If you only ever watch one court drama - make it this one

Rating: 10/10 (24 March 2004)

A staggeringly good film, Twelve Angry Men pits Henry Fonda against the rest of his Jurymen in an attempt to prove a young accused murderer's innocence.
First it's a great story. Its hard to go wrong when you have a great story to start with handed to you by a writer, or in this case a playwright (many have managed to do just this though). Lumet does an excellent job with the excellent tools he had to work with. He captures the claustrophobia and sweatiness of the piece perfectly, and uses cinematic tools like cuts and zooms only when appropriate. Otherwise he lets the actors do their thing. And it is the acting which raises this one to the next level.
Fonda is good here but in reality he is like the control subject in an experiment. It is the quality of all the other actors in the piece which really makes this one stand out. Every single one of them portrays a character with perfection. When you have a film set entirely in a few rooms - essentially a play adapted with camerawork, then you need to have good acting. And boy do we get it. This is a film with eleven best supporting actors and no extras. While none of the eleven might be considered a "star" in their own right perhaps, the proximity of the piece leads them to act off each other and give the performances of their lives.
There have been films with a lot of talented actors in them sharing a billing before and since, however, there has never been a film with such an ensemble of excellent acting on display at once in my opinion.