A landmark American drama which inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival.
Reginald Rose's landmark American drama was a critically acclaimed teleplay, and
went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for whi
ch Rose wrote the adaptation. A blistering character study and an examination of
the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, "Twelv
e Angry Men" holds at its core a deeply patriotic belief in the U.S. legal syste
m. The story's focal point, known only as Juror Eight, is at first the sole hold
out in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other juror
s wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way
not affected by their personal biases. Rose deliberately and carefully peels awa
y the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture of America, at
its best and worst, to form.
