69. 12 Angry Men (1957)

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American courtroom drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. This courtroom drama tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing the jurors to question their morals and values.

12 Angry Men explores many techniques of consensus-building and the difficulties encountered in the process among this group of men whose range of personalities adds to the intensity and conflict. It also explores the power one person has to elicit change. The jury members are identified only by number; no names are revealed until an exchange of dialogue at the very end. The film forces the characters and audience to evaluate their own self-image through observing the personality, experiences, and actions of the jurors. The film is also notable for its almost exclusive use of one set, where all but three minutes of the film take place.

In 2007, the film was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was selected as the second-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute during their AFI's 10 Top 10 list.

PODCAST NOTES

Episode intro and guest Brian Thompson mini-bio (00:01), Jason and Brian talk about their Yankee & Red Sox near-murder meet-cute story (2:30), Sidney Lumet and Brian's first experiences of '12 Angry Men' (7:00), Henry Fonda and critical thinking role models (9:00), The 'Kids These Days' scene from '12 Angry Men' (10:30), Disinterested Judge scene from '12 Angry Men' (16:30), Brian's doorbell rings and it's the FBI and NYPD (18:30), how to smuggle drugs and money into jail and prison (19:00), Skin care tips of the incarcerated (20:30), extreme experiences and how not to allow them to distance you from others (22:00), Lewisburg Penitentiary and re-entering real life as a human being and not a gladiator on the yard (22:30), Brian's brain injury and its impact on his addictions (24:00), Sidney Lumet's book 'Making Movies' and his thoughts about films like 'Dog Day Afternoon', 'Serpico, and 'Prince Of The City' (24:30), the cast of '12 Angry Men' (28:30), clip from '12 Angry Men' where Henry Fonda bets on humanity (30:00), Sidney Lumet on Henry Fonda as an actor (32:00), Brian's emotional response and personal connections to various scenes in '12 Angry Men', including the Jack Klugman "slum" scene (34:30), Brian's permanent exemption from jury duty (36:30), Brian's life of crime and his 'felony a day' lifestyle and some background on The Westies gang in NYC(38:00), Brian's time running among Chinatown gangsters in 1980's NYC (41:30), gang style in the 1970's (45:00), clip from '12 Angry Men' of the democracy speech from actor George Voscovec (46:30), legal realities and the obfuscation of same in '12 Angry Men' (45:30), Brian's arrests at age 12 and early incarcerations and prison GED leading to post-prison college and Master's degrees (52:00), Brian's career cooking at Bouley, Nobu, and a handful of other of NYC's finest dining establishments (57:00), Suicide or advanced degrees (58:30), the "these people" clip featuring Ed Begley from '12 Angry Men', with Sidney Lumet's incredible shot of actors turning their backs on Begley one by one (1:05:30), Sidney Lumet's incredible movement of the camera in '12 Angry Men' (1:08:30), 'The Andy Griffith Show' take on '12 Angry Men' (1:11:00), 'Inside Amy Schumer' does '12 Angry Men' parody with Jeff Goldblum, Nick Dipaulo, Paul Giammatti, John Hawkes, Dennis Quaid, and Henry Zebrowski (1:13:00), Henry Fonda pissed off at Sidney Lumet's NYC backdrops day one of filming due to budget constraints (1:17:00), Lee J. Cobb's amazing concluding scene from '12 Angry Men', and childhood traumas mingling with a lack of make role models for sons (1:18:00), Brian's prison time and its impact on his son's choice of becoming an attorney (1:24:00), Brian's take on prison movies and their verisimilitude, including 'Bad Boys' with Sean Penn and 'Shawshank Redemption' (1:26:00), the difference between jail and prison (1:27:00), Being in prison in Otisville with Eddie 'Crazy Eddie' Antar (1:28:30), Brian's story of being arrested for the double murder of a Chinatown gambler and bar owner and being assisted in his defense by famed Irish mobster Mickey Featherstone and a federal agent (1:34:00), Prison phone use and why it inevitably leads to violence and conflict (1:44:30), Latch Key TV with 'My Three Sons', 'Family Affair', 'Father Knows Best', 'Bonanza', and 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' and Brian's realization that all the formative shows of his youth featured single father's doing a great job raising kids (1:47:00).