12 Angry Men (NR, 2001)

"Nice bunch of guys, huh?" one juror remarks sarcastically after a particularly heated argument. The juror played by Henry Fonda replies, "They're about the same as anyone else." That observation is central to 12 ANGRY MEN, which creates mesmerizing drama in an event that takes place many times every day throughout the United States: a man is tried by a jury of his peers.

Although 12 Angry Men is almost half a century old, its examination of the jury system is as valid as ever, and it may be even more important today when media sensationalism has such a strong effect on public perceptions of the accused. The movie stresses that the most crucial issue is not whether the jurors think the accused is guilty, but, according to the law, whether that has been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Henry Fonda, perfectly cast as a man who values reason, leads a troupe of familiar character actors in a movie that makes a virtue out of its cramped setting. Fonda is one of the great movie stars who will be discovered afresh by new generations.