12 Angry Men (1957)

There are courtroom movies and there are courtroom movies, and then there is "12 Angry Men". Surely, surely, the greatest movie set on a courthouse, but which denies it at the same time, as it takes a never seen approach on the concept. Usually, your typical courtroom drama features massive speeches by the lawyers, last minute revelations by the witnesses, judges with powerful voices, and great deal of tension as the jury is out deliberating. "12 Angry Men" is precisely about that deliberation. Based on a TV play by Reginald Rose, and the first feature film of director Sydney Lumet (whose height would be on the 1970s with movies such as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and Murder on the Orient Express), 12 Angry Men starts as the jury walks in the jury room and ends 1h30min later as they go out with the verdict. Boring? Not in the least. For a movie with twelve actors filmed in a single room it relies heavily on its screenplay and the magnificence of its actors, with long continuous takes that make you catch your breath. The 12 jurors are off course stereotyped, but you have to remember that this was 1957, and the movie was very bold in its portrayal of social clashes. You have the average joe, the emigrant, the meticulous banker, the advertising man, the bully, an old man, a guy just interested in sports, etc, etc, and off course, Henry Fonda, an architect, dressed in white, a halo one might say. At the beginning, 11 of them vote for guilty and only Fonda votes not guilty, not because he thinks so, but because he wants to be fully sure before sending the 18 year old boy, poor, from the slums, on trial, to the electric chair, for murdering his father. So they begin to talk, and has they do, and go over the case, the spectator becomes part of it, understanding every point, and starting to guess what exactly happened and if the kid is guilty or innocent. As doubts arise as they start to question every point, their personal feelings on the case cannot help but be exposed, and the tension grows between these 12 angry man, to a point where almost themselves, and what they are, and what they believe, are on trial, not only in that tiny room, but in the 50s American society. The acting is superb, Fonda always calm but with great inner strength, Lee J Cobb and Ed Begley as menacing and prejudiced presences, Joseph Sweeney as the shrewd old man, as well as other such as Martin Balsam and Jack Warden, in one of his first roles on the silver screen. Powerful, with incredible rhythm, a glorious screenplay and top notch acting. Also it has all the glory of courtroom dramas without the courtroom, which was an incredible achievement. And most of all, it goes beyond the murder case, to the human side of its 12 characters. A movie that didn't lose anything with age, and now, 53 years later, it is still an incredible thing to behold. Seen it various times and will continue to do so. And Lumet, although having gained a reputation for other later films, I think never repeated the beautiful simplicity this movie has.