12 Angry Men (1957 film)

12 Angry Men
File:12 angry men.jpg Original film poster
Directed by	Sidney Lumet
Written by	Reginald Rose
Produced by	Henry Fonda Reginald Rose
Starring	Henry Fonda Lee J. Cobb E. G. Marshall Martin Balsam Jack Warden John Fiedler Jack Klugman Edward Binns Joseph Sweeney Ed Begley George Voskovec Robert Webber
Cinematography	Boris Kaufman
Edited by	Carl Lerner
Music by	Kenyon Hopkins
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	April 13, 1957 (1957-04-13)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$350,000

Movie trailer

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. In the United States (both then and now), the verdict in most criminal trials by jury must be unanimous one way or the other. The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set: with the exception of the film's opening, which begins outside on the steps of the courthouse and ends with the jury's final instructions before retiring, a brief final scene on the courthouse steps and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room. The total time spent outside of the jury room is three minutes out of the full 96 minutes of the movie.

12 Angry Men explores many techniques of consensus-building, and the difficulties encountered in the process, among a group of men whose range of personalities adds intensity and conflict. Apart from two of the jurors swapping names while leaving the courthouse, no names are used in the film: the defendant is referred to as "the boy" and the witnesses as the "old man" and "the lady across the street".

In 2007, 12 Angry Men was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

The story begins in a courtroom where a teenage boy from a city slum is on trial for the stabbing death of his father. Final closing arguments are presented, and the judge then instructs the jury to decide whether the boy is guilty of murder. The judge further informs them that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence.

The twelve-man jury retires to a private room, where they spend a short while getting acquainted before they begin deliberating. It is immediately apparent that the jurors have already decided that the boy is guilty, and that they plan to return their verdict quickly, without taking time for discussion – with the sole exception of Juror Number 8 (Henry Fonda). His is the only "not guilty" vote in a preliminary tally. He explains that there is too much at stake for him to go along with the verdict without at least talking about it first. His vote annoys the other jurors, particularly Juror 7 (Jack Warden), who has tickets to the evening's baseball game.

The rest of the film centers around the jury's difficulty in reaching a unanimous verdict. While several of the jurors harbor personal prejudices, Juror 8 maintains that the evidence presented in the case is circumstantial, and that the boy deserves a fair deliberation. He calls into question the accuracy and reliability of the only two witnesses to the murder, the rarity of the murder weapon (a common pocketknife, of which he has an identical copy), and the overall questionable circumstances (including the fact that an elevated train was passing by at the time of the murder). He further argues that he cannot in good conscience vote "guilty" when he feels there is reasonable doubt of the boy's guilt.

Having argued several points and gotten no favorable response from the others, Juror 8 reluctantly agrees that all he seems to be accomplishing is hanging the jury. He takes a bold gamble: He requests another vote, this time by secret ballot. He proposes that he will abstain from voting, and if the other eleven jurors are still unanimous in a guilty vote, then he will acquiesce to their decision. The secret ballot is held, and a new "not guilty" vote appears. Juror 9 (Joseph Sweeney) is the first to support Juror 8, feeling that his points deserve further discussion.

After Juror 8 presents a convincing argument that one of the witnesses, who claimed to have heard the murder taking place, could not have heard the voices as clearly as he had testified, Juror 5 (Jack Klugman) – who had grown up in a slum – changes his vote to "not guilty." This earns intense criticism from Juror 3 (Lee J. Cobb), who accuses 5 of switching only because he's sympathetic toward slum children. Soon afterward, Juror 11 (George Voskovec) questions whether the defendant would have reasonably fled the scene and come back three hours later to retrieve the knife, then also changes his vote.

Juror 8 then conducts a short experiment to question the witness's other claim, that upon hearing the murder, he had gone to the door of his apartment and seen the defendant running out of the building. Juror 3, growing more irritated throughout the process, explodes in a rant: "He's got to burn! He's slipping through our fingers!" Juror 8 takes him to task, calling him a "self-appointed public avenger" and a sadist. Juror 3 shouts "I'll kill him!" and starts lunging at 8, but is restrained by two others. 8 calmly retorts, "Now, you don't really want to kill me, do you?"

After Jurors 2 (John Fiedler) and 6 (Edward Binns) also decide to vote "not guilty", tying the vote at 6–6, increasingly impatient Juror 7 changes his vote just so that the deliberation may end, which earns him nothing but shame. When scathingly pressed by Juror 11 about using his vote frivolously, however, Juror 7 insists that he truly believes the defendant is not guilty because he has come to have a reasonable doubt as the other jurors pore over the facts. Coincidentally, it begins to rain outside, meaning that the ball game he was looking forward to will be postponed, rendering his selfish reasons moot.

Juror 2 calls into question the prosecution's claim that the accused, who was nearly a half a foot shorter than the victim, was able to stab him in such a way as to inflict the downward stab wound found on the body; Juror 5 then explains that he had grown up amidst knife fights in his neighborhood, and no one so much shorter than his opponent would have held a switchblade in such a way as to stab downward, as it would have been too awkward. This revelation augments the certainty of several of the jurors in their belief that the defendant is not guilty.

The next jurors to change their votes are Jurors 12 (Robert Webber) and 1 (Martin Balsam), making the vote 9–3. The only dissenters left are Jurors 3, 4 (E.G. Marshall), and 10 (Ed Begley). Outraged at how the proceedings have gone, Juror 10 proceeds to go into a rage on why people from the slums cannot be trusted, of how they are little better than animals who gleefully kill each other off for fun. As he speaks, one by one the other jurors turn their backs to him until only Juror 4 remains. Confused and disturbed by this reaction to his diatribe, Juror 10 continues in a steadily fading voice and manner, concluding with the entreaty, "Listen to me! Listen...!" Juror 4, the only juror still facing him, tersely responds, "I have. Now sit down and don't open your mouth again."

When Juror 4 is pressed as to why he still maintains his vote, he states his belief that despite all the other evidence that has been called into question, the fact remains that the woman who saw the murder from her bedroom window across the street (through a passing train) still stands as solid evidence. After he points this out, Juror 12 changes his vote back to "guilty" to make the vote 8–4 again.

Then Juror 9, after seeing Juror 4 rub his nose (which is being irritated by his glasses), realizes that, like Juror 4, the witness who allegedly saw the murder had impressions in the sides of her nose, indicating that she wore glasses, but out of vanity did not wear them in court; he cannily asks Juror 4 if he wears his eyeglasses to sleep, and Juror 4 admits he doesn't – no one does. Juror 8 explains that there was thus no reason to expect that the witness happened to be wearing her glasses while trying to sleep, and he points out that the attack happened so swiftly that she would not have had time to put them on. After he points this out, Jurors 12, 10, and 4 all change their vote to "not guilty."

At this point, the only remaining juror with a guilty vote is Juror 3. A long argument with Juror 8 culminates in 3 revealing that he had had a poor relationship with his son, and his anger over this fact is the main reason he wants the defendant to be guilty. Juror 3 loses his temper and tears up a photo of himself and his son, then suddenly breaks down crying and changes his vote to "not guilty", making the vote unanimous.

As the jurors leave the room, 8 helps the distraught 3 with his coat in a show of compassion. The story ends when the friendly Jurors 8 (Davis) and 9 (McCardle) exchange names, and all of the jurors descend the courthouse steps to return to their individual lives.

Cast of characters

Juror #	Character	1954 actor	1957 actor	1997 actor	2004–2005 actor	2006–2007 actor	Order that juror votes 'not guilty'
1/The Foreman	The jury foreman, somewhat preoccupied with his duties; proves to be accommodating to others. An assistant high school football coach	Norman Fell (billed as Norman Feld)	Martin Balsam	Courtney B. Vance	Mark Blum	George Wendt	9th
2	A meek and unpretentious bank clerk who is at first domineered by others, but as the discussion furthers, so does his courage.	John Beal	John Fiedler	Ossie Davis	Kevin Greer	Todd Cerveris	5th
3	A businessman and distraught father, opinionated and stubborn with a temper; the antagonist	Franchot Tone	Lee J. Cobb	George C. Scott	Philip Bosco / Robert Foxworth	Randle Mell	12th
4	A rational stockbroker, unflappable, self-assured, and analytical	Walter Abel	E. G. Marshall	Armin Mueller-Stahl	James Rebhorn	Jeffrey Hayenga	11th
5	A young man from a violent slum, a Baltimore Orioles fan	Lee Philips (billed as Lee Phillips)	Jack Klugman	Dorian Harewood	Michael Mastro	Jim Saltouros	3rd
6	A house painter, tough but principled and respectful	Bart Burns	Edward Binns	James Gandolfini	Robert Clohessy	Charles Borland	6th
7	A salesman, sports fan, superficial and indifferent to the deliberations	Paul Hartman	Jack Warden	Tony Danza	John Pankow	Mark Morettini	7th
8	An architect, the first dissenter and protagonist. Identified as "Davis" at the end	Robert Cummings	Henry Fonda	Jack Lemmon	Boyd Gaines	Richard Thomas	1st
9	A wise and observant elderly man. Identified as "McCardle" at the end	Joseph Sweeney	Joseph Sweeney	Hume Cronyn	Tom Aldredge	Alan Mandell	2nd
10	A garage owner; a pushy and loudmouthed bigot	Edward Arnold	Ed Begley	Mykelti Williamson	Peter Friedman	Julian Gamble	10th
11	A European watchmaker and naturalized American citizen	George Voskovec	George Voskovec	Edward James Olmos	Larry Bryggman / Byron Loquon	David Lively	4th
12	A wisecracking, indecisive advertising executive	Larkin Ford (billed as William West)	Robert Webber	William Petersen	Adam Trese	Craig Wroe	8th

Production

Reginald Rose's screenplay for 12 Angry Men was initially produced for television (starring Robert Cummings as Juror 8), and was broadcast live on the CBS program Studio One in September 1954. A complete kinescope of that performance, which had been missing for years and was feared lost, was discovered in 2003. It was staged at Chelsea Studios in New York City.

The success of the television production resulted in a film adaptation. Sidney Lumet, whose prior directorial credits included dramas for television productions such as the Alcoa Hour and Studio One, was recruited by Henry Fonda and Rose to direct. 12 Angry Men was Lumet's first feature film, and for Fonda and Rose, who co-produced the film, it was their first and only role as film producers. Fonda later stated that he would never again produce a film.

The filming was completed after a short but rigorous rehearsal schedule in less than three weeks on a budget of about $350,000, or approximately $3 million when adjusted for inflation.

At the beginning of the film, the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater depth between subjects, but as the film progresses the focal length of the lenses is gradually increased. By the end of the film, nearly everyone is shown in closeup using telephoto lenses from a lower angle, which decreases or "shortens" depth of field. Lumet, who began his career as a director of photography, stated that his intention in using these techniques with cinematographer Boris Kaufman was to create a nearly palpable claustrophobia.

Reception

Critical response

On its first release, 12 Angry Men received critical acclaim. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote "It makes for taut, absorbing, and compelling drama that reaches far beyond the close confines of its jury room setting." His observation of the twelve men was that "their dramas are powerful and provocative enough to keep a viewer spellbound." However, it was not a commercial success: the advent of colour and widescreen productions resulted in a disappointing box office performance. It wasn't until its first airing on television that the movie finally found its audience.

Legacy

The film is today viewed as a classic, highly regarded from both a critical and popular viewpoint: Roger Ebert lists it as one of his "Great Movies". The American Film Institute named Juror 8, played by Henry Fonda, 28th in a list of the 50 greatest movie heroes of the 20th century. AFI also named 12 Angry Men the 42nd most inspiring film, the 88th most heart-pounding film and the 87th best film of the past hundred years. The film was also nominated for the 100 movies list in 1998. In June 2008, it revealed AFI's 10 Top 10—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. 12 Angry Men was acknowledged as the second best film in the courtroom drama genre. As of January 2011, the film holds a 100% approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.

American Film Institute recognition

• AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills - #88
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Juror #8 - #28 Hero
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers - #42
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #87
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #2 Courtroom Drama

Awards

The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing of Adapted Screenplay. It lost to the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai in all three categories. At the 7th Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the Golden Bear Award.

Adaptations

Television

Many television series have episodes based on the film. These include Hancock's Half Hour, Picket Fences, Perfect Strangers, The Dead Zone, Early Edition, The Odd Couple, King of the Hill, Matlock, 7th Heaven, Veronica Mars, Monk, Hey Arnold!, Peep Show.

• In the The Odd Couple, Oscar Madison, who served on a similar type of jury, was played by Jack Klugman, who played Juror 5 in this film.

• In the fifth season Happy Days episode "Fonzie for the Defense", Howard and Fonzie are called up for jury duty. The case involves a black biker who is accused of stealing an old lady's purse, and seems to be a very open-and-shut case. Fonzie, however, is the only one who is certain that the young man is "not guilty-amundo", and must convince the rest of the jury. Also in reference to the movie was when Howard backs up Fonzie's not guilty vote on the basis that he is not going to send a man to prison without deliberating on the case and determining the defendant was indeed guilty.

• In the first season All in the Family episode "Edith Has Jury Duty", Edith is a member of a jury deliberating a murder trial. Similar to the movie: the weapon used was a knife, and the accused was a Puerto Rican man. Edith was the one dissenting juror of a guilty verdict. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that someone else eventually broke down and admitted to the crime. As with many episodes, this one deals with the issue of racism and prejudice.

• In the 1993 Matlock episode "The Juror", Matlock was initially the lone juror voting "not guilty" and had to convince the others, one by one, with many personality conflicts erupting.

• In the first season episode of Hey Arnold! called "False Alarm", Arnold, Gerald, Helga, Phoebe, Harold, and Curly are a jury, and must reach a verdict over Eugene pulling a false alarm in school. Arnold is similar to Juror 8, and Curly is similar to Juror 3.

• In a Season 8 episode of Family Matters called "The Jury", Steve Urkel is the lone juror who believes the defendant is innocent of robbing a jewelry store, despite what appears to be clear videotape evidence of the defendant's guilt. But only Steve discovers something surprising in that very tape that proves the defendant is innocent.

• In a 2000 episode of 7th Heaven – "Twelve Angry People" from Season 4 – the Rev. Eric Camden is the lone juror who believes the defendant is guilty and must convince the other jurors of his guilt (the complete opposite of the movie's plot). This adaptation also deals with racism in the criminal justice system and the jury's initial willingness to invoke jury nullification in response both to that racism and a police corruption scandal that rocked Glen Oak, the fictitious California town where the series was set.

• An episode of the TV series Monk, "Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty", heavily spoofs the original 12 Angry Men. In this episode, the jury is presiding over the case of a man accused of stabbing another guy out to make a bank deposit. Many of the jurors analogue a 12 Angry Men juror in some way or form:
  • Adrian Monk (#11) is the initial "not guilty" holdout, much like Juror #8 in the film.
  • Patel (#2) is a parallel to Juror #11 (both are immigrants proud to be in America).
  • One juror is given the name Mr. Cobb, a tribute to Lee J. Cobb (the actor playing Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men), both of whom are the last people to vote "guilty".
  • The episode's sports fan juror (#10) parallels the film's Juror #7, and both make baseball references.
  • Both include a single initial "not guilty" vote and the same type of blade used to commit both crimes.
  • A panning shot in the episode of the jury room is supposed to mimic a similar scene in the movie.

12 Angry Men was remade for television in 1997. Directed by William Friedkin, the remake stars George C. Scott, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, William Petersen, Ossie Davis, Hume Cronyn, Courtney B. Vance, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mykelti Williamson, Edward James Olmos, Dorian Harewood, and Jack Lemmon. In this production, the judge is a woman and four of the jurors are African American (in interviews, producers said they decided against putting a woman in the jury because they did not want to change the title). Still, most of the action and dialogue of the film are identical to the original. Modernizations include a prohibition on smoking in the jury room, the changing of references to income and pop culture figures, more dialogue relating to race, and occasional profanity.

Film

Indian director Basu Chatterjee remade the film as Ek Ruka Hua Faisla in 1986.

In 2007, Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov completed 12, his remake of the movie. The jury of the 64th Venice Film Festival assigned its special prize to this remake 'to acknowledge the consistent brilliance of Nikita Mikhalkov's body of work.'

Stage

Main article: Twelve Angry Men (play)

Rose wrote several stage adaptations of the story. In 1964, Leo Genn appeared in the play on the London stage. In other theatrical adaptations in which female actors are cast, the play is retitled 12 Angry Jurors, 12 Angry Men and Women or 12 Angry Women.

In 2004, the Roundabout Theatre Company presented a Broadway production of the play, starring Boyd Gaines as a more combative Juror 8, with James Rebhorn (No. 4), Philip Bosco (No. 3), and Robert Prosky as the voice of the judge. In 2007, 12 Angry Men ran on a national theatre tour with Richard Thomas and George Wendt starring as Jurors No. 8 and No. 1, respectively. The 2008 tour does not include Wendt but features another popular television personality, Kevin Dobson of Kojak and Knots Landing, as Juror 10.

Cultural influences

Speaking at a screening of the film during the 2010 Fordham University Law School Film festival, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that seeing 12 Angry Men while she was in college influenced her decision to pursue a career in law. She was particularly inspired by immigrant Juror 11's monologue on his reverence for the American justice system. She also told the audience of law students that, as a lower-court judge, she would sometimes instruct juries to not follow the film's example, because most of the jurors' conclusions are based on speculation, not fact. Sotomayor noted that events such as Juror 8 entering a similar knife into the proceeding, doing outside research into the case matter in the first place, and ultimately the jury as a whole making broad, wide ranging assumptions far beyond the scope of reasonable doubt (such as the inferences regarding the "Old Woman" wearing glasses) would never be allowed to occur in a real life jury situation, and would in fact have yielded a mistrial. Also, the jurors would have become familiar enough to know each other's names during deliberation.

See also

• List of American films of 1957
• Trial movies
• The Wasps

Further reading

• Making Movies, by Sidney Lumet. (c) 1995, ISBN 978-0-679-75660-6
• Ellsworth, Phoebe C. (2003). "One Inspiring Jury [Review of 'Twelve Angry Men']". Michigan Law Review. 101 (6): 1387–1407. JSTOR 3595316′. In depth analysis compared with research on actual jury behaviour.
• The New York Times, April 15, 1957, "12 Angry Men", review by A. H. Weiler
• Readings on Twelve Angry Men, by Russ Munyan, Greenhaven Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-7377-0313-9
• Chandler, David. “The Transmission model of communication” Communication as Perspective Theory. Sage publications. Ohio University, 2006.
• Lanham, Richard. “Introduction: The Domain of Style analyzing prose”. (New York, NY: Continuum, 2003)

External links

• 12 Angry Men at IMDb
• 12 Angry Men at AllMovie
• 12 Angry Men at Rotten Tomatoes