12 Angry Men

Released: April 13, 1957

Studio: United Artists

Genre: courtroom drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 4.36 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: 16.33

Directing: Sidney Lumet

Screenwriting: Reginald Rose

Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden

Review:

In his directorial debut, Sidney Lumet adapts Reginald Rose’s television play to a masterful courtroom drama. “In a hot summer courtroom in NYC, a teenaged Latino (Savoca) is on trial for murdering his father with a switchblade knife and faces the electric chair if convicted.” ^FS The “film finds all its drama outside the courtroom itself and inside a jury deliberation room packed with fantastic character actors.” ^E18

Of the twelve jurors, only one (Henry Fonda) thinks there is reasonable doubt regarding a guilty conviction. “In the sweaty, claustrophobic room, the tempers, prejudices and personalities of the cranky, smoking men are displayed as they examine the evidence and deliberate their verdict.” ^FS In a model of how to change opinions in the face of adversity, Fonda methodically convinces everyone to change their verdicts to not guilty.

“The growing sense of claustrophobia in 12 Angry Men was masterfully designed and contributed to the film's critical success…Lumet’s use of camera angles is a benchmark for how those lens choices actually affect mood. As the movie starts, the camera begins above eye level, it later slides down to eye level as the story develops, and toward the end of the movie it is below eye level, heightening the tension.” ^MSN