Twelve Angry Men
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4.3 • 409 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival—featuring an introduction by David Mamet
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 faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who 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 prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.
After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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.
Customer Reviews
This game Dudu
Dudu
Not too unexpected but shocking result
I loved seeing the characters really challenge them selves see something different in the case to the end it wasn’t a clear case and they all were slowly realizing it whether they wanted to or not, arguing with each other to really figure everything out, it felt stressful, I felt annoyance, I felt anxiety, sturn, doubtful etc feeling from every juror in the room even the foreman who I was waiting to hear more for just to remember he was listening and waiting just like I was to here all the facts to really give an answer. I chose not guilty, for reasonable doubt. Seeing that so many jurors were still not sure was interesting, but their reasoning was even more intriguing.
Twelve angry men
Wow! I’ve been on several juries, some of which our initial vote was very different than our final vote. I felt like I was sitting in the jury room and experiencing this up close. Such a powerful play. I’d love to see it live. Great story that could have easily been true.