Welcome to my review section where I am going to start reviewing old classics and the first one that I am going to start with is 12 Angry Men.
Released in 1957 starring henry fonda who is one man serving his jury duty amongst 11 others who have just heard a murder case they've gone over all the details in courts they've heard all of the arguments they've heard the defense now they're in a room trying to find out if this boy is guilty or not if he's guilty they're gonna send him to the electric chair and he will be killed.
it's a very young kid we get one shot of him early on in the film and just from that one shot we immediately feel sympathy just this one image of this boy is all we get to see of him and we know something isn't right early in the film.
The 12 guys think hey maybe we can get out of here pretty quick one of them has tickets to a baseball game all of them seem to think the kids guilty so they called their first vote and sure enough Henry Fonda is the only man there who thinks there's a reasonable doubt and he spends the next 90 minutes of this film trying to convince the 11 other men that that doubt could be real.
The first time I saw this movieI was very young I was over at my sister's house dog-sitting we had a golden retriever at the time and my sister was gonna be out for a few days and so I was helping her out by making sure that our golden retriever was taken care of and she was fed and she went potty and all that stuff and there was a really terrible thunderstorm and I was watching Dragonball Z on TV my sister had satellite TV and the storm knocked out the satellite and suddenly Dragonball Z was no longer an option so I began to sift through her collection of VHS tapes and I came across 12 Angry Men.
Now, a kid in the 90s isn't exactly excited about watching a black-and-white movie but I wanted to because I thought the plot was interesting and I popped in that VHS tape and if you had told that young kid, ' hey you're gonna be happy the power went out for the TV and you're gonna be happy that you didn't get to see Dragon Ball Z today because this movie is that good' he wouldn't have believed you but that kid was riveted from scene one.
And this guy talking you today still feels the same way this movie is a masterpiece that term gets thrown around a lot it's a very easy thing to say about great films like this but this movie is one of the best. This is one of the very few films that I will call perfect, Ridley Scott's original alien, perhaps Raiders of the Lost Ark, jaws, 2001 Space Odyssey , I mean these are films that are flawless in my mind, you can't find anything wrong with them I mean film is subjective in the long run but if you're the type of person who really likes to examine film and who wants to write or make films you look to films like 12 Angry Men as the example of how to do it perfectly.
The way Sidney lumet, director helmed this film was maximum claustrophobia, maximum suspense.
We learn early on that this is the hottest day of the year, every single character is sweating safer one juror who says he doesn't sweat except for the very end.
It is all in one location and you don't have much room to move so Sydney may use everything at his disposal to make this film as interesting and as compelling as possible. He Helms this like it's an action film but all he can use is the camera movements and the characters that are in the film, there are so many shots in 12 Angry Men that send chills down my spine as Henry Fonda continues to try to chip away at why other people in this room don't have reasonable doubt and there are moments that come about that are just some of the best in cinematic history.
As the 12 guys enter into the room at the beginning you may not notice this while watching it because it's just so seamless but this is all one take the camera flows through the room and we get introduced to every single character and we learn an integral piece of information about each man in this shot and the way Sydney moves the camera with the characters you begin to feel like you're watching multiple shots, this is something that Spielberg does very well he puts the characters in different positions and moves the camera all around the room to create wide and close-ups .
Even though there aren't any cuts and 12 Angry Men has a great example of this just in the opening.
We learn about this case through these characters in the way they talk about it since the film begins. we only learn the details of the case through what the members of the jury say and so it makes us feel like we're members of the jury at the beginning you're like,' okay! yeah it seems like it's pretty obvious kids guilty all right convince me otherwise' and then Henry Fonda says hey I I just think it's possible.
Lee Jay Cobb is phenomenal here he plays a very very damaged character and as the film continues you began to realize that there is some personal vengeance perhaps underneath the surface of why he would like to see this kid go to the chair and as Henry Fonda continues to pressure people who think the kid is guilty you learn that perhaps it's not all facts for some of these people some of them might have other agendas and there's an amazing aspect of this film that deals with personal prejudice when one character, in particular, continues to reference this kid who comes from a slum and is very poor as one of them.
You begin to realize okay you have other motives and there's another member of the jury who also has lived in a slum his whole life and so this creates some amazing tension and some really beautiful character work.
there's also really haunting dialogue that sticks with you long after the film particularly this one encounter in the bathroom for Henry Fonda is washing his face and one of the guys is in there and he's like 'hey supposing this kid really did knife his father and you all talk us out of it '.
Henry Fonda's position is smart and he's clever to have reasonable doubt but you can also understand why each member who thinks the kid is guilty thinks that WAY.
Everyone's wearing a suit or some sort of nice clothing that has remained sort of in style form of clothing for a really long time but you can actually watch this movie in 2018 and except for the fact that it's black and white and you have the knowledge that it was made in the 50s it doesn't seem that way.
I'm gonna tell you this thing if you've never seen 12 Angry Men I implore you to please see the film obviously I am recommending it. if you've never seen a black and white movie, and I'm not gonna judge you for that if you've never seen a black and white movie make this be the first one you see because it's one of the best we're gonna talk about a few specific moments.
it's so brilliantly executed the way Sidney Lumet uses the camera to position it around people's faces to create the feeling of tension, or the feeling of whoever is in power in that moment for most of the beginning of the film when Henry Fonda's trying to convince the others the camera is above him or at level with him, towards the end of the film ,however as he gets other people decide with him you see that camera going lower and now he's above the camera, superior.
I feel inspired it's shocking how great a film is in one location. it's honestly mesmerizing and the back and forth between protagonist Henry Fonda and antagonist Lee Jacob is so well done that at the end of the film a simple gesture of helping the other man into his suit coat is beautiful and touching and as the men dispersed out of the court and one of them introduces himself and they both say their names you realize oh shit they've never said their names because the film is just that great if you have never seen 12 Angry Men you've got to see it.