I don't know, but it's just possible that this is a great film

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2011)

This little film has been one of my favourites since the first time I saw it on 3/12/72 on UK TV; back then I couldn't fault it but over the years its minor imperfections have become more noticeable to me. Repetition assists clarity...
It's an engrossing tale of 12 sweaty jurors cooped up in a hot and claustrophobic jury room trying to reach a unanimous decision on a potential murderer who's just been tried. Henry Fonda believes it's possible the guy is innocent, the other 11 initially don't. And that's all the background needed. It's marvellous watching the story unfold – more or less logically – but! The characters are really 12 Emotive Stereotypes: The 2 main well bred Thinkers just had to be the broker and the architect and not the slum dweller or the baseball fan, the 2 small businessmen just had to be the most interesting characters, not the old man or the clerk. The stagey and sporadic irrational emotional outbursts would make an agreement unlikely in the real world and yet it's carried by both the sincere and insincere at the finish. Where did Lee J. Cobb go to when everyone was theatrically getting up from their chairs and turning their backs on Ed Begley's right wing frothing? His chair was empty during this very contrived scene but not just before or after, presumably because it would have looked a little incongruous if he'd stood up too. And I concur with Fonda's glib comment that the defence lawyer couldn't have been very good!
However, it's still a classic and a film I owe a lot to: it made me realise from age 13 there's often more lurking under the surface than above, and in all probability nothing is impossible.