The film is less a murder mystery than it is an examination of the characters of the twelve men who are locked together in a small room on the hottest day of the year, and a study of the individual backgrounds, experiences, and prejudices which inform their opinions on the case. In fact, my older brother who is a business professor frequently shows Twelve Angry Men to his Organizational Behaviour class and has the students analyze how each man interacts within the group. Actually, that's how I was introduced to the film in the first place; my brother used his younger siblings as guinea pigs, trying it out on us before showing it to his class for the first time. Fortunately, it's a fascinating movie; the verdict in it is, frankly, a bit suspect, but the writing and the acting is superb. That's not surprising, considering that the cast includes, besides Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley, and E.G. Marshall to name a few. All in all, a great film which stands up to multiple viewings and is worth tracking down if you've never seen it.
This week we watched Twelve Angry Men, the 1957 courtroom drama- or rather, jury room drama, because that's where the entire film except for a few minutes takes place. The movie is about twelve men on the jury for a murder trial. A teenage boy from the slums is accused of having stabbed his father to death; the evidence against him is circumstantial but seems overwhelming, the verdict assured. Or is it? Henry Fonda plays the lone juror who doesn't wish to rush to judgement, gradually swaying others to his side. The film is less a murder mystery than it is an examination of the characters of the twelve men who are locked together in a small room on the hottest day of the year, and a study of the individual backgrounds, experiences, and prejudices which inform their opinions on the case. In fact, my older brother who is a business professor frequently shows Twelve Angry Men to his Organizational Behaviour class and has the students analyze how each man interacts within the group. Actually, that's how I was introduced to the film in the first place; my brother used his younger siblings as guinea pigs, trying it out on us before showing it to his class for the first time. Fortunately, it's a fascinating movie; the verdict in it is, frankly, a bit suspect, but the writing and the acting is superb. That's not surprising, considering that the cast includes, besides Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley, and E.G. Marshall to name a few. All in all, a great film which stands up to multiple viewings and is worth tracking down if you've never seen it.
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My sister found the following message attached to a picture drawn by one of her boys: She said the most disturbing thing about it was the implication that her meatballs are fit only for prison fare. Related Posts:"When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." - Robert Heinlein Related Posts:We had our Broadway concert tonight, and it went really well: we flubbed one entrance during the West Side Story medley, and one of the choir members doing choreography to a few of the songs came in at the wrong time, but nothing major went wrong. I had a solo in Les Mis which I was really nervous about because while I sometimes sing in trios or other small groups, I don't do solos. Fortunately it went pretty well, but I enjoyed the rest of the program more once I didn't have the solo hanging over my head. There was a pretty full house, which was encouraging and will be good for the choir's finances, too. Win-win. In other news, after brunch this morning I dropped by Value Village, store which sells used merchandise and perused the book and movie sections. I found a few films to purchase, as you can see in the photo on the left. Looking forward to watching them. I wasn't having much luck in the book aisles; I couldn't find ant books today that I particularly wanted to buy. But then I found a treasure... This is Charlie, the Little Golden Book which was my absolute favourite as a child. The copy I grew up with was lost when my parents' basement flooded following Hurricane Juan and ever since then I've kept an eye out for another one. It's taken this long to find it. Huzzah!
I'm off to a brunch this morning, and our choir's concert of Broadway music is this evening. We had our dress rehearsal last night and it went pretty well, though there're a couple songs we're still experiencing a little trouble with. This probably has something to do with the fact that we missed three practices due to snow storms over the past couple of months. Oh well- we worked on the problems last night so will hope for the best. Whatever happens, it's going to be fun. Related Posts:Composed By The Side Of Grasmere Lake, 1806CLOUDS, lingering yet, extend in solid bars Through the grey west; and lo! these waters, steeled By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield A vivid repetition of the stars; Jove, Venus, and the ruddy crest of Mars Amid his fellows beauteously revealed At happy distance from earth's groaning field, Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars. Is it a mirror?--or the nether Sphere Opening to view the abyss in which she feeds Her own calm fires?--But list! a voice is near; Great Pan himself low-whispering through the reeds, 'Be thankful, thou; for, if unholy deeds Ravage the world, tranquillity is here!' -William Wordsworth The Poet Laureate of England William Wordsworth was born on this date in 1770. Quite a few of the poems he wrote- like the one above- were inspired by Grasmere, a village in the Lake District. Wordsworth lived there for fourteen years and described the area as, "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found." He and his wife are buried in the churchyard of St. Oswald's Church in Grasmere; here's a rather blurry shot of me at his grave site: BTW, Grasmere is also famous for its gingerbread, a special type which is kind of a cross between a cookie and cake. The recipe was developed by Sarah Nelson of Grasmere in 1854 and is trademarked. I bought some while in the village, and to be perfectly frank, I didn't like it that much. Perhaps it's an acquired taste, but it wasn't really anything to write home about, in my opinion. Don Rickles died today at the age of 90. I've watched pretty much every Dean Martin Celebrity Roast; the smokey, boozy, un-PC and hysterically funny episodes are addictive. Rickles was a big part of why they were so great, and he will be missed. Especially when we contemplate what frequently passes for comedy today. Here's a clip of "Mr. Warmth" roasting then-Governor Ronald Reagan: After leaving Ghost Ben, Luke returns to the rebel base where a big meeting is going on. Turns out that the Empire is building another Death Star. 'Try, try again,' I suppose. They devise a plan for taking down this new menace. The partially constructed Death Star is being protected by a force field the power source for which is located on the nearby moon of Endor. A small team will go to the moon in a captured Imperial tie fighter and disable the force field. Then the rebel fleet will attack the Death Star, led by (now) General Lando Calrissian. The team tasked with sabotaging the force field is- surprise, surprise- led by Luke, Leia, and (now) General Solo. Inexplicably, R2D2 and C3P0 tag along as well. Meanwhile on the Death Star, work has fallen behind schedule and Darth Vader has arrived to encourage the workers by way of threats of death- always a reliable staff motivator. He also informs his nervous middle management that the Emperor himself is coming to oversee the project. As our stalwart heroes approach the moon aboard the tie fighter, their stolen security code gets them by the Imperial checkpoint. Luke, however, gets the Jedi heebie-jeebies; he says that he can sense Vader's presence and that he shouldn't have come because Vader can sense him as well. He's right: Vader realizes that Luke is on the fighter, but orders his men to let the ship continue to Endor, saying that he will handle it. Down on the forest moon, the team heads for the power station. They run into some Imperial troops, however, and get separated during the resulting fight as Luke and Leia head off after some escaping troopers on speeders. This leads to the famous chase scene through the Endor forest. Leia offs the troopers she was chasing, but her speeder crashes and she loses consciousness for awhile. When she wakes up, she's being prodded with a primitive spear held by what appears to be a roly poly teddy bear. This turns out to be Wicket, an Ewok. They bond over dislike of the Imperial soldiers and Wicket takes Leia back to his village. Meanwhile Luke, having dispatched the troopers he was chasing, returns to the team and they realize that Leia is missing. They send the rest of the team to the power station while Han, Luke, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3P0 go in search of her. On the Death Star, Emperor Palpatine has arrived and he's a dried up prune of a man. Vader tells his master of the presence of Luke on Endor. He suggests to the Emperor that Luke could be a great asset if turned to the dark side, though the Emperor seems dubious of the chances of this. Vader says that Luke will either be turned or destroyed. Back on Endor, our heroes stumble around the woods looking for Leia until they step into an Ewok trap and end up suspended from a tree in a net. The Ewoks then show up and cut down the net, but are distinctly hostile. Luke stops Han from pulling a blaster on them, and they all end up tied to poles being carried away to the Ewok village. The only exception is C3P0; the Ewoks have a legend about a golden "god" who will come from away, and they assume that C3P0 is that foretold being. He is reverently carried to the village on a sedan chair. At the village, the Ewoks start lighting the cooking fires, planning a big dinner with our heroes as the main course. Leia comes out of one of the huts, having been accepted into the tribe. She attempts to convince the Ewoks not to eat her friends, but they are disinclined to listen to her. Luke tells C3P0 to tell the Ewoks that, if they won't let them go, he will use his magic against them. The Ewoks are inclined to pooh-pooh this threat until Luke uses his powers to levitate C3P0 and spin him around. The Ewoks, terrified, untie Luke, Han, Chewie and R2D2. After this inauspicious beginning, all is forgiven and they explain to the Ewoks why they are there. The Ewoks agree to help them fight the Imperial troops and shut down the tractor beam. While Han and Chewbacca make plans with the Ewoks, Luke wanders out into the night to think. Leia follows him and asks him what's wrong. He tells her that he's going to have to leave because he's endangering the mission with his presence. He also tells her that he has to face Vader again. Leia is totally against this, but he insists and she wants to know why. Luke tells her that Vader is his father and that he knows that there is still good in him. Leia understandably thinks that this is crazy talk and urges Luke to go away somewhere Vader can't reach him. Luke refuses and tells her that she must learn the ways of the Force, finally cluing her in that she's his sister. They embrace and then Luke heads out into the darkness. Han shows up in time to see the clinch and Luke leaving. When he reaches the upset Leia, he naturally enough wants to know what the heck's going on. Leia says that she can't tell him and, angry and jealous, he asks her if she could tell Luke. Leia turns on the tears and asks Han to hold her, which effectively puts a stop to his inconvenient questions. She didn't even have to use the Force. (To Be Continued...) Related Posts: |
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