12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical big-screen courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system as riveting as it is spare, the iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the initially dissenting member of a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. What results is a saga of epic proportions that plays out in real time over ninety minutes in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature-film debuts.
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Official Movie Discussion
Talk about 12 Angry Men 01/17 with the 3BR community.
This has got to be my favorite character study movie! It is very well written and superbly acted. While the questions the trial raises are interesting, the character development as the jurors deliberate is the most fascinating part of this story.
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