Cheap 12 Angry Men [Region 2] (DVD) (Sidney Lumet) Price

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Customer Reviews of 12 Angry Men [Region 2]

Justice in a Small Room
1957's "Twelve Angry Men" is the story of a jury confined to a small room on a hot, humid summer night to decide the fate of a young man accused of knifing his father to death. The jury's initial poll has eleven jurors for guilty, one for innocent. The ensuing drama revolves around the struggle by the dissenting juror, an architect played with characteristic understated determination by Henry Fonda, to convince the other jurors of the presence of reasonable doubt. <
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>The outstanding cast, a collection of experienced 1950's movie and tv actors who may not be familiar to today's audiences, each bring their particular insights and prejudices to the debate. An elderly man, played by Joseph Sweeney, sides with the Henry Fonda character because he admires the younger man's grit. Lee J. Cobb has an outstanding role as an angry father who sees his estranged son in the actions attributed to the young man on trial. E.G. Marshall plays a confident businessman who gets a lesson in the limits of memory from the Henry Fonda character. <
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>The confining atmosphere of the jury room adds to the tension. Sidney Lumet's brisk but deliberate direction allows each man a turn in the spotlight to examine his conscience as well as the case in front of the other jurors. The end result is a tense, insightful drama about the nature of man and justice. <
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>This movie is highly recommended to viewers looking for an outstanding example of the movie art and a different slant on today's crime dramas.

Minus 1 star for script/believability - the other four for acting alone
All the stars I gave was for the acting alone- superb all around though that old man was pretty annoying at times esp with the close ups on him. But the story itself wouldnt last 10 minutes in real life. It begins with Fonda pleading the boy is only 18 (dont we send 18 years olds off to war? 18 years olds can kill?) But the surreal part is when Fonda pulls out that concealed switchblade in the jury room (gov property), sticks it in the table, and tells everyone how he went into the boys neighborhood and found a store and bought it there (AKA doing your own research); all of this HIGHLY illegal; in real life, someone would have told all of this to the bailif, got Fonda arrested and hauled off, and an alternate or a mistrail would have taken place. End of movie right there. One other thing, Fonda kept mentioning "Is it possible"; Possible is not probable, and a million possibles does not equate to one possible, much less a "Reasonable" doubt.