film

Henry Fonda leads an ensemble cast also featuring Lee J Cobb, Ed Begley, EG Marshall and Jack Warden in this brilliant 1957 courtroom drama as Filmoteca's Sidney Lumet season rolls on. Fonda is Juror 8, who is the sole dissenter on the jury in a seemingly open-and-shut murder case involving a young man accused of killing his father. He raises the possibility of reasonable doubt during an otherwise unanimous jury vote at the beginning of the film, leading to intense deliberations and debate. 

Fonda's investment in the film was deep: he also co-produced it alongside Reginald Rose, who wrote the 1954 teleplay of the same name on which the feature film was based. Its claustrophobic setting (the film takes place almost entirely in a single jury room) is one of 12 Angry Men's greatest strengths, amplifying as it does the increasing heat of the disagreements within the jury, and the prejudices and preconceptions that underlie their opinions. A profound and tightly wound commentary on the American justice system.