Reply to Topic
I give 12 Angry Men , but that shouldn't make it sound like I don't think it's a great movie. If I give something that, it's basically equivalent to most people's . I'm trying to think back to when I first watched the film and how I may have reacted. I was a teenager, but that would have been the early '70s. It was probably my introduction to how a jury might work, especially one where almost everybody sees the case as cut-and-dried. Of course, I understood it was a melodrama where everyone slightly exaggerates their words and acting for dramatic effect. It's still filmed "realistically", so it gets to have it both ways as a realistic drama and a highly-theatrical experience.
The other jurors want Juror #3 to convince them...
The real key to 12 Angry Men's success is Reginald Rose's tightly-wound script, which provides all the jurors with their own flaws and personalities and starts them on a path due east. Then as the film slowly reveals all the flaws and personalities of the people we've never seen (those mentioned at or testifying during the trial), the semblance of doubt begins to take root in more than just one juror's mind, and the path seems to shift ever so subtly until near the end, the jury appears to be heading due west. It's all left to the viewer to decide how they would vote and how they may change their opinion based on the pieces of evidence being examined throughout the film. As far as I'm concerned, the strongest scene in the film the first time I watched it remains the most memorable one to me still: the scene where Juror #8 produces the knife. Besides being the centerpiece of the script, it's also Sidney Lumet's best-directed scene.
The other jurors want Juror #3 to convince them...
The real key to 12 Angry Men's success is Reginald Rose's tightly-wound script, which provides all the jurors with their own flaws and personalities and starts them on a path due east. Then as the film slowly reveals all the flaws and personalities of the people we've never seen (those mentioned at or testifying during the trial), the semblance of doubt begins to take root in more than just one juror's mind, and the path seems to shift ever so subtly until near the end, the jury appears to be heading due west. It's all left to the viewer to decide how they would vote and how they may change their opinion based on the pieces of evidence being examined throughout the film. As far as I'm concerned, the strongest scene in the film the first time I watched it remains the most memorable one to me still: the scene where Juror #8 produces the knife. Besides being the centerpiece of the script, it's also Sidney Lumet's best-directed scene.
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page
The utter silence that directly follows #3's outburst is incredible, and for something so, well...silent, it says so much.
