SVS: “12 Angry Men”

Sidney Lumet’s legendary 12 Angry Men, currently streaming on NETFLIX INSTANT and available for rent on AMAZON PRIME, needs no introduction. So I’m not giving it one. (Boom!)

Knowing full well that a guilty verdict means death, a jury of 12 men must decide the fate of an 18-year-old boy accused of killing his father.

Lumet’s film is one of the finest examples of “Overcoming Cinematic Challenge” ever, answering the question of whether or not you can keep an audience interested in a story shot almost entirely within a single location with a resounding “And HOW!” (I say “almost” because there are actually four locations used in the film. The other three are so brief they barely count — although the final scene is spectacular precisely because it’s “other” — but I’m just trying to being accurate here. …or is that precise…)

In fact, so thoroughly does the film overcome the challenge of its single location that it never takes me more than a minute or two in the Jury Room before I’ve completely forget that it’s taking place in such cramped and limited quarters. The directing, the acting, and the story are all just that good.

Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb are the standouts, because their conflict provides the film’s most obvious impetus. And they deserve every bit of praise they get. But the entire case is really, really wonderful, and Lumet gives them all an opportunity to shine. And, as the title would suggest, to be show-stealingly, scenery-chewingly angry. The film’s a veritable Cat’s Cradle of Conflict, crisscrossing between jurors and morphing between opposing groups so that you never really know where things are going to end up. For me, though, despite the universal excellence of the entire dozen, the film’s most memorable juror is always Joseph Sweeney’s Juror #9, the old man who helps make sure they keep on talking when no one but Fonda’s interested in the conversation.

“…it’s not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others, so he gambled for support… and I gave it to him.”

The film’s status as a masterpiece has earned it a Criterion release. Which is great for all of us who want to watch it in as pristine a version as possible. And it’s also particularly nice for those of  us who love digging though the wonderful essays that accompany every one of CC’s discs. This release features two such works: “12 Angry Men: Lumet’s Faces” and the even-more unsurprisingly-titled “12 Angry Men.” And I’ll just leave this “Did 12 Angry Men Get It Wrong” essay from The AV Club’s Mike D’Angelo here, as well. (With my response: “Maybe. And no, it doesn’t matter; that’s not what the film’s about.”)

(For the Streaming Completest, there is a Russian version from 2009 that I have not seen but sounds a bit “Meh,” and a Made-for-TV version from 1997 that features Jack Lemmon as Juror #8, and which I actually enjoy a great deal. Some interesting differences and similarities.)

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