This is one of the most stressful movies I've ever watched, and it's worth every one of the hairs standing at attention at the back of my neck. For a film that's nothing but a bunch of men arguing with each other in a locked room, 12 Angry Men is suspenseful, thoughtful, and attention-demanding, supported by twelve powerhouse performances. This film follows twelve jurors tasked with determining the guilt of a young man from the slums, who has allegedly murdered his father. The judge imposes the standard of reasonable doubt: if there is a reasonable doubt about the boy's guilt, the jury must come to a verdict of not guilty. And so it begins. Henry Fonda plays Juror 8, at the start the only juror who questions the assumptions of the other men that the defendant is guilty. He demands discussion before a verdict is reached, and as he argues his case, the biases and interests of the other eleven men emerge: the man who grew up in the slums and doesn't take kindly to p...
One woman's attempt to watch the entire National Film Registry, one movie at a time.