A damn good movie
Jun. 4th, 2004 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
candylandHave you ever seen "12 Angry Men"? It's a movie from the fifties, starring Henry Fonda. He played Juror Number Eight, I think the number was. Or maybe he was Number Nine. Very good movie.
The premise is that a jury is deciding a murder trial--an eighteen year old boy accused of stabbing his father to death with a very unusual-looking knife (engraved handle, one of those zig-zaggy blades, that kind of thing). Eleven of the jurors think he's guilty, but one--Henry Fonda--isn't convinced. And as they begin to talk, and he begins to point out different holes in the prosecution's case, they start to see that maybe things aren't quite as black and white as they think.
And speaking of black and white, there's also a lot of talk about 'them' and 'their kind' and such, which implies pretty clearly that the suspect is most likely a minority of some kind, though they never come right out and say it, nor do they tell you which minority. There is one member of the jury who is an unabashed racist.
Henry Fonda's character was on the list of "100 Years, 100 Heroes and Villains," those things the AFI does every once in a while (they should do more, I love those things!). He was on the list of heroes, though I can't remember where he placed. That was where I first heard of it.
There's a famous scene from this movie. Remember how I mentioned the very distinctive knife used in the killing? Well, they're arguing about the knife, saying how unusual it is, and how that was proof. Fonda's character, whatever number he is, stands up, reaches into his pocket, pulls out the exact same knife, flicks the blade out (it's a switchblade), and drives the tip into the table right alongside the murder weapon.
I'd recommend it. It's not a murder mystery or anything, but it is very interesting how he begins to bring things to light, and prove that a lot of the evidence was quite circumstancial and in some cases, woefully untrue (though not necessarily through the faults of the witnesses).
I won't give anything away, but if you've got an hour and a half to kill, and you want a good movie...watch it. You won't regret it.
Goodnight,
Candy-chan ^_^
The premise is that a jury is deciding a murder trial--an eighteen year old boy accused of stabbing his father to death with a very unusual-looking knife (engraved handle, one of those zig-zaggy blades, that kind of thing). Eleven of the jurors think he's guilty, but one--Henry Fonda--isn't convinced. And as they begin to talk, and he begins to point out different holes in the prosecution's case, they start to see that maybe things aren't quite as black and white as they think.
And speaking of black and white, there's also a lot of talk about 'them' and 'their kind' and such, which implies pretty clearly that the suspect is most likely a minority of some kind, though they never come right out and say it, nor do they tell you which minority. There is one member of the jury who is an unabashed racist.
Henry Fonda's character was on the list of "100 Years, 100 Heroes and Villains," those things the AFI does every once in a while (they should do more, I love those things!). He was on the list of heroes, though I can't remember where he placed. That was where I first heard of it.
There's a famous scene from this movie. Remember how I mentioned the very distinctive knife used in the killing? Well, they're arguing about the knife, saying how unusual it is, and how that was proof. Fonda's character, whatever number he is, stands up, reaches into his pocket, pulls out the exact same knife, flicks the blade out (it's a switchblade), and drives the tip into the table right alongside the murder weapon.
I'd recommend it. It's not a murder mystery or anything, but it is very interesting how he begins to bring things to light, and prove that a lot of the evidence was quite circumstancial and in some cases, woefully untrue (though not necessarily through the faults of the witnesses).
I won't give anything away, but if you've got an hour and a half to kill, and you want a good movie...watch it. You won't regret it.
Goodnight,
Candy-chan ^_^