12 Angry Men - LetterboxD Review

Link to Original Review

There are a handful of films that fall under the category of cinema royalty… The IMDB Top 10, anything with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, seemingly everything that Paul Thomas Anderson makes, etc… Those films are the untouchables… no, not the Brian De Palma 1980’s Crime Drama, I mean those films that are beyond criticism, beyond approach, beyond any sort of reasonable doubt that their quality and immortality are just a given… 12 Angry Men is one of those films.

A cursory glance on this very website will show that after over 2,000 votes, only 1 person has seen fit to give it 1 star, 4 people opted for 2 stars and a further 46 people going for either 2 and a half stars or 3 stars. The point is not whether those few are right or wrong… film is too subjective a medium to ever judge someone on a film they like or don’t like, the point is more that 12 Angry Men clearly is one of those films that the vast majority of people either like, appreciate, love or at the very least, would class as a good, very good or even a great “classic” film.

The premise is simple and utterly compelling. The 12 angry men sat in a jury room deliberating on the merits of a murder charge against a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Completely dialogue based and aside from the opening scene setting shots that establish the courtroom, set entirely in the jury room. Imagine a Hollywood studio today and the kind of exchange you might have with a producer or an executive if this kind of story was pitched. The old adage that they don’t make them like they used to is sadly true in this case because 12 Angry Men is every bit as deserving of its place in cinema royalty as the likes of The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and the other films in the top 10 on the IMDB.

Henry Fonda, criminally overlooked at the Academy Awards by not even being nominated, (he did pick up a BAFTA for best foreign actor), is exceptional. The very definition of calm, objectivity in the face of the audience he is with. Lee J Cobb is also wonderful as the antithesis of Fonda. Watching these 2 battle is like watching 2 heavyweights slugging it out in Madison Square Garden for the world title. There are no weak links in the cast, each one is perfectly disposed and placed to provide the perfect companion of contract to the varying twists and moods that the movie takes.

The visual metaphors on display subtlety displayed by Sidney Lumet’s direction are fantastic. The heat rising, the on-coming storm and eventually the beating rain as the storm arrives and takes over before the final scene where, two friends who could have been part ways, likely never to meet again. The idea that these people, randomly thrown together by chance could have been friends is a fascinating subtext to the film. Mostly though, Lumet’s ability to make such a simple story so utterly compelling and to keep to the audience’s attention so much that for a courtroom drama at just over 90 minutes long set entirely (pretty much) in one room, you find when the film reaches its climax, that you are literally sat on the edge of your seat. This is a roller coaster ride through a library. An intelligent, thought provoking, character study into the nature of objectivity and prejudice… One of Hollywood’s most loved and finest films… and rightly so.

I rated this movie 5 out of 5!