It Blends Together

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2006)

This movie came out of an era that I really loved, when ensemble acting was so strong. We had a whole group of character actors who really took seriously the smaller roles that they had. The direction by Sidney Lumet on this film is outstanding. To take the Henry Fonda character from the meek, inconsequential juror, simply putting forth a theory, to watching the other men slowly see his way of thinking, is subtlety at its best. Lee J. Cobb does his burn, done in by impatience and inconvenience. Pusing an agenda that fits only him. Underlying the entire plot is the defendant whom we never see but get to know through a slow, methodical, yet fascinating series of revelations. It's quiet, suspenseful, and human. It's the true whodunnit without Hercule Poirot. This is the element that is most obvious; that 12 men can sit in a single room for the entire movie and interact and still keep us totally occupied. Enough has been said about this. I just wish that contemporary film making could take a bit more from these masterpieces; let the fine actors that we have do their individual things.