Excellent !

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2006)

+++++ POSSIBLE SPOILERS +++++
"Twelve Angry Men" is the perfect demonstration that when you have a good script, an intelligent director an a well selected cast a film doesn't have to be expensive or spectacular to be a real good one. This film is all about dialogues and acting and is set 95% in a small room yet its most entertaining and has a lot of tension.
When I said it had a well selected cast I didn't mean an all star cast; Henry Fonda was the only major star; Lee Cobb, Ed Begley, Martin Balsam and E.G. Marshall where very talented supporting actors but not stars; Jack Warden and Jack Klugman weren't even known much in films yet. But a simple direction by Sidney Lumet leaving the development to the script and actors performances worked well and the film is tense, intriguing and most entertaining from beginning to end.
"Twelve Angry Men" is a "trail film" but with a very original focusing since by following the jury's debate the whole case is clearly revealed up to the verdict. It's also interesting that the verdict is not based in a not guilty conviction by the jurors but for the benefit of the doubt, which means that perhaps the boy actually killed his father.
One of the best movies I've ever seen in its genre.