When it comes to new movies and old ones, I am in between. I like oldies because of the generally better acting and move developed plot while on the other hand I like the newer releases for the tighter editing.
12 angry men is the latest golden oldie that I came across. This one is directed by the venerable Sidney Lumet. For those who haven't heard of Mr Lumet, he is the director behind the great "Before the devil knows you are dead".
This is a really good show and unlike some older movies I have seen, this movie does not suffer any dated feel to it. The mix of 12 men are a concoction interesting mix. Henry Fonda plays the cool analytical head while Lee J. Cobb plays the hurting hot head with his own personal motivation for calling the guilty card. Both actors are outstanding in this movie and play their parts very well. Henry Ford's character gives Grissom from CSI a run for his money any time of the day. The contradiction to their temperament and their interaction makes for a interesting and carries the movie along. Talking about older actors, this is the first time I am lucky enough to come across the work of Ed Beagley instead of his son. He carries off his role as the cynical old man convincingly and he is very believable.
About the only weak scene I can pick out of this movie is the scene where all the jurors boycott Ed Beagley character displaying a personal bias. This did not work so much for me and seems a bit heavy handed followed by the personal bias speech by Henry Fonda.
12 angry men also shows how personal biases of jurors colors the decision they make. Personal biases and assumptions are brought into the decision making. On another side, this movie also explores the seriousness jurors are supposed to put into their decision making especially those involving the death penalty, rather than coming up with a decision that brings them home the fastest, here shown by Jack Warden's character, trying to catch the ball game, nicely put in his place in the duration of the movie.
I think this movie is really really good and heartily recommend it. 10/10 !
Hmm ... digging a bit deeper, I found from imdb there is actually a remake for TV movie of 12 angry men starring people like Tony Danza, William Petersen and Jack Lemmon standing in for Henry Fonda! Well ... thanks but I shall politely decline.
A preview for you here:
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