Film Of The Week #2 - 12 Angry Men

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/

It's nice to see such a classic being nominated, which is a good contrast with last week's film, the more recent Oldboy. I'm loath to admit that I haven't seen 12 Angry Men myself, so it's definetly going on my 'to do' list.

Discuss.

OfflerCrocGod

It's a must watch! One of the few black and white movies that I love; most other "classics" just bore me stupid but this one was an excellent movie.

ixoy

Great movie with an excellent cast and a nice diversity in characters. The heart of the storyline is timeless too - the same arguments could easily be heard today, the same quandries.

The movie's all male jury ensures that we don't have to waste time on intrusive romantic subplots too - bonus for a movie like this.

What I've always particularly liked isn't that this movie is trying to prove the innocence of the accused (as most such movies are), but about examining the concept of reasonable doubt. This difference is what makes the movie for me because the characters have to question their viewpoints as well as each others.

quazzy

As I said before this film has no bell or whistles... no colour, no character names even - well I think one or 2 are named.

It just has a "killer" story (sorry for the pun) with a sublime cast.

This is a gem.

[edit]Just read that Karl hasn't seen the movie; hope you get to see the film soon and post your thoughts. [/edit]

spacecoyote

I remember seeing this in secondary school as part of some film appreciation thing or something? When I 1st saw it I thought I didn't really appreciate, but I was alot younger. I saw it again a couple of years ago and it was much more enjoyable. The tension built betweeen the group is excellent, it really does set the standard for courtroom movies.

I would definitely recommend it, but I would say that itwould not figure in my top 10 ever

johnny_ultimate

One of the few films forced upon is in school that I truly enjoyed.
It's weird, alot of the times I can't take older American films just because they seem so outdated. Many classics I just havent enjoyed. But this is a timeless film - tense, wonderfully acted and most importantly has barely aged a day.

Carcharodon

I stumbled across this years ago on channel 4 while thrown across the sofa on a lazy saturday, didn't know what i was watching and was really blown away by it. Gave me a greater appreciation for older films and shows where many films today get their inspiration from.
12 men in 1 room, shouldn't work but it does

quickbeam

Absolute top-notch film!

Twelve fantastic performances. We know so little about the lives of the jurors in the outside world, but each of them still manages to have a personality of his own, rather than just being a cliche (and it could so easily have become a cliche with the biggot, the imigrant, the middle class office worker, the honest construction worker, the old guy - nearly every box is ticked, but somehow it manages not to become a cliche).

Each juror is so memorable that I'd nearly say that Fonda is my least favourite of them all. Special mention for Martin Balsam (#1), Lee Cobb (#3) and Jack Warden (#6).

I must have seen the movie two dozen times, and I know the outcome, but I still cry a little tear every time a juror changes his vote.

And what I love about the movie is that the kid accused probably was guilty. But the message of the movie is that "probably" isn't good enough, and unless you're 100% sure, then you can't convict. Just love it.

Tusky

Great, a film of the week that I havent seen. I shall acquire this and post my thoughts.

monkeyfudge

Yep brilliant film. I haven't seen it in a long time though but I picked up on DVD a few months back and haven't taken it out of it's wrapper yet so I'll be sure to watch it again before commenting here.

Play.com have it pretty cheap for those who haven't got it:

http://play.com/DVD/DVD/CART/3-/91683/-/Product.html?cur=258

shatners basoon

Rented it a couple of nights ago on account of its mention in the 'recommended film of the week', thought it was excellent, really good script, simple but superbly so. If anyone has played phoenix wright on the ds it had me thinking of that the whole way through!

I'd agree that Fonda was probably the least crummiest character (he's just too damn honest looking!) Plus he never really gets angry (which nearly spoils the whole film i'm telling you:P)

Good film of the week by the way alot of people (at least us young uns) probably haven't seen it.

randomchild

I wont rant on about how great this film is, plenty of other people will do that for me :P ! Even though I love this film, and prefer it over the still excellent remake, One thing that i think the remake does better is the ending climax, and aftermath of this sequence, it justs seems more startling, sad and emotional when it was done the second time.

faceman

When i first saw this film, it blew me away. At this stage i know the script almost word for word. It is an one of the greatest films of all time imho. The casting was excellent and of course we all know how great the director was.

Whats unique about the film is that it can never really be re-made as it was originally shot. No american jury nowadays is all an white male setup. (The made for tv jack lemmon remake was a nice effort)

The film touches a nerve for alot of people. Which juror do you think you would be if you there? How would you have originally voted? It makes you think.

Heres some nerdy film trivia- Lumet to add to the sense of tension when filming subtely decreased the size of the set as the film progressed to add to create a sense of claustrophia. You'll also notice how as the film progress, there are less wide angle shots and more close ups. The pinnacle being the close up of the "old man" (juror no. 9) for his monologue towards the end.

For those of you who havent seen it, shame on you!

One final bit of (pointless) trivia. Lee J Cobb played juror 3 (another excellent actor). He went on to play detective kinderman in "The Exorcist". In the Exorcist 3, George C. Scott played the now promoted Lt. Kinderman. Scott went on to play juror number 3 in the made for tv version of 12 angry men! Spooky! (how sad am i!)

Henry Fonda as an actor was out of his league.

unreggd

Why does everyone like this? Worst movie ever! I hated it so much. I usually like these films but it was imo crap

BlitzKrieg

unreggd wrote:

Why does everyone like this? Worst movie ever! I hated it so much. I usually like these films but it was imo crap

why?

Beruthiel

unreggd wrote:

Why does everyone like this? Worst movie ever! I hated it so much. I usually like these films but it was imo crap

I can't for the life of me understand why you would think that. Can you tell us why?

I saw this movie a couple of months ago and all I can say is "wow".
It left a lasting impression on me.
A superb piece of film with outstanding performances from the whole cast.

bluto63

An amazing film. Saw it first in school and I loved it from the get go.

shatners basoon wrote:

Good film of the week by the way alot of people (at least us young uns) probably haven't seen it.

Wouldn't that be better? I'd prefer the films of the week to be movies I havn't seen so I can go and see another brilliant film.

djkeogh

Its a fantastic film as those who have seen it will know. For those who haven't it really is worth a look. I picked this up just a few years ago after trying to rent it for ages but only ever finding the remake. Wanted to the watch the original first. Loved it when I saw and I always enjoy sticking it in the DVD on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Great stuff. I do agree with Bluto though and am looking forward to a movie of the week I haven't seen so I can get into some more great cinema.

Ghost Train

Think it was on channel 6 when they first started up last year that i saw it. Wasn't expecting too much, but it's quite gripping when you get into it, also must be quite unusual for basically a whole film to take place in one room, with all the character there the whole time

Dont be at yourself

Excuse me for the bump, but:

Saw this film last night. I've been digging Sidney Lumet's stuff for a while now, and finally got a chance to watch this one.

It's a fantastic film. The whole script, acting and cinematography are so tightly worked that there is no real 'flab' in the film. There's a scene near the start where the variour jurors are just walking around the room, and it's breathtaking. It's one long unbroken shot with characters just seemlessly dove-tailing in and out, opening windows, taking off jackets and so on, and nobody misses a beat. That must have taken ages to rehearse!

Every piece of seemingly throwaway dialogue in the opening scenes actually reveal a lot about the various characters and their reasons for voting as they do.

I tend to dislike black & white oldies as they're usually very dated in many ways, but 12 Angry Men was very slickly directed and edited. It didn't rely on melodrama or machismo, and instead presented us with characters that, even today, are very realistic.

If there are any failings with the film, is that the last few jurors change their vote a little too easily. I felt that the tension could have been turned up a little more...

Charlie

Fantastic movie. I fist saw it when it was prescribed to us by our Jurisprudence lecturer.

The film is a great example of the legal realist Jerome Frank's school of thought, that the law and the study of it, should not be concerned with what it ought to be, but what it actually is. That is, how things like a jurors prejudice, a witnesses memory (or lack thereof), or the appearance and social class of a witness/accussed, can affect the outcome of a case.

Karl Hungus

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Excuse me for the bump, but:

Actually, thanks for the bump, because after this thread I picked up the film on DVD. It really is terrific.

I really must pick this up. It's one of those DVDs I keep meaning to get and everytime I think about it I can never find it. Saw some of the made for TV version and it was far from impressive.

quazzy

Deleted User wrote: »

I really must pick this up. It's one of those DVDs I keep meaning to get and everytime I think about it I can never find it. Saw some of the made for TV version and it was far from impressive.

£10 sterling on sendit.com
http://www.sendit.com/video/item/7000000061487

Great Film.

I also saw the play when it came to the olympia about 2/3 years ago.

The Bollox

I watched this a few weeks ago for the first time and was completely blown away. one thing that I really liked about the film, and am very surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, is that the film is shot in real time. it starts when the jurors leave the court room and end when the leave the court house. The whole debate in the room went on for an hour and a half and there is no part left out in a *5 minutes later* way. that I really loved about it because you get really into the debate with the jurors that way.

the acting and character development was top notch, so that I really felt the tension while watching the film. I would highly recommend this film to anyone as it is not dated in the least (apart, obviously from the lack of colour). this found it's way very quickly into my top 10 films.

*****

Psychedelic

Apologies for bumping an old thread but I've just seen this film. Like other posters I usually end up hating these old so-called classic films once I see them but I just loved this right from the start. A film that truly deserves to be called a classic. 10/10

mikhail

unreggd wrote: »

Why does everyone like this? Worst movie ever! I hated it so much. I usually like these films but it was imo crap

Thank you for that. "These films" are not crap, except for 12 Angry Men, which is crap. I'll make a note of that for future reference. Has anyone ever compared your writing with that of Oscar Wilde?

losthorizon

Why was this film of the week thread thingy discontinued? - good idea

Sad Professor

losthorizon wrote: »

Why was this film of the week thread thingy discontinued? - good idea

There was a few reasons as I recall. The method for selecting the film initially involved a public vote, but somebody for some bizarre reason started setting up multiple accounts to vote which put an end to that. Not that the public vote worked particularly well anyway since everyone kept voting for established classics which there wasn’t much to say about except “yeah great film”. Afterwards Karl started pming random regulars asking them to start a thread about a film of their choosing. That worked for a while, but without the vote everyone kind of lost interest.

Theboinkmaster

any chance of bringing it back?

Sad Professor

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

any chance of bringing it back?

How would it work? We'd just run into the same problems as before. Namely, that everyone will vote for classics that are on the IMDB 250 and when the film gets selected they'll have nothing much to say about it. If anyone has a particular film that they want to discuss they are free to start a thread about it. There's no need for the whole forum to have a vote on it.

Theboinkmaster

Sad Professor wrote: »

How would it work? We'd just run into the same problems as before. Namely, that everyone will vote for classics that are on the IMDB 250 and when the film gets selected they'll have nothing much to say about it. If anyone has a particular film that they want to discuss they are free to start a thread about it. There's no need for the whole forum to have a vote on it.

Could we vote for a panel of judges - moderators and regulars on the flim forum. Then maybe this panel of 5 or something selects a film each week that isn't on the imdb 250 and they can take suggestions each week either on a dedicated thread or via pm?

The whole point being the discovery of hidden gems for us film lovers?

Fysh

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Could we vote for a panel of judges - moderators and regulars on the flim forum. Then maybe this panel of 5 or something selects a film each week that isn't on the imdb 250 and they can take suggestions each week either on a dedicated thread or via pm?

The whole point being the discovery of hidden gems for us film lovers?

The problem was that a bunch of numpties decided to essentially rig the vote and managed to get Meet The Spartans voted in as one of the Films Of The Week.

The same exact problem will happen with a controlled system - either the muppets get representation on the judging board (making any film suggestions from them worthless) or they don't, which then turns every thread from them into an argument about how every Film Of The Week thread/the entire Film Forum is full of elitist snobby ****/plebeian lowest-common-denominator rubbish that only an idiot could appreciate.

The only way to get what you're talking about would be to make the entire Film forum restricted-access, which seems overkill.

Dont be at yourself

All it takes is one person to start a thread on a film, and saying they'll pick the best poster in that thread to choose a film for a new thread. No judges, no votes, no mods, no councils need to be involved.

You could even play with the format, and instead of the 'Film of the Week', you could have a 'Kill Your Darlings' format, where someone chooses a well-loved classic and explains why it's actually a big pile of poo.

kearneybobs

How about we vote by reply in a thread. And only those with a minimum post count will get their vote counted. that way, people who set up dummy accounts wont be included. It's just an idea really, as I'd like to see this come back. It's all about stopping the system for voting from being gamed.
How about, every second week, you must nominate a film that is NOT on the IMDB 250 list.

Fysh

Take a look at the old FotW nominations thread. I don't see any way of making that work without someone having to spend an inordinate amount of time on gobsheen patrol.

The film of the week was fun while it lasted but it ran it's course. If people want to discuss a film they like or dislike then simply make a thread for it. That is, as long as you have something of substance to say.