As Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men” begins, a courtroom has just finished the trial of an 18-year-old boy accused of knifing his father to death. Once inside the jury room, and after a couple of minutes of get-to-know-you conversation, a preliminary vote is called for. Most seem to reason that the boy is obviously guilty. Most have families to get home to; others are looking forward to that evening's Yankee game; still others just want to get out of the hot and stuffy room (complete with a broken fan). But when the vote is taken, the show of hands indicates that there is one dissenter. The remainder of the film, played out in near real-time, shows how this one unassuming man leads his colleagues on a tour through the case, the defendant's life, and the American justice system. As he says, "It's not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first".
Henry Fonda plays the lone dissenter, identified only as Juror #8. All the men are identified only by......
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