12 Angry Men (1957)

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96 min – view video trailer

Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee Cobb, Martin Balsam

Genres: Drama

IMDB 8.9 / Amazon 4.7 / MRQE 89% / RottenTomatoes 100%

Oscars: nominated for 3, won 0

Ranked #14 Greatest Movies Through 1960, included in 10 of 37 lists of Greatest Movies, a Zagat Top Movie

A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court. IMDB rating 8.9 from over 192,956 users

Zagat summary snippet: Human nature at its best and worst in a brilliant courtroom drama with a taut script and an unforgettable Fonda. A study of American democracy that is suuspenseful and compelling.

Eleven jurors are convinced that the defendant is guilty of murder. The twelfth has no doubt of his innocence. How can this one man steer the others toward the same conclusion? It’s a case of seemingly overwhelming evidence against a teenager accused of killing his father in “one of the best pictures ever made. Amazon 4.7 stars from over 322 users

Eleven of the jurors vote for conviction, each for reasons of his own. The sole holdout is Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda. As Fonda persuades the weary jurors to re-examine the evidence, we learn the backstory of each man.  Rotten Tomatoes 100% critics / 95% viewers

MRQE 89% rating from over 60 reviews.

Madison Public Library

On the Waterfront (1954)

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108 min – PG – view video trailer

Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee Cobb

Genres: Crime, Drama

IMDB 8.3 / Amazon 4.7 / MRQE 91 / Metascore 88 / Decent Films A+

Oscars: nominated for 12, won 8 (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, Writing, Editing, Art, Cinematography)

Ranked #22 Greatest Movies Through 1960, a Zagat Top Movie

An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses. IMDB 8.3 rating from over 56,061 users

For all its great dramatic and cinematic qualities, and its fiery social criticism, Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront is also one of the most gripping melodramas of political corruption and individual heroism ever made in the United States, a five-star gut-grabber. Amazon 4.7 stars from over 188 users

Based on a true story of racketeering on the New York waterfront religion and social action finally meet in Hollywood… Cigarette-smoking, alcohol-drinking Father Barry (Karl Malone), based on real-life Jesuit Fr. John M. Corridan, takes on the corruption and strong-arm tactics of the mob bosses who control the lives of hardworking longshoremen… In his great “sermon on the docks” speech, Fr. Barry puts the moral issues of the waterfront in a christological light: “Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary. They better wise up… every time the mob puts the crusher on a good man — tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen — it’s a crucifixion… Christ is always with you… And He’s saying with all of you, if you do it to the least of mine, you do it to Me!” (Jewish screenwriter Budd Schulberg, who spent time on the waterfront with Fr. Corridan in preparation for writing the screenplay, has said that the sermon is “eighty percent” Corridan’s own words, from a speech he heard Corridan give numerous times.) Read full Decent Films review (rated A+ , Superior artistic-entertainment for Teens & Up)

MRQE 91% from over 55 reviews

Madison Public Library