependable painter (Edward Binns), the selfish salesman (Jack Warden), the calm, collected architect (Fonda), the thoughtful, observant older man (Joseph Sweeney), the racially bigoted garage owner (Ed Begley), the East European watchmaker (George Voskovec) and the beefcake advertising agent (Robert Webber) who has plenty of chat and little else.

Almost the entire film takes place in just one room, the jury room, where the men have retired to consider their verdict. The viewer finds him or herself sweating it out with the jury as the heat rises, literally and metaphorically, among the men as they make their way towards their final verdict. Interestingly, the jurors (apart from two at the end) are never named. They do not need to be. Their characters speak for them.

Henry Fonda is eminently suitable and excellently believable as the dissenter who brings home the importance of a jury's duty to examine evidence thoroughly and without prejudice. Joseph Sweeney is delightful as Juror No. 9, the quiet but shrewd old man who misses nothing, whilst E.G. Marshall brings his usual firmness and authority to the role of Juror No. 4. All the actors shine but perhaps the best performance is that of Lee J. Cobb as Juror No. 3, the hard, stubborn, aggressive, vindictive avenger who is reduced to breaking down when forced to confront the failure of his relationship with his own son.

Several of the stars of '12 Angry Men' became household names. Henry Fonda continued his distinguished career until his death in 1982, as well as fathering Jane and Peter. Lee J. Cobb landed the major role of Judge Henry Garth in 'The Virginian'. E.G. Marshall enjoyed a long, reputable career on film and t.v., including playing Joseph P. Kennedy in the 'Kennedy' mini-series. Jack Klugman was 'Quincy' whilst John Fiedler voiced Piglet in the 'Winnie The Pooh' films and cartoons.

Of the twelve, only John Fiedler, Jack Klugman and Jack Warden* are still alive. Although around the eighty mark, they are all still acting. The film was still available on video last year and it is shown on t.v. fairly frequently. I cannot recommend it too highly!

(*John Fiedler died June 2005. Jack Warden died July 2006.)