12 Angry White Men

Rating: Null/10 (23 April 2004)

It's hard to believe this movie is almost 50 years old...except that no women were on the jury. There was a minority juror, a foreign born citizen, a blue collar type, and several professionals, but no women which was really strange. (What? Like women could have been less logical or emotional than these men...most of them were idiots!) The characters were all something of a stereotype of themselves, but sometimes that is actually how juries are picked. Lawyers want a great diversity on a jury and I think that is why the court process works. The other problem I had with this movie was that unlike a Hollywood drama, where one guy is condemned by his fellow jurors for clogging up the quick trip home, in reality juries take their chore very seriously...at least that was my experience.
Those are not serious flaws with the movie, however. Jurors do get angry and emotional. It's stressful. Everyone is acutely aware that someone's life is depending on your being open minded and paying attention. A lot of folks on the IMDB kept writing that the kid in this movie was obviously guilty or obviously not guilty, but you have to remember that the judge is not asking you to decide if the person is innocent or guilty. You are asked if you can decide that beyond a reasonable doubt. So it's never so easy as take a quick vote and go home. You look at all the evidence and try to use logic to make your decision but in reality it is still a gut level decision. It's not crystal clear...especially when the lawyers present the jurors with so called expert trial witnesses. These people get paid to mess with jurors minds. At any rate, during the trial I was on, the jurors were on their toes enough to know when they had been snowed by expert witnesses.
The synopsis of this movie has been discussed in great length, so I will just add a few personal comments. The script is exceedingly well written, directed and performed. The dialogue was magnificent. It felt like you were watching the deliberation in real time from the way it was filmed. Riveting cinematography. Few movies can carry an audience for that long with just one room and a few characters. My Dinner With Andre' comes to mind.

The Lee J. Cobb character was so emotional and so over the top...he was difficult for me to swallow, a little too Freudian for a modern audience, but that is forgiven given this movie's age. The Henry Fonda character is the one all defense attorneys want on the jury. The supporting actors were all fine to watch.
My favorite lines was: "Pardon. But...Oh, pardon, pardon.' `What are you being so polite all the time for?" "For the same reason you're not. I was brought up that way."

8 ½ out of 10