12 Angry Men

media release: USA | 1957 | DCP | 96 min.

Director: Sidney Lumet

Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden

In the definitive version of Reginald Rose’s timeless script, an all-white jury decides the fate of a youth accused of murder. This tightly constructed searing exposé of prejudice in the American legal system stars Fonda as a particularly conscientious juror, and a pantheon of great character actors, including Cobb, Warden, E. G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, and Martin Balsam.

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LUMET/FONDA: After a decade of directing live television, director Sidney Lumet made the leap to feature films with a small scale, one-room drama, 12 Angry Men (1957), a now iconic classic. His star, Henry Fonda, had already been a Hollywood leading man for over twenty years, and his presence lent the young director’s film a level of gravitas and star power uncommon for such a modest debut. The actor/director duo would work together on two more films films over the next seven years: the rarely screened Stage Struck (1958) and the Cold War thriller Fail Safe (1964), showcasing the dynamic potential of aging Hollywood stalwarts in the ascendant milieu of stylistic realism.