8.9/10
662,390
1,576 user 144 critic

12 Angry Men (1957)

PG | | Crime, Drama | 10 April 1957 (USA)
Trailer
1:36 | Trailer
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)
Popularity
510 ( 62)
Top Rated Movies #5 | Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 9 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Edit

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 Joseph Sweeney ... Juror 9
Ed Begley ... Juror 10
George Voskovec ... Juror 11
Robert Webber ... Juror 12
Learn more

More Like This 

Certificate: PG Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9/10 X  

The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
The Godfather (1972)
Certificate: 18A Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9.2/10 X  

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Certificate: 16+ Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.9/10 X  

The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
Certificate: PA Biography | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.9/10 X  

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley
Certificate: PG Action | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9/10 X  

When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
Certificate: 14A Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9.3/10 X  

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Director: Frank Darabont
Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Fight Club (1999)
Certificate: R Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.8/10 X  

An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soapmaker form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf
Certificate: 13+ Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.7/10 X  

A criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.

Director: Milos Forman
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson
Forrest Gump (1994)
Certificate: PG Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.8/10 X  

The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the events of Vietnam, Watergate and other historical events unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
Certificate: 14+ Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.8/10 X  

A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.

Director: Sergio Leone
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
Certificate: 14A Adventure | Drama | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.9/10 X  

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen
Goodfellas (1990)
Certificate: 14A Biography | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.7/10 X  

The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mob, covering his relationship with his wife Karen Hill and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito in the Italian-American crime syndicate.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
Edit

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. Written by pjk <PETESID@VNET.IBM.COM>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

...it explodes like twelve sticks of dynamite! See more »

Genres:

Crime | Drama

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 1973 a version in Spanish titled "Doce hombres sin piedad" (Twelve men without pity) was broadcast by state channel RTVE for their "Estudio 1" filmed theatre show, following the original very closely, complete with American flag in the room and Yankees and Orioles baseball talk. Made and broadcast still under the Francisco Franco dictatorship, it wouldn't be until 22 years later that Spanish law allowed juror trials. See more »

Goofs

Juror 7 takes his coat off early in the film as does many of the rest of the characters. However, when the knife is summoned into the Jury Room and Juror 4 leans in and flicks it open, the very next shot is the reaction of Juror 8 sitting at the table. You can now see the partial body of Juror 7 sitting next to Juror 8 with his coat on. See more »

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 ...
See more »

Crazy Credits

All of the credits are in lowercase. See more »

Connections

Featured in 12 Angry Men: From TV to the Big Screen (2011) See more »

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

The over-used term "classic movie" really comes into its own here!
12 August 2002 | by uds3See all my reviews

This once-in-a-generation masterpiece simply has no equal. The late 90's TV remake was quite adequate though totally unnecessary and in the upshot proved simply that updating a film for updating's sake is really an exercise in futility. Even had it BEEN as good - so what?

There could be few, if ANY film-goers reading this who are unaware of the plotline and in any event many others have re-hashed this for you. The brilliance of the film is evident in so many aspects. To begin with, the ability to not only sustain interest but to command the viewer's attention for basically its entire running time within a setting of principally just one room, borders on the inspired. Whether or not that would actually work with TODAY'S audiences is another discussion! What we have here are twelve everyday Mr Joe Blows, summoned together on a jury panel to decide a defendant's guilt or innocence with regards to a murder charge. If you were to gather unto yourselves ANY twelve jurors at random, you would most likely be able to pinpoint the Henry Fonda, Lee Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Jack Warden etc etc amongst them! Their very "ordinariness" is where the film succeeded. Everyone can identify with at least ONE of those characters. Whether or not he may WANT to is a different matter. The thinker, the sensitive man, the arrogant bully, the opportunist, the mentally challenged loudmouth, the slimeball, the emotionally withdrawn, the sheep etc - they're all here! Welcome to society folks! I dislike society in the main - doubtless a reason I found this film to be such a revelation..even when I was barely into my teens!

12 ANGRY MEN also pinpoints the shortcomings of the law, how "truth" can be so intrinsically left-field and unintentionally flawed. Lumet, working within a minimal budget here, delivers unstinting brilliance in both direction, character portrayal and script interpretation. He had of course superb acting talent at his disposal although some of the most memorable performances are from the lesser players. Some have denounced Fonda's role as being acceptable rather than awesome. I think however he was to a great degree playing himself here, not to an audience. His, is a study in deliberation and logic not show-pony stuff, but hell that never WAS Fonda was it?

This is a great great movie, as is evidenced by the extremely high user-vote worldwide. IF you haven't seen it - you really should do something about that!


241 of 278 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
Review this title | See all 1,576 user reviews »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
Edit

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1957 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Douze hommes en colère See more »

Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$350,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$576
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion-Nova Productions See more »
Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Mono

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1
See full technical specs »

Contribute to This Page



Recently Viewed