12 Angry Men (1957)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer:

Reginald Rose (story)

Release Date:

April 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

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 | Sitting

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 14 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 and screenplay)

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

Original Music by
Kenyon Hopkins		(music composed by)

Cinematography by
Boris Kaufman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Carl Lerner		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Bob Markel		(as Robert Markel)

Makeup Department
Herman Buchman	....	makeup

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	....	operative cameraman
Muky	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Kenyon Hopkins	....	conductor

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

Production Companies

• Orion-Nova Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (as A United Artists Presentation)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Les Artistes Associés (1958) (France) (theatrical)
• Nova Film (1957) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Select (1959) (Japan) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Japan (2001) (Japan) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 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)
• SF Home Entertainment (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Varus Video (Russia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Solters & Digney  publicity (uncredited)

Also Known As:

"12 рaзгневанных мужчин" - Russia, Soviet Union (Russian title)
"12 hombres en pugna" - Mexico, Peru (imdb display title)
"Doce hombres en pugna" - Argentina, Venezuela
"12 Homens e uma Sentença" - Brazil
"12 edsvorne menn" - Norway (imdb display title)
"12 edsvurna män" - Sweden
"12 hombres sin piedad" - Spain
"12 hommes en colère" - France
"12 jeznih moz" - Slovenia (imdb display title)
"12 oameni furiosi" - Romania (imdb display title)
"12 ofkeli adam" - Turkey (Turkish title) (imdb display title)
"De twaalf gezworenen" - Belgium (Flemish title) (imdb display title)
"Die 12 Geschworenen" - Austria
"Die zwölf Geschworenen" - West Germany
"Doce hombres sin piedad" - Spain
"Douze hommes en colère" - France
"Doze Homens e Uma Sentença" - Brazil
"Doze Homens em Fúria" - Portugal
"Dvanáct rozhnevaných muzu" - Czechoslovakia (Czech title) (imdb display title)
"Dvanaest gnevnih ljudi" - Serbia
"Dwunastu gniewnych ludzi" - Poland
"Juuni nin no okoreru otoko" - Japan (DVD title)
"La parola ai giurati" - Italy
"Oi 12 enorkoi" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Oniki öfkeli adam" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Tizenkét dühös ember" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Tolv vrede mænd" - Denmark
"Valamiesten ratkaisu" - Finland

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 | Japan:G (2009) | Netherlands:14 (original rating) | USA:TV-PG | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #18206) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Fox Movietone Studio, New York, USA

Company:

Orion-Nova Productions

Trivia:

Henry Fonda disliked watching himself on film, so he did not watch the whole film in the projection room. But before he walked out he said quietly to director Sidney Lumet, "Sidney, it's magnificent."

Goofs:

Continuity: When Juror #8 wants to time how long it would take an injured man to walk down the hall, Juror #2 starts and stops the timing and announces it as "exactly 41 seconds". In reality, and considering that the scene does not cut away, the time is 30 seconds.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Man in corridor:You did a wonderful job, wonderful job!
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:

References The Scarlet Hour (1956)

Good script, great dialogs and a set of actors who would be the envy of the world

This is one of those movies where everything could go wrong. The story is as simple as it can be: 12 men are jurors on a open and shut murder trial, but one man thinks that another persons life deserves at least some thought on the matter and votes not guilty. From this point on we have 12 actors and a closed room. This could be the most boring film ever made. Lumet however is a master of mise-en-scene and provides a tense movie that keeps you locked on from the word "go". The dialogs are great and supported by incredibly talented actors. Joel Schumacher in Phone Booth needed to see this movie and draw a few ideas on how to make a character built, dialog driven movie. A must see for everyone.