Yesterday's post about my favorite living male actors gave me reason to reflect on my favorite movies.
For my money the best picture ever made was 12 Angry Men. I mean of course the 1957 black and white film, not the dopey 1997 version. 12 Angry Men starred Henry Fonda and featured perhaps the greatest ensemble cast ever assembled. Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Ed Binns, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, and Joseph Sweeney. In the 1950s many of these men were established stars. Mr. Sweeney, who was in his seventies when the movie was released, was perhaps the most obscure member of the cast.
Joseph Sweeney play Mr. McArdle, known until the last scene in the movie simply as Juror 9. He and Henry Fonda introduce themselves to the other as they leave the courthouse.
Mr. Sweeney had an interesting career. He seems to have appeared in only seven movies including the Philadelphia Story and The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. 12 Angry Men was his most substantial movie role. Mr. Sweeney worked in his first film in 1918 and then showed up again for one in the thirties, one in the forties and four movies in the fifties. Beginning in 1951, when he was sixty-seven years old he began a television career that was far more productive than his movie roles had been. He worked in television until his death in 1963, three days after President Kennedy was killed.
What makes this movie so great is that it relies completely on the skills of the actors. The are no gimmicks and no special effect, just the actors revealing the human flaws we all drag around.
Maybe you know the second greatest movie ever made.
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky
Tag: Daily Life
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6 comments:
I haven't seen that movie in a long time...I can't recall who was the most pissed off of the 12 Angry Men--help me out here.
That would be Lee J Cobb.
I ordered that book for my 7th and 8th graders to act out. It was written as a play, and we'd line up all the desks in one long line--jury table. I always got to play the most angry man because a) I chose the parts and b)none of the kids would ever get into it enough c) I like any excuse to yell.
I loved that play! I always looked forward to it, and the kids were always anxious to get started on it every day. They'd moan when the bell would ring, and we'd have to stop. Good times. :D
There are so many films one could nominate for second best, but one that I can watch over and over (which makes it more useful than any Best) is Rear Window.
when I watch films (through windows mostly) I like it if they are watching something I know all the dialog to, because then if the windows are shut, I can still enjoy the films sans sound. My pics would be It's a Wonderful Life, Rebel without a Cause, Gone with the Wind, and the Godfather-- all work for me without sound. If I have the luxury of sound, I like to hear Barbara Stanwyck crack wise.
I like to watch this movie in a double-feature with "I Confess," a lesser-known Hitchcock movie. In "I Confess," the jury surprises me with its verdict, and this movie shows how that could happen.
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