What Makes "12 Angry Men" Great.

12 Angry Men is directed by Sidney Lumet. One of the most prominent themes in lumet's carrier have dealt with characters fighting an unfair system or a system that just dosen't have seem to care about them. We see this theme play out in many of Lumet's films including "Dog Day Afternoon", "Serpico", and "Network". But 12 Angry Men still remains at least to me as the most powerful example of this theme.

The main driving point of the film is Juror #8 trying to just look past what seems like obvious evidence that a boy killed his abusive father and get the other Jurors to at least consider the possibility of his innocence. He does this as a way of certifying his value of human life. If found guilty the boy will be sent to death on the electric chair. It's a punishment that only he seems to take into account when he votes not guilty during the opening ballot. The film also does a great job in emphasizing that just because he voted not guilty doesn't mean he believes the boy is not guilty. He simply does it as a way of making the other jurors consider the human life that has been placed in their control. The way he slowly persuades everyone to consider this life and eventually inspiring them all to vote not guilty because of "reasonable doubt" is inspiring and makes for a powerful finale that I will get to soon.

The best aspect of the film thought is of course the angry men in question. Reginald' Rose's amazing script takes us through all this character's occupations of of course their core values that describe why they vote the way they do as well as why they change there initial votes. Juror #1 is a high school football coach who tries to keep things civil and organized despite the clear disdain then some men of for others. Juror #9 is a wise and observant older man who knows courage and integrity when he sees it which is why he is the first to side with Juror #8. Juror #4 is a stock broker. He comes to his decisions based on facts and statistics. He sees at the case through a calculated approach. Juror #12 is in the advertisement business. He is the only character in the film who frequently changes his mind, likely because of the frequent changing of ideas and marketing strategies that occur constantly in the ad business All of the characters are memorable with audience's likely to latch on to at least one favorite character and the performances are all amazing in what is one of the best ensembles in film history. each actor gets at least one chance to standout from the rest. Henry Fonda and Lee J.Cobb are clearly at the fore front though as Juror #8 and #3 respectively. There frequent clashes throughout the film make their roles clear as protagonist and antagonist of the film. Cobb in particular stands out as a man who emphasizes the importance of the young ones respecting their parental figures. He even says that "I always called my father sir". This has put him at odds with his grown son, which has caused him to see this generation of boys as being ungrateful and disrespectful. He sees this in the accused boy who he wants to see punished because of this values and broken relationship with his son. This leads to him being the last person to stay by what he believed at the beginning of the film. He is eventually alone with his guilty verdict as Juror #8 was with his not guilty verdict at the beginning of the film. This leads to what I think is one of the best scenes in movie history. The scene where he angrily rips up the photo of him and his son and then breaking down in tears and quietly letting out "not guilty" always sends chills down my spine.

12 Angry Men is one o the most essential films ever made. It's a film that deserves to be in the same level of cinematic importance like "Citizen Kane or "The Godfather" . Its one of the few films that when it's over i am legitimate said that it ended. But thankfully I own it so I can watch it as many times as i want. There is no juror in the world who can convince me that this film isn't great.