5 Movies to Watch before You Die: #5 - 12 Angry Men

by Dharmesh Gandhi

Before I watched ‘12 Angry Men’, I had watched ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and ‘Serpico’ by Sidney Lumet, which happen to be in my list of all time favorite films. I loved ‘Dog Day Afternoon’; so I was expecting something similar when I sat down to watch 12 Angry Men. At first, I was not too keen to watch the film as I had not watched any actors (apart from Fonda) in any films. 

Apart from a brief setup and a briefer epilogue, the entire film takes place within a small New York City jury room, on "the hottest day of the year," as 12 men debate the fate of a young defendant charged with murdering his father. Incredible. Aside from the great performances (by each of these great actors) the standout in ‘12 Angry Men’ is Lumet's subtle pacing and tension-building. Lumet gently leads us in to the crucial characteristics of the jurors.

Atmosphere is as important as character. Watch the jurors sweat in stifling heat and then delight in the rainstorm. All the while, Fonda remains cool and calm in his white suit. A ticking clock, a wall-mounted fan and a dozen heated debaters are perfectly exploited to portray this study in prejudice, justice and humanity. The interlaced moments of comedy are very welcome too and always appropriate to the progress of plot and character.

The brilliance of ‘12 Angry Men’ can be explained in three parts. Sidney Lumet does everything right in this film. The setting is simple; most of the action takes place in the jury room, with the exception of some establishing shots telling the viewer where they are, and the plot is pretty straightforward But there are some wonderful elements that he introduces into the scene to further the claustrophobia and tension: He makes it the hottest day of the summer, and for most of the film, the fan doesn't work, so you can literally see the sweat pouring off of these men and soaking through their shirts. He also uses some tight close-ups of the actors at times, particularly when they are giving dissenting opinions or are in a state of emotional discomfort.

Secondly, the film's script is absolutely first-rate. Not only does the story come together like a thousand puzzle pieces, but also the clever way it does this never fails to astonish me. One would think that sitting and watching 12 guys talk about a court case while getting in each other's faces for an hour and a half wouldn't be compelling, but the intricacies of each juror, the way each of their backgrounds and prejudices are revealed is fantastic.

Let’s come to the cinematography. To make the room seem smaller as the story continued, lenses of longer focal lengths have been used, so that the backgrounds seemed to close in on the characters. The first part of the film is shot above eye level. The second, at eye level. And the last is shot below eye level. In that way, towards the end the ceiling began to appear. Not only were the walls closing in, the ceiling was as well. The sense of increasing claustrophobia did a lot to raise the tension of the last part of the movie. In the film's last shot, a wide angle was used to let the viewer finally breathe.

‘12 Angry Men’ is one of those rare B/W favourites for me. It's almost disarmingly simple and straightforward. Its drama frighteningly is intense. I understand why some may view the film as dated, or have a problem with the era from which it was made. I take into account all the cultural differences between then and now (the all-white male jury, the American slang, the one-dimensional setting) but none of it matters because the story, direction, and acting are so good. The morality of the story is the focus, not the backdrop. 

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Dharmesh Gandhi thrives on cinema and pop culture. When he is not busy doing that, he's a TVshow evangelist. If he's doing neither of those, he's probably asleep. If you want to talk to him about movies or bitch about the shows he airs on Star World you can catch him on Twitter.


This is the first of his series of 5 movie reviews for LaptopLit.

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