12 Angry Men (1997 film)
| 12 Angry Men | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
|
|
| Genre | Drama |
| Based on | Twelve Angry Men |
| Written by | Reginald Rose |
| Directed by | William Friedkin |
| Starring |
Courtney B. Vance Ossie Davis George C. Scott Armin Mueller-Stahl Dorian Harewood James Gandolfini Tony Danza Jack Lemmon Hume Cronyn Mykelti Williamson Edward James Olmos William Petersen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Terence A. Donnelly |
| Cinematography | Fred Schuler |
| Editor(s) | Augie Hess |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Production company(s) | MGM Television |
| Distributor | Showtime Networks |
| Budget | $1.75 million |
| Release | |
| Original network | MGM Television |
| Original release | August 17, 1997 |
12 Angry Men is a 1997 American television drama film directed by William Friedkin, adapted by Reginald Rose from his original teleplay of the same title. It is a remake of the film of 1957.
When the final closing arguments in a murder trial have been presented to the judge, she gives her instructions to the jury, all of whom are men. In the United States, the verdict in criminal cases must be unanimous. A non-unanimous verdict results in a hung jury which in turn forces a mistrial. The question they are deciding is whether the defendant, a teenaged boy from a city slum, murdered his father. The jury is further instructed that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence. The jury of twelve retires to the jury room, where they begin to become acquainted with their personalities and discuss the case.
The story revolves around their difficulty in reaching a unanimous verdict, mainly because of the personal prejudices of several of the jurors. An initial vote is taken and eleven of the jurors vote for conviction. Juror number 8, the lone dissenter, states that the evidence presented is circumstantial and the boy deserves a fair deliberation, upon which he questions the accuracy and reliability of the only two witnesses to the murder, the fact that the knife used in the murder is not as unusual as the testimony indicates (he produces an identical one from his pocket), and the overall shady circumstances.
Having argued several points, Juror 8 requests another vote, this time by secret ballot. He proposed that he would abstain from voting, and if the other eleven jurors voted guilty unanimously, then he would acquiesce to their decision. However, if at least one juror voted "not guilty", then they would continue deliberating. In a secret ballot, Juror 9 is the first to support Juror 8, and not necessarily believing the accused is not guilty, but feeling that Juror 8's points deserve further discussion.
After hearing further deliberations concerning whether one witness actually heard the murder take place, Juror 5 (who grew up in a slum) changes his vote to "not guilty." This earns criticism from Juror 3, who accuses him of switching only because he had sympathy for slum children. Soon afterward, Juror 11, questioning whether the defendant would have reasonably fled the scene and come back three hours later to retrieve his knife, also changes his vote. Jurors 2 and 6 also decide to vote "not guilty" to tie the vote at 6-6, Juror 7 (who has tickets to a baseball game at 8:00 that night) becomes tired and also changes his vote just so that the deliberation may end, which earns him nothing but shame. When pressed by Juror 11, however, Juror 7 says he believes the defendant is not guilty.
...
Wikipedia