12 Angry Men (1957)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Reginald Rose (story)
Reginald Rose (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 July 1957 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Life Is In Their Hands -- Death Is On Their Minds!

Plot:

A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Jury | Trial | Jury Room | Restroom

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Martin Balsam	...	Juror #1
John Fiedler	...	Juror #2
Lee J. Cobb	...	Juror #3
E.G. Marshall	...	Juror #4
Jack Klugman	...	Juror #5
Edward Binns	...	Juror #6
Jack Warden	...	Juror #7
Henry Fonda	...	Juror #8
Joseph Sweeney	...	Juror #9
Ed Begley	...	Juror #10
George Voskovec	...	Juror #11
Robert Webber	...	Juror #12
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rudy Bond	...	Judge (uncredited)
James Kelly	...	Guard (uncredited)
Billy Nelson	...	Court Clerk (uncredited)
John Savoca	...	The Accused (uncredited)

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Writing credits
Reginald Rose		(story)
Reginald Rose		(screenplay)

Produced by
Henry Fonda	....	producer
George Justin	....	associate producer
Reginald Rose	....	producer

Original Music by
Kenyon Hopkins

Cinematography by
Boris Kaufman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Carl Lerner

Art Direction by
Robert Markel

Makeup Department
Herman Buchman	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Don Kranze	....	assistant director (as Donald Kranze)

Sound Department
James A. Gleason	....	sound
Al Gramaglia	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Saul Midwall	....	camera operator

Music Department
Kenyon Hopkins	....	conductor

Other crew
Faith Hubley	....	script supervisor (as Faith Elliott)

Production Companies

• Orion-Nova Productions

Distributors

• Shochiku Select (1959) (Japan) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Japan (2001) (Japan) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (VHS)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (video)
• Varus Video (Russia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Solters & Digney  publicity

Also Known As:

Twelve Angry Men (USA) (alternative spelling)
Doce hombres en pugna (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
дБЕММЮДЖЮРЭ ПЮГЦМЕБЮММШУ ЛСФВХМ (Soviet Union: Russian title) [ru]
12 Homens e uma Sentença (Brazil) [pt]
12 edsvurna män (Sweden) [sv]
12 hombres en pugna (Mexico) [es]
12 hombres sin piedad (Spain) [es]
A tizenkét dühös ember (Hungary) [hu]
Die 12 Geschworenen (Austria) [de]
Die zwölf Geschworenen (West Germany) [de]
Doce hombres sin piedad (Spain) [es]
Douze hommes en colère (France) [fr]
Doze Homens e Uma Sentença (Brazil) [pt]
Doze Homens em Fúria (Portugal) [pt]
Dvanaest gnevnih ljudi (Serbia) [sr]
Dwunastu gniewnych ludzi (Poland) [pl]
Juuni nin no okoreru otoko (Japan) (DVD title) [ja]
La parola ai giurati (Italy) [it]
Oi 12 enorkoi (Greece) [el]
Tolv vrede mænd (Denmark) [da]
Valamiesten ratkaisu (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #18206) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Company:

Orion-Nova Productions

Trivia:

At the beginning of the film, the cameras are all positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater distance between the subjects. As the film progresses the cameras slip down to eye level. By the end of the film, nearly all of it is shot below eye level, in close-up and with telephoto lenses to increase the encroaching sense of claustrophobia.

Goofs:

Continuity: Within the last half hour of the movie, the clock on the wall in the jury room can be seen indicating 6:15. Several minutes later, E.G. Marshall states that it is "a quarter after six". Several minutes after that, the wall clock is seen again, but still shows 6:15. Still later, when Lee J. Cobb leans over the table after he tears up the snapshot from his wallet, his watch can be seen indicating 5:10.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[In a tedious manner, sounding bored and tired]
Judge: To continue, you've listened to a long and complex case: murder in the first degree. Premeditated murder is the most serious charge tried in our criminal courts . You've listened to the testimony, you've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Dick Van Dyke Show: One Angry Man (#1.24)" (1962)

Great Film Reflecting American Cultural Changes

12 Angry Men is a terrific film that reflects a lot of the past problems and the proposed solutions of immigration, youth violence, and of course, overcoming one's own background and discrimination. The film surprised me in how progressive it was, and the ending social conclusions that it reached.

In the film you can see clearly form a rift between the upper class, conservatives who are unwilling to change and the progressives who are proposing change for the better of all of us; this film, deep down, is a very class conscious and socially conscious film about discrimination and the deep lines it had in American society in 1957.

Although the film's portrayal is sometimes overly simplistic, drawing a "stubborn, pig-headed" conservative versus "righteous, just" progressive, one can find that this was very much so a necessary film for its' time. In many ways, it is a work that was socially far advanced.

Also what is interesting is the fact that it is a film that is done with great simplicity; some actors, and a room... It relies greatly upon the pure talent of the actors, and the great direction of Sidney Lumet -- this film is truly unique due to the true minimalism it embraces in its' production tactics, yet this is something that could easily go unnoticed due to the incredible quality of the film.