the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Donald Clarke and John Maguire, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men.

In New York, in the height of summer, twelve jurors assemble for what should be a simple open and shut case. Most of the jury assumes that they’ll be done within the hour. However, against all of that evidence and in spite of all of that expectation, one member of the group isn’t entirely convinced that the accused is guilty.

At time of recording, it was ranked 5th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show notes:

• Recorded 21st May 2020.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• 12 Angry Men at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Follow Donald on Twitter.
• Read Donald’s articles at The Irish Times.
• Follow John on Twitter.
• Sight & Sound ranks the best one hundred movies of all-time, March 2020.
• Robert Koehler at Sight & Sound argues for L’avventura as one of the greatest films of all time, November 2019.
• Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian writes about how L’avventura faded into the cultural background, September 2012.
• Max Tohline at Bright Lights Film Journal on using the IMDb Top 250 to track shifting social norms, January 2020.
• Eric D Snider at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on what makes 12 Angry Men such a standout piece of American cinema, June 2010.
• David Thompson offers a brief introduction to Sidney Lumet at The Criterion Collection, April 2010.
• Thane Rosenbaum discusses the importance of justice and fairness to Sidney Lumet at The Criterion Collection, November 2011.
• Making Movies by Sidney Lumet, August 1995.
• The Royal Ocean Film Society presents 12 Angry Men as a masterclass in film staging, July 2017.
• David Mack at BuzzFeed reports on the toilet flush heard on the Supreme Court phone hearing, May 2020.
• Joanna E. Rapf argues for the importance of 12 Angry Men as a social document at The Library of Congress, December 2007.
• Patrick Goldstein at The Los Angeles Times offers a brief history of the House Unamerican Activities Committee, October 1997.
• Megan Rosenfeld at The Washington Post takes a look at the legacy and consequences of the Hollywood Blacklist, January 1981.
• Patrick Goldstein and James Rainey at The Los Angeles Times on how Sidney Lumet fought the Hollywood Blacklist, April 2011.
• Sonia Sotomoyer talks to The New York Times about the influence of 12 Angry Men on her career and her life, October 2010.
• Leigh Singer at The BFI on the technique and craft of 12 Angry Men, January 2020.
• V Renée at No Film School on the use of camera angels and cinematography to heighten the storytelling in 12 Angry Men, September 2016.
• Jeff Saporito at Screen Prism on the use of cinematography to build tension in 12 Angry Men, October 2015.
• Mike D’Angelo at The A.V. Club argues that the jury in 12 Angry Men probably got it wrong, August 2012.
• Jeffrey Abrahamson at The Chicago-Kent Law Review offers a legal analysis of 12 Angry Men, April 2007.
• Kurt Andersen at Slate argues that 12 Angry Men did “justice for justice”, January 2020.
• William Sturkey at Black Perspectives takes a look at the history of Civil Rights in the late fifties and into the sixties, February 2018.
• “Twelve Angry Men”, Hancock’s Half Hour, October 1959.
• “12 Angry Men”, Inside Amy Schumer, May 2015.
• David Ray Papke at The Marquette Law Scholarly Commons on 12 Angry Men as an optimistic portrayal of the American court system, January 2007.
• Nathan Rabin at Vanity Fair on the relevance of 12 Angry Men in the modern age, April 2017.
• Farren Nehme at The Self-Styled Siren on the oppressive New York heat of 12 Angry Men, July 2011.
• Follow The 250 on Twitter.
• Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
• Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
• Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
• Listen to The 250 on Spotify.

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: 12 angry men, america, courts, donald clarke, fantasy, henry fonda, john maguire, justice, Movie, podcast, Sidney Lumet, The 250 |