Better than the written play

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2002)

I have taught "12 Angry Men" in high school literature classes a
few times and I think it is safe to say that the film version is better
than the written play. The characters are more sharply drawn as humans
we can relate to. (Yes, I really teach literature, even though I end
a sentence with "to". My 8th grade English teacher would have a fit.)
The dialogue is sharper. And, especially when seeing it several times,
the film leaves the viewer with more questions than answers about what
constitutes justice and what is or could be the best possible legal
system. As a movie fan, not a literature teacher, I have the following
comments. In "12 Angry Men" Henry Fonda seems to be playing the same
character that he played quite a few years earlier in "The Immortal
Sergeant": the seemingly timid, reluctant hero who rises to the
occasion with dogged determination and emerging powers of persuasion.
Even the mannerisms and the phrases he uses in the two films are
similar. In "The Immortal Sergeant" he is the corporal and therefore
the ranking member of the squad after the sergeant is killed. When his
squad on patrol encounters an enemy implacement, he proposes to attack
it instead of simply passing it by. (sound like "Saving Private
Ryan"?) When challenged with someone speaking in an affected British
voice, "But my dear fellow, what possible effect could our attacking
them have on this campaign?", Henry Fonda responds, "Probably none at
all, I don't know. But it seems to me ..... ("our job is to win the
war")" In "12 Angry Men", Fonda uses the same character to say, "Well, I
don't have anything brilliant, but ....." My other observation is that "12 Angry Men" has one of the greatest
understated insults of all time incorporated into an etiquette lesson: "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."