comment #1

Gordie Lachance says ...

It has a commentary, 2 featurettes, and it's anamorphic.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview2/12angrymen.htm

comment #2

Balthazar says ...

I never, ever, ever get tired of this film. ... I'll run this DVD up the flagpole and see what it's like.

comment #3

mutinyco says ...

That has to be the most ridiculously phallic art direction I've ever seen...

comment #4

gruver1 says ...

Anamorphic? It was shot in 1.66 and meant to be seen that way. But wait...if you look at the DVD Beaver comparisons, there is slightly more visual information on the bottom of the captures from the new DVD. Plus the image looks sharper and cleaner. But the commentary and two featurettes....fine.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview2/12angrymen.htm

comment #5

jaredsap says ...

Great news. I've been watching excellent 35mm prints of 12 ANGRY MEN over the years, but with this sparkling new transfer the DVD will certainly outmatch any future repertory screenings. Right, Jeff?

comment #6

bmcintire says ...

Jeff - anamorphic 1.66 means, yes, there will be side mattes (pillar-boxing) but since it is no longer a 4X3 transfer, a 16X9 television will not have to blow up the picture to keep the image from being postage-stamped in the middle of the screen.
And this new Hi-Def transfer was done for the 50th anniversary theatrical presentation last year. A new fine grain and newly restored English audio went into making this. It looks gorgeous.

comment #7

Peterson says ...

Jeff, " Anamorphic " in home video terms means 'enhanced for widescreen televisions' and nothing to do with the on-screen aspect ratio.

1:66, 1:85,2:40 and the rare 2:55 ratios are all transferred squeezed on anamorphic DVDs which allows for better picture detail on widescreen televisions. Any player will also convert them properly for display on older standard ratio screens. ( That's why your player will always ask you for the format of your tv in the set-up menu. )

comment #8

actionman says ...

This was one of the first movies my dad ever showed me where he specifically told me to be cognizant of the performances, the direction, the writing, etc. I love this film for a lot of sentimental reasons but it is a damn fine piece of dramatic filmmaking nonetheless.

comment #9

T. Holly says ...

The red is horrible, it's buzzing.

comment #10

D.Z. says ...

The dvd of The Jerk was called the 26th Anniversary Edition.

comment #11

lipranzer says ...

Originally, 12 ANGRY MEN and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER were supposed to come out on DVD last fall as true anniversary editions (50th and 40th, respectively), but for some reason, got pushed back.

comment #12

MickTravis says ...

But aren't we still within the 50th year since it was released?

They had until April 13 to release it.

comment #13

Rod32303 says ...

Lumet is God because of this, but, and no doubt this is blasphemous...I kind of prefer the William Friedkin 1998 version. To have men of different nationalities...well, it makes the lines mean something different, and it was genius to have Mykelti Williamson as a Nation of Islam reject - fyi, the writer of the first film, Reginald Rose, wrote the updated version also. Lemmon and George C. Scott were like an acting lesson in that one...

...but nothing compares to Henry Fonda.

comment #14

Ben C says ...

HENRY FONDA

...and 11 other guys.

comment #15

JosephB says ...

You know, ever since late last year I've been burrowing my way through every Lumet I can find on VHS and DVD. Hopefully the emphasis on this release plus the Film Forum retrospective will give us the 7 Lumet films not available on ANY video form- Stage Struck, That Kind of Woman, A View From the Bridge, Bye Bye Braverman, The Sea Gull, The Appointment and Child's Play.

comment #16

actionman says ...

The Friedkin version is also quite strong.

Sorcerer really needs to come out in widescreen on dvd...what is the hold up there?

comment #17

scooterzz says ...

'the group' will always be my favorite lumet film (but for all the wrong reasons, i'm afraid)....

byw--wiki entry for '12 angry men' has a great chart diagramming all five major casts... it's a festival of great character actors....

comment #18

PerfectTommy says ...

Klugman! ...and eleven other guys.

comment #19

le corbeau says ...

When I was running the film society in college a short, energetic man came over from the gallery our office managed and, asking the front desk something was pointed toward me. A few seconds later it dawned on me that Harlan Ellison, booked to give a talk that night, was standing in front of me, barking a question.

"You da movie guy?"

"Yeah..."

"Name the Twelve Angry Men!"

At first I thought this was some test Ellison routinely subjected movie guys to, but when he started helping me fill in the blanks, I realized that he simply wanted to know for his own sake, and in those pre-Internet days, somebody like me was the shortest path to the answer. We managed to come up with 11 between us-- Joseph Sweeney seems to be the one nobody ever remembers-- and after a brief chat about the movie version of A Boy and His Dog (he liked everything but the jokey last line), he was gone.

comment #20

btwnproductions says ...

STAGE STRUCK and THE APPOINTMENT at least turn up on TCM. The others JosephB mentioned are entirely AWOL, though I did see THE SEA GULL and BYE BYE BRAVERMAN at Film Forum's retrospective. (Neither top-tier but with some strong performances and scenes to recommend them; BRIDGE was also shown.)

The excellent Broadway production of 12 ANGRY MEN, which is touring, is worth catching.

comment #21

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comment #22

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comment #23

Dublin101 says ...

12 Angry Men is one of the great liberal movies. Henry Fonda uses rationality and intelligence to successfully combat bigotry and close mindedness. It still stands up today.

But I saw the Friedkin remake on TV recently and it is a very strong adaptation. The cast are superb bunch of character actors and there a lot of "before they were famous" performances. There was James Gandolfini before The Sopranos, William Petersen before C.S.I. and Edward James Olmos before Battlestar Galactia. But on the other hand there is Tony Danza.

But the rest of the remake cast are aces. And casting non-white actors in the film is an idea that works and it adds vigour to the remake. Plus it was poignant to see Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott doing such good work at the end of their respective careers. Well worth a look.

comment #24

mmcshrry says ...

An interesting take (and history) on 12 ANGRY MEN ---

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/03/12_angry_men_turns_50.html

comment #25

Colin says ...

mmchrry, from that article:

"When one or two pieces of spurious evidence sway the perhaps too accepting jurors, we can make exception for human failing. But when 6 or 7 pieces of such spurious evidence show up, we have gone from a jury's human failure to the writer's propaganda."

"The twelve jurors, soon to become twelve angry men, are instructed that this is a case of premeditated murder, that the only option under the law for that charge (this is 1957) is guilty or not guilty, and that a guilty verdict will result in the death penalty, with no allowance for mercy. Since the evidence in the case shows that if the boy had killed his father it could easily be interpreted as an unplanned outburst, and not premeditated, not giving the jurors any leeway to convict on something short of the death penalty in the event they find the boy guilty was the first part of the set up."

According to the writer, this makes the film "dishonest." From what I've seen, it makes it pretty typical of many criminal cases that go to trial. I show some of the clips from the Lumet version (as well as from Lumet's "The Verdict") to my Evidence class.

comment #26

Walter Sobchak says ...

I always thought that it would've been funny if in the final vote go around Fonda said "guilty".

"I've changed my mind. A fella can do that, can't he? How do I know he DIDN'T kill his father?"

Turns out he's just a crazy lonely guy who has no life and likes to spend time hanging out with jurors and shooting the shit.

comment #27

christian says ...

I advise y'all to go read Pauline Kael's lone foray into detailed reportage of a film in progress, Lumet's 1966 version of THE GROUP.
You simply could not get that unfettered access and freedom today. A must read for fans of Lumet and Kael.