One Happy Man

 

I rarely watch TV (I mostly watch DVDs) but I happened to view quite a bit of it last night. The 1957 classic 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda was on early evening so I decided to watch it. I've been told by people of various generations that this is a classic film; I can't believed I've not watched it before since it stars the Quincy legend Jack Klugman (I think this film launched his acting career so without it there would be no Quincy ME!).

The entire film takes place in a jury room - the jurors discuss what seems to be an open-and-shut case of First Degree Murder. However, protagonist Mr Davis (Fonda) votes not guilty, preventing the jury from coming to a quick and unanimous verdict. As time goes on the jurors question whether they can judge the accused guilty "beyond reasonable doubt" and thus send him to the electric chair.

This is one of the most entertaining films I've seen for a long time. The acting and the screenplay are first class - it just goes to show how much scope there is for 12 actors sat around a table (other than a few minutes at the start and at the end it's all set in one room). As well as this it is a clever expose of the democratic legal system.

I'm not the kind of person that will automatically praise a classic just because everyone else does but this really does deserve to be flagged as a classic . . . and best of all it features Jack Klugman!

Although this was my first time watching it the story was very familiar as I've seen the Hancock's Half Hour episode, 12 Angry Men, lots of times. If you've seen both you will realise how good a pardoy Galton and Simpson created. The Hancock version is one of my all-time favourite episodes of sitcom and I'm pleased to say the original is now one of my all-time favourite bits if cinema.

12 Angry men = 1 happy man!

Learn more about the film here.

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