Member review

This movie is a cult classic. Twelve jurors in one room, yes - the whole movie is set in one single room - debating about whether a eighteen year old slum boy committed the murder of his father, whom he hated very fondly. The twelve jurors agree on the boy being guilty, however the exception of one - The 8th Juror and that is when this fascinating, low-budget movie explodes into a well-scripted masterpiece.

After the conflict of opinions within the 8th Juror and the others, they begin to debate why the disagree - this leads onto one of the most interesting aspects of the story - each person's personality: The 1st juror was the leader and wanted to maintain the organization of the group. The 2nd was a very feeble man who was continuously was interrupted and often flattened on by the arrogant man's thumb - juror number 3 - played by the captivating Lee J. Cobb. His opinion from the beginning is what he insisted on sticking with, eventually his arrogance turned into anger and he began to loathe the others by blaming them for following the singled out juror. The 4th Juror was very disciplined and fairly opinionated but was not much of a bad guy. The 5th Juror was very knowledgeable and helpful towards the case.

Following on, number 6 didn't have a obvious persona but went along with whatever occured. The 7th wasnt bothered about the case, instead worried much more about the baseball match which commenced in a few hours, this character brought a interesting mix to different personalities. The 8th Juror - played by the legendary Henry Fonda - who I have spoken about already was a very sensible man who believed that the eighteen year old's life shouldn't be decided without a conversation stated that. The 9th was a old man who some of the others attempted to ignore however he rebelled and stood up to get his view across. The 10th was a angered man who despised slum people, he was desperate to get rid of this boy, who he thought was just 'vermin' and hated anyone who stood in his way. The 11th a Italian man was more of a listener than a speaker the opposite of the man next to him  - the 12th and final man. He was a business man who had alot to say, but it was usually the right thing to say unlike the 10th Juror.

It isn't just the diversity of the characters which rewards this film one of the best. It also shows a well written script. The most cunning aspect of the movie is how the most arrogant and disliked characters eventually start contradicting themselves thorough rage. This is phenomenally performed by the 3rd juror as he shouts to juror 8: 'I'll kill him, I'll - kill him!' When previously he was talking about the prosecuted young adult of saying that and if said he obviously killed him. However Fonda replies with a fantastic: 'You don't really mean you'll kill me, do you?' This is absolutely magnificent.

In conclusion, the characterisation is brilliant on top of the perfect script including the knife and spectacle marks near the end. This makes it a low-budget masterpiece which is revolutionary, and has shaped the movies we have now.