Would be considered politically incorrect today

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2009)

What a classic of a film this is with some of the most talented of actors of the day. 12 men all from different backgrounds (stock broker, businessman, watch maker, accountant, architect, blue collar, salesman etc...) sit on jury to decide if a young boy should go to the electric chair for a crime he may or may not have done....the killing of his father. First most of the men (11 of them) are ready to convict either to get out of the cramped hot jury room or they really believe the boy did it. One man, Fonda, is convinced the boy is innocent or at least wants to talk about it before they rush and have a young boy die. "it's not easy for me to send a young boy to the chair without talking about it first" says Fonda. As the film continues Fonda slowly gets the other Jurors to see the flaws in the case and raise their doubts if the boy really committed the crime. One man is left (Lee J Cobb) who wants to see the boy burn based not on the evidence but personal feelings of his son that ran away from home years before. In the end however Cobb concedes and says the boy is not guilty. The boy may or may not have committed the crime but the point was that the case against him was weak and flawed.
This film would never be accepted today for several reasons. First all the jurors where white men which would offend many people and I think it's crazy. Today it would have to have these types of characters: Angry black man or some other minority who has a problem with white people, bitter white feminist woman that hates men, a clueless white guy that everyone else on the jury would throw jabs at, single mother and anyone else that would fit the MTV Politically correct nonsense. It would lack the power 12 angry men had because it would spend too much time preaching about the injustice of the bankrupt lives of the jurors and it would lose focus. I'm sure the name of the film would be something like, "12 angry people."
In any case 12 Angry Men is a powerful film and goes down as one of the best in film history. If people get offended today by it only because of the actors used they should stick to watching Michael Bay movies.