Tuesday, February 24, 2004

12 Angry Men (1957)

Plot: A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

Don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I think this is one of the best classics ever. Not necessarily my favorite, but one of the best. In the short space of two hours, it manages to flesh out very thoroughly twelve distinct characters, at the same time keeping you intrigued with the mystery aspect of it. I found myself watching eagerly every second. Would I recommend this? You bet! 4.5 stars.

1 comment:

Travis S. McClain said...

I'll never forget watching this for the first time in school. I can't recall what grade or class; high school, maybe? It doesn't matter. I was so captivated that I'm not sure I was aware of anything else. Piece by piece, Henry Fonda unravels the entire case against the unseen defendant. It's a brilliant exploration of just what "beyond a reasonable doubt" is meant to guard against in our judicial system.

I've often wondered how the public reacted to their verdict. If the eleven other jurors were all so certain of the kid's guilt, surely the newspapers were calling for blood. Can you imagine these jurors today, with Nancy Grace scrutinizing everything said and speculated about the case from start to finish? The rhetoric online about how their verdict was evidence that the system doesn't work because "everybody knows" the kid did it, etc.?

Tempted as I am to want to see that aftermath, I think it's best that we don't. We should never reach conclusions based on how others may react to them; we should reach them because the information available to us leads us to them. Still, I think I would have liked if one of the jurors had raised the issue: "How are we supposed to go out in public after this? They're calling for his head now, they'll call for ours for not giving it!"

Also, my favorite specific moment is when they have the epiphany that the eyewitness had indentations on her nose indicating that she wore eyeglasses regularly. That was a Sherlockian attention to detail that wowed me the first time through, and it's a private thrill for me to re-watch it or even just to discuss.