All Positive Reviews: 12 Angry Men

Well hey y'all, I'm Edmund. And I'm Heather. And this is All Positive Reviews. So last time when we did the Bucket List movie, we did Amelie. Oh, so adorable. Lovely French quirky comedy. Yes. And now we're on to Yelling with 12 Angry Men. You are going to try a man for murder. The awesome power to kill will suddenly be thrust into your hands. Watch them and pray for someday you may become one of them. 12 men with the smell of violent death in their nostrils. A courtroom classic that doesn't really have a courtroom except at the beginning. Yeah. But this is one of my favorite movies for a long time. And I'm excited to do this All Positive Review, especially because you haven't seen it. No, this is my first viewing. And to start things off, I have a quick question for you. Sure. So could you tell from the way it was filmed that this was based on a play? I mean, it's just set up. One room, pretty much. Yeah. Other than, you know, the bookends, of course. And it's the way it's set up and the movement just around the table would be so easily done. Yeah, but it was wonderfully filmed. Yeah, yeah. It's a director, Sidney LeMay, very early on. He also did Network, which is a magnificent, magnificent movie you all should check out. But I did. I love that. Like, that's one of the first things I love about it is it as a bottle movie. Yeah. Because I've always loved a great bottle story. Right. You know, everything from Joss Whedon stuff to Friends. Yeah. Great bottle stories. Yes. And I don't mind, especially when it's a movie with a lot of themes that I like. Yeah. I like because this is a movie, if any of you haven't seen it, which you totally should. It's a movie of just 12 very, well, not all of them are white, but 12 mostly white male jurors who have to decide on the fate of a poor little Spanish kid who's being accused of the murder of his dad and all of them want to leave and just go off except Henry Fonda. Right. Juror number eight who wants to hear the whole thing and really drive home the point of what reasonable doubt actually means. Well, and I like his point in the beginning about where he's just like, I mean, this is someone's life in Spain, so we should at least give it talking. You know, we should take our time. Give it some time because this is someone's life in Spain. It's worth that. Yeah, we don't, you know, we don't have to sit around throwing out like, oh, when's the baseball game going to start? Exactly. All of that stuff. Right. I honestly think the guy's guilty. Wouldn't change my mind if you talk for 100 years. I'm not trying to change your mind. It's just that we're talking about somebody's life here. We can't decide it in five minutes. Supposing we're wrong. Supposing this whole building should fall down on my head. You can suppose anything. That's right. But what's the difference how long it takes? Suppose we do it in five minutes, so what? Let's take an hour. Ballgame doesn't start till eight o'clock. Henry Fonda is great. He's kind of that anchor of reason in the movie. Yeah. And it's really fun to watch him prove a point. Because he does it almost like in a Clint Eastwood, like silent cowboy kind of way where he just lets the people, he'll say some points, but then he'll just let the people talk and talk themselves into a corner. And then he'll be like, oh, the switchblade was rare? Like this one right here? Yeah. No, he's really good at that. He does a wonderful job. And of course, he's going to get you onto his side eventually. But yeah, he was great. A lot of, I mean, all of the men in the thing were wonderful. Yeah, it's this big ensemble that is Henry Fonda, his opposition, Lee Jacob, who we'll get to in a minute. And then just a who's who of like Twilight Zone. Yeah, it's mainly the Twilight Zone people. Smattering of outer limits, but primarily Twilight Zone. Yeah, which is wonderful because Twilight Zone has amazing actors, so. Oh, I know. It says a lot about the cast of the movie. Yep. And they work wonderfully together. You understand throughout the whole thing why each of them hold each position. Right. And it's a very, they do so in a very economical amount of time. This is not a long movie. No. Just 95 minutes. Yeah, it was very quick, very clean. It was just quick, quick, quick. Same with the dialogue. The dialogue just keeps going and going and very awesome to hear. But yeah, these actors work very well off of each other. Like that's the other thing that makes it a very good stage adaptation for me, because a lot of it has to do with the acting. The actors just in this room have to keep the tension up with the energy of the dialogue and their performances. Right. And they all do, even though it's horrible to hear at points, because some of them are just, some of them are racist assholes. Some of them are extremely apathetic to the point of disgusting you. Some of them are extremely wishy-washy and won't shut up. Yeah. But they are very clearly those characters. Those are three-dimensional characters. Yeah. And you understand every scene and every point. Right. That they make. Right. Even Lee Jacob, juror number three, who is the king angry asshole in this, they make a lot of jokes and things about the things you should do to get out of jury duty. Yeah. This dude really needed to get out of jury duty. Yeah. Not because of the facts. He is not in the right state of mind. Not at all. But that works to the point of the movie, because you have that reason versus passion debate. Right. Going on. Especially when you have, and I know it's not a choice in a lot of your favorite movies, but I like the cinematography, how it does get closer up. Oh, yes. Okay, I see what you're saying. Like, yeah, it gets claustrophobic. Yes. But to me, that's part of the point. No, and I understand that. And for a lot of movies, I don't mind. And I get the point of that, so I understand where it's coming from. But yeah, there's times. I mean, and there's some movies that I love that are extremely claustrophobic, because I can't remember that one with the half floor. Half floor? Yeah, where they work in the building and it's five and a half. Oh, you mean Being John Malkovich? Yes, like that one. That one is extremely hard to watch, even though it's a great movie. It's just so claustrophobic. It's true. Yes. But yeah, it can get claustrophobic. Quick question. So did you like the movie, despite how much yelling was in it? I know. I still thought it was a great movie. And I still thought it had great points to make and everything. I'm not big on yelling, you know, but that's just a personal choice of mine. This is a movie where yelling obviously was needed. Or, you know, they wouldn't be very angry. It's true, though. You know what I mean? So when the case calls for it, there has to be. And I just a lot of times choose to stay away from yelling movies. But no, this one was there was a case for all the yelling that was definitely necessary. Awesome. I'm glad because, yeah, I love this movie. I've loved it for a long time. This is one of those that taught me about the importance of paying attention. Right. In a case. Right. The responsibility that comes with being on a jury. And just also that, you know, there's really no room for laziness in the legal system. Like that's people's lives a lot of time on the line. Yeah, it's a pretty big deal. And even, you know, I know people hate jury duty, but it's really important. And it's a pretty big thing. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But I love the movie a lot and I'm glad that you liked it too. Yes, I enjoyed it. Next time on All Positive Reviews, we're going to go back to a favorite person of yours in a movie you haven't seen. Yes, I have never seen this movie, Blade Runner. Yes. But I do love some Harrison Ford. So, you know, very excited about that. I'm very excited to take you to the Los Angeles of last year. Yes, yes. We're not dressing correctly yet. But anyways, we will get there. But in the meantime, we have plenty of things down below that you can check out if you're looking for more All Positive Reviews. We have lots of Game of Thrones. We have other bucket list movies like Amelie and City of God and Pulp Fiction. We have Marvel, Star Trek and lots of other things coming along the way. Plus, anything that you suggest, we will do. Not just movies and TV, anything. But until next time, thank you so much for watching. Please make sure to like, comment and subscribe down below. Stay positive and have a great day.