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12 Angry Men Overview:

12 Angry Men (1957) was a Drama - Black-and-white Film directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Henry Fonda, Reginald Rose and George Justin.

SYNOPSIS

This is perhaps the most famous classic-movie courtroom drama. The jurors get their instructions in a murder case and enter a hot, close jury room to begin deliberating. The first count shows only Fonda holding out for acquittal. Then the fireworks begin, fueled by fatigue, heat, and the different personalities and experiences of the jurors. In Lumet's debut, he breaks every rule of cinema action, setting his story in one claustrophobic room and using multiple takes from different angles to provide movement. Originally a teleplay, this was Fonda's only experiment with producing. Remade for cable TV with Jack Lemmon.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

12 Angry Men was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2007.

Academy Awards 1957 --- Ceremony Number 30 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best DirectorSidney LumetNominated
Best PictureHenry Fonda and Reginald Rose, ProducersNominated
Best WritingReginald RoseNominated
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12 Angry Men BlogHub Articles:

12 Angry Men – Take 2 – Henry Fonda

By Virginie Pronovost on Feb 2, 2019 From The Wonderful World of Cinema

I had already written about 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) on this blog when I wrote about Lee J. Cobb’s paternal roles in this film and in Golden Boy (Rouben Mamoulian, 1939). But there’s another 12 Angry Men’s actor that obviously deserves to be discussed: Henry Fonda, juror #... Read full article

DOUBLE BILL #13: Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and 12 Angry Men (1957)

By Carol Martinheira on Apr 12, 2018 From The Old Hollywood Garden

DOUBLE BILL #13: Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and 12 Angry Men (1957) On April 12, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized Courtroom dramas never disappoint. They’re tense, gripping, dramatic and emotional and, more often than not, they grab you by the throat and they do... Read full article

What I Learned from 12 Angry Men

By 4 Star Film Fan on Oct 16, 2016 From 4 Star Films

Recently I got the chance to sit down with a group of friends and watch 12 Angry Men together. Many of them had never seen it and hearing their reactions was immense fun for me. But as we talked for a few minutes afterward, I began to realize that really each of these characters represents something... Read full article

What I Learned from 12 Angry Men

By 4 Star Film Fan on Oct 16, 2016 From 4 Star Films

Recently I got the chance to sit down with a group of friends and watch 12 Angry Men together. Many of them had never seen it and hearing their reactions was immense fun for me. But as we talked for a few minutes afterward, I began to realize that really each of these characters represents something... Read full article

12 Angry Men (1957)

By Beatrice on Jun 1, 2016 From Flickers in Time

12 Angry Men Directed by Sidney Lumet Written by Reginald Rose 1957/USA Orion-Nova Pictures Repeat viewing/Netflix rental #333 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Lumet gathered all the great character actors of the 50’s into one room with Henry Fonda and made a stage play work com... Read full article

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12 Angry Men Quotes:

Juror #10: Bright? He's a common ignorant slob. He don't even speak good English.
Juror #11: *Doesn't* even speak good English.
Juror #3: That business before when that tall guy, what's-his-name, was trying to bait me? That doesn't prove anything. I'm a pretty excitable person. I mean, where does he come off calling me a public avenger, sadist and everything? Anyone in his right mind would blow his stack. He was just trying to bait me.
Juror #4: He did an excellent job.
Juror #10: I don't understand you people! I mean all these picky little points you keep bringing up. They don't mean nothing. You saw this kid just like I did. You're not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them! I mean what the heck? I don't have to tell you. They don't know what the truth is! And lemme tell you, they don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either! No sir!
[Five gets up from his seat]
Juror #10: They get drunk... oh, they're real big drinkers, all of 'em - you know that - and bang: someone's lyin' in the gutter. Oh, nobody's blaming them for it. That's the way they are! By nature! You know what I mean? VIOLENT!
Juror #10: [Nine rises and crosses to the window] Where're you going?
Juror #10: Human life don't mean as much to them as it does to us!
[Eleven gets up and walks to the other window]
Juror #10: Look, they're lushing it up and fighting all the time and if somebody gets killed, so somebody gets killed! They don't care! Oh, sure, there are some good things about 'em, too. Look, I'm the first one to say that.
[Eight gets up and walks to the nearest wall]
Juror #10: I've known a couple who were OK, but that's the exception, y'know what I mean?
[Two and Six get up from the table. Everyone's back is to Ten]
Juror #10: Most of 'em, it's like they have no feelings! They can do anything! What's goin' on here? I'm trying to tell you... you're makin' a big mistake, you people! This kid is a liar! I know it. I know all about them! Listen to me! They're no good! There's not a one of 'em who is any good! I mean, what's happening in here? I'm speaking my piece, and you...
[the Foreman gets up and walks away. So does Twelve]
Juror #10: Listen to me. We're... This kid on trial here... his type, well, don't you know about them? There's a, there's a danger here. These people are dangerous. They're wild. Listen to me. Listen.
Juror #4: I have. Now sit down and don't open your mouth again.
Juror #3: It's these kids - the way they are nowadays. When I was a kid I used to call my father, 'Sir'. That's right... 'Sir'. You ever hear a kid call his father that anymore?
Juror #8: Fathers don't seem to think it's important anymore.
Juror #3: You got any kids?
Juror #8: Three.
Juror #3: I got one. Twenty-two years old.
[takes photo from his wallet and shows it to Juror #8]
Juror #3: Aah. When he was nine years old he ran away from a fight. I saw it; I was so embarrassed I almost threw up. I said, "I'm gonna make a man outa you if I have to break you in two tryin'". And I made a man out of him. When he was sixteen we had a fight. Hit me in the jaw - a big kid. Haven't seen him for two years. Kids... work your heart out...
Juror #8: According to the testimony, the boy looks guilty... maybe he is. I sat there in court for six days listening while the evidence built up. Everybody sounded so positive, you know, I... I began to get a peculiar feeling about this trial. I mean nothing is that positive. There're a lot of questions I'd have liked to ask. I don't know, maybe they wouldn't have meant anything, but... I began to get the feeling that the defense counsel wasn't conducting a thorough enough cross-examination. I mean he... he let too many things go by... little things that...
Juror #10: What little things? Listen, when these fellas don't ask questions it's because they know the answers already and they figure they'll be hurt.
Juror #8: Maybe. It's also possible for a lawyer to be just plain stupid, isn't it? I mean it's possible.
Juror #7: You sound like you met my brother-in-law.
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12 Angry Men Facts
Shot in a total of 365 separate takes.
Most of the hard-working (relatively inexperienced) crew were longshoremen. Because there wasn't enough movie work to feed them all year, they'd have two union cards: their Local 52 cards and their ILA cards.
As the film failed to make a profit, Henry Fonda never received his deferred salary. Despite this setback, Fonda always regarded 12 Angry Men as one of the three best films he ever made, the other two being The Grapes of Wrath and The Ox-Bow Incident.
For many years, only the first half of the kinescope of the TV version of "Twelve Angry Men" broadcast live on Sept. 20, 1954 (Twelve Angry Men) was thought to survive, and had been in the possession of the Museum of Television and Radio since 1976. In 2003 a complete 16mm kinescope was discovered in the collection of Samuel Leibowitz (former defense attorney and judge) and was also acquired by the museum.
In the jury room, the characters are identified by their numbers as they are seated around the table. Only two have their surnames revealed. In an epilogue, Henry Fonda (Juror #8) and Joseph Sweeney (Juror #9) meet briefly on the courthouse steps. Fonda introduces himself as "Davis", Sweeney as "McCardle".
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