12 Angry Men makes you wish your stint at jury duty could be this electric and inspiring. The premise of the tv film-turned-theatrical release starring Henry Fonda is about 12 men serving on a jury deliberating about whether a teenager from the slums should get the death penalty after being accused of killing his father.
Fonda made his mark in film portraying the upright citizen who stands up for what he believes whether anyone else does, and he shines in this film as such. He is the only one out of the 12 jurors who initially believes the accused is guilty, and sets out to prove that there is room for doubt. The other 11 jurors (only known by number, but played by Martin Balsam, John Fielder, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, and Robert Webber) show the serious side of character acting, each showing different facets of humanity, from the sympathetic to the intelligent to the downright belligerent.
It wouldn’t seem like this film, centered around 12 guys arguing, is one that would make for riveting drama, but it is. The drama is so intense, that I think it could be considered an action movie. The jurors’ debates become about more than if a boy should be sentenced to death; they become about prejudice, familial relationships, self-reliance and general philosophies on life.
This film is a definite must-see for anyone wanting to see how to construct a drama. All you need are compelling people sitting in one room, hammering out viewpoints.
