Twelve Angry Men (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Reginald Rose (Author), David Mamet (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
L.A. Theatre Works proves it knows how to package audio dramas with this new recording of Rose's classic play (which began as a 1954 episode of TV's Studio One and then was adapted to the screen in 1957 starring Henry Fonda). Sequestered in a closed room, twelve jurors must decide the fate of a young man who has been accused of first-degree murder and faces the death penalty. One juror must tactically argue to convince the other jurors that this case has significant "reasonable doubt." The talented cast, including Richard Kind, Hector Elizondo, Robert Foxworth, Joe Spano and Dan Castellanetta, provide 85 minutes of riveting entertainment, recorded in front of a live audience. The most trying aspect of this audiobook is matching jurors with actors since the jurors are simply given numbers and not names. The back cover of the audiobook is very helpful; it offers a photo of each actor along with his name and juror number. But it can still be a bit frustrating since characters are never referred to by name or juror number. This slight confusion certainly will not prevent people from enjoying this illuminating play about American justice. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
The Penguin Classics debut that inspired a classic film and a current Broadway revival

Reginald Rose’s landmark American drama was a critically acclaimed teleplay, and went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic belief in the U.S. legal system. The story’s focal point, known only as Juror Eight, is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal biases. Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture of America, at its best and worst, to form.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143104403
• ISBN-13: 978-0143104407
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,422 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant. Be sure to check it out., January 31, 2002

By	Callie "chroi" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twelve Angry Men: A Play in Three Acts (Paperback)

"12 Angry Men" was the last play I read in my Drama Literature class. It is very well worth reading because of its brilliance. It is a play that you should either read or watch performed, whether it's the television version or the play version. The reasons are these:

1. The story centers around twelve jurors who consist of ordinary people who must decide whether to vote the defendent as guilty or innocent. They must decide carefully, though, because if they vote guilty, they might send an innocent person to death, but if they vote not guilty, they might send a murderer out on the streets. The whole plot and story is a very good look at our justice system.

2. The characters are well developed, realistic, and interact together very well. You never do know the names of the characters, but you do get to see the ways they interact together, whether they are sympathetic or stubborn, or whether they seek justice or have no mercy. Some are passive, some are angressive, and some are young, some are old, and some are rich, some are poor.

3. Themes of this play include stubborness, standing alone, conflicting personalities, common sense, and anger. Common sense is an especially significant theme with the way the jurors study whether the evidence is reasonable and make their arguements over it.

4. The story, simple setting, and believeable characters work out very well. It's not dull, and in contrary it's very interesting.

All in all, this play is well worth picking up or seeing performed. Please don't miss out on this cleverly written play.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Twleve Angry Men, February 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Twelve Angry Men: A Play in Three Acts (Paperback)

As I began to read this book I thought this was a book I needed to read for class and it was going to be boring. As I read it I couldn't seem to put it down. There was always something suspensful or interesting that made me want to turn the page and see what happened next. This book is a good book about twelve jurors who have varied opinions on the issues involving a court case. They expected to come to a quick comclusion and it didn't happen. This is a book about sticking to your opinions whether someone else feels you are right are wrong. It shows how to stand up for yourself and to be strong and back-up your opinions with facts and pursuade others to understand your point of view in order to xcome to a conclusion. It involves learning how to work in teams, how to delegate authority and how to come to a comclusion which everyone can be happy with and feel confident that it is the right thing to do. This book although it is about a court case and jurors, also relates to every day life in the fact that it's concepts about working as a team and sticking to your goals and opinions is very important when it comes to anything you do in life, no matter how long it takes to "get it right."

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sculpting with a Sledgehammer, September 12, 2004

By	Barry C. Chow (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Twelve Angry Men: A Play in Three Acts (Paperback)

There are times when a message is conveyed with a clarity so absolute that it rises of its own accord to great heights, as if it were lighter than air. "Twelve Angry Men" achieves this rare feat of buoyancy.

Make no mistake; this is a play with a Message. It pounds away at its Message relentlessly, scene after scene, passage after passage, at times, word by word. Yet it moralizes with such dramatic skill, that we overlook the play's ruthless blatancy and are carried away by the force of its conviction.

I am not giving anything away when I tell you that this play is about the presumption of innocence, the evil of racism, the importance of moral courage and the meaning of citizenship. In fact, this is the sort of play that struts about, proudly parading its themes as brazenly as it can. There is nothing subtle, refined or nuanced about "Twelve Angry Men". It is about a man who finds himself holding a contrary conviction alone against a hostile mob and who finds not only the courage to stand up to them, but to reason with the mob until, one by one, he wins them over to his more enlightened views.

It contains everything that your English professor deplored: obvious themes, stereotypes, absurdly polarized action, melodrama, contrivance, and manufactured tension. Yet it works. It is not only unashamed of its coarseness--it is proud of it, daring us to call its plebeian pedigree into question. There are many enjoyable things about this play, not least its sheer audacity.

There is a lot of yelling, a lot of anger, a profusion of lurid dialogue directed at raising the temperature inside a confined little room. In one respect, the author chooses a perfect setting for his transparent psychological drama: the jurors in this play are themselves captives of the law, unable to escape until they have served their time and paid their dues to society.

I can understand how some may dislike this play for its lack of refinement. But I enjoyed it immensely. If it is coarse, it is also sincere. If it is high-handed, it is also unpretentious. For every moral that it bludgeons into our head, it takes pains to make sure that it is a worthwhile moral, and one now too often sacrificed to political convenience. Think of the terrorism suspects held for years now without open trial in Guantanamo.

We are blessed to live in a society that champions freedom, the worth of the individual and the primacy of law. This play shows how that blessing must be earned and reaffirmed every day. It shows that the defence of those values require more than just physical defence, but involve mental and philosophical defences as well. Mostly, this play shows that the strength of a society resides in its average ordinary people, and it shows this truth so powerfully that it forces its way into our consciousness, our consciences and ultimately our reflections on life. Well worth the read.