12 Angry Men (Twelve Angry Men) (1957)
100%RT Audience Score: 97%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 3 Oscars
17 wins & 13 nominations total
Sidney Lumet’s feature debut is a superbly written, dramatically effective courtroom thriller that rightfully stands as a modern classic.
Sidney Lumet’s first-ever movie is a total banger! This courtroom drama is so well-written and dramatic that it’s become a total classic. Seriously, it’s a must-watch.
Production Company(ies)
Orion-Nova Productions,
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., United Artists, Criterion Collection
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
New York County Courthouse – 60 Centre Street, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Approved
Year of Release
1957
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:1h 35m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 20, 1957 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 4, 2008
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $955
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $12,161
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 3,139
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,326
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted):
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted):
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted):
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.):
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.):
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Henry Fonda – Juror No. 8
Lee J. Cobb – Juror No. 3
Ed Begley – Juror No. 10
E.G. Marshall – Juror No. 4
Jack Klugman – Juror No. 5
Martin Balsam – Juror No. 1
Show all Cast & Crew
Director(s)
Sidney Lumet
Writer(s)
Reginald Rose
Producer(s)
Henry Fonda, Reginald Rose
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 3 Oscars
17 wins & 13 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (58) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (58)
This movie is a masterpiece. That term gets thrown around a lot — it’s a very easy thing to say about great films like this — but this movie is one of the best. This is one of the very few films that I will call perfect.
January 26, 2018 | Rating: A+
Chris Stuckmann
ChrisStuckmann.com
TOP CRITIC
Too few films take on the art of arguing as a subject; we could certainly use more of them, but until then, Lumet’s window into strained civic duty will continue to serve mightily.
July 3, 2013 | Rating: 5/5
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
The film takes a confined, almost completely banal real-world location and makes it completely dynamic, using incredibly nimble camera movements to establish character motivation and theme.
June 30, 2013 | Rating: 4/4
Glenn Heath Jr.
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The film leaves a tremendous impact.
June 30, 2008
Hy Hollinger
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Mechanically written, but within its own middlebrow limitations, it delivers the goods.
June 26, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
A strangely realistic thriller.
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Within its simplicity there is a freshness and ingenuousness about Twelve Angry Men uncommon in a slickly sophisticated film industry.
December 13, 2021
Jonathan Baumbach
Film Culture
One has to imagine the dramatic imagination that went into creating this fascinating, psychologically realistic motion picture, which, from start to finish, never changes its subject or its location.
December 8, 2021
André Bazin
L’Éducation Nationale
A court drama that transcends time or place; a real masterpiece. [Full review in Spanish]
September 21, 2021
Gisela Savdie
El Heraldo
If you have never seen the film I cannot recommend it enough.
March 24, 2021
Sarah Brinks
Battleship Pretension
Reginald Rose’s script is one of deep revelation.
September 24, 2020 | Rating: 4.0/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
Thought-provoking, continually riveting, and absolutely unforgettable – and surprisingly designed around a very simple, tightly budgeted, special-effects-free premise.
August 15, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins…
Plot
The defense and the prosecution have rested, and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case of murder soon becomes a detective story that presents a succession of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors’ prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, AND each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
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