Episode 7: 12 Angry Men (1957)

Show Notes

Introducing our new series: Not Your Grandfather's Courtroom Dramas!

In the next few episodes, we tackle three classic courtroom dramas from our grandparent's era, and the first one is 12 Angry Men. This film is influential for many reasons, whether it is the taut writing, the claustrophobic direction, or the impeccable production design, and we attempt to discuss as much as we can.

The first issue we tackle is the casting of the film, the characters, and we attempt to do our own fantasy casting. This was really fun for us, and a treat to talk about, because it also got us discussing what makes these individual jurors tick: whether it be justice, or fairness, or prejudice, or simply wanting to get to a ball game.

After a quick break, we dive headlong into the meat of the movie and its legacy. We discuss how the racial ideas at the heart of the movie, revolutionary for its time, inform us today, in the light of the recent protests and conversations about race writ large in America, and the world. As three dads, and our special guest, we do our best to highlight that conversation and contribute to it in some small way. 

As always, we hope to entertain and inform you, our listeners. Our desire with this new series is to show the depth and range of our interests, and always strive to find another movie to add to the Hall of Fame! Keep writing us at notyourfathersmovies@gmail.com and visit our links here: http://linktr.ee/NYFM