12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American courtroom drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose.

Plot
A jury of 12 men deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing the jurors to question their morals and values.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) All the performances of the main cast were terrific, especially those of Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb.
 * 2) Sidney Lumet does an amazing job at directing, considering this is his directorial debut.
 * 3) The film takes place almost entirely within a jury room and the story is told through the dialogue and action of the characters, and it still manages to be entertaining and suspenseful at times.
 * 4) Great and memorable dialogue.
 * 5) It is almost 100% faithful to the teleplay.
 * 6) Interesting characters, each with different, conflicting personalities.
 * 7) A few funny moments, including the scene in which an English mistake made by Juror 10 is corrected by Juror 11; a foreigner.
 * 8) It allows the audience to evaluate their own self-image by observing the actions of the characters.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) The scene in which Juror 8 presents a similar knife in the jury deliberation would not be allowed in a real-life jury situation, and would in fact have yielded a mistrial.

Reception
12 Angry Men received critical acclaim on it’s first release. It currently holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 97% from the audience. It currently holds a 9.0 on IMDB.

Trivia

 * Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says this film influenced her to pursue a career in law.