An excellent classic, at a time when scripts actually meant something.
I saw it in B/W, i don't know if there's any technicolor copy available but the B/W version i saw was pretty good.
Buy it, you'll probably want to keep it.
Here's what wiki has to say:
Quote:
12 Angry Men (released in the UK as Twelve Angry Men) is a play adapted to a drama film produced in 1957 by director Sidney Lumet about a jury member who must try to persuade the other 11 members to acquit the suspect on trial on the basis of reasonable doubt. The film is notable for its use of a single set: with the exception of three minutes of screen-time split between the beginning and the end and a short conversation in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room.
The ensemble cast includes Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Ed Binns, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, and Joseph Sweeney (his last appearance in motion pictures).
The story begins after closing arguments have been presented in a homicide case, as the judge is giving his instructions to the jury. As in any American criminal case, the twelve men must unanimously determine innocence or guilt. (In the American justice system, a non-unanimous verdict results in a hung jury, which in turn results in a mistrial.) The accused in the case at bar pertains to whether the young man murdered his own father. The jury is further instructed that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence (something that could not happen in the current American legal system). These twelve then move to the jury room, where they begin to become acquainted with the personalities of their peers. Throughout their deliberation, not a single juror knows another by his name.
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Enjoy.
26th March 2007
