If you think 12 Angry Men is the quintessential jury movie, you've obviously not seen Perfect Strangers yet. It makes the Henry Fonda classic look like a first draft. Extremely similar and several years its predecessor, it follows twelve jurors as they decide the fate of a man's life during a murder trial. A mixture of men and women, the case becomes so sensationalized by the newspapers, the jurors are moved to a hotel for the duration, each bunking up with another same-sex juror. It's so true to life, with everyone's quirks and issues: one man whines about someone stealing his toothbrush, one woman takes an hour in the bathroom, another person snores, and another person's irritating jokes end up starting a fistfight.
Since the jury is comprised of men and women, it's not exactly surprising that there's a romance incorporated into the plot. Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan get to show off their acting chops as they fall in love against their better judgment-no pun intended. They're both married, but they feel a deep connection, one that the audience quickly understands. What I love about this movie is there are no flashbacks, and just like 12 Angry Men, all that is shown is the people's experiences as jurors. The beginning of the movie is a fascinating account of how random the juror selection is, and as nothing else is shown except their lives together in the courtroom and hotel suite, you can understand how their new world becomes their whole world. Thelma Ritter, a pregnant housewife, may worry about her children and her husband, but she enjoys being put up in a hotel and eating meals in a restaurant without having to do the dishes. Anthony Ross likes the opportunity to meet new people and make new impressions. Margalo Gillmore brings her personal prejudices to the case, much like Lee J. Cobb's character did. Dennis isn't shown as a family man so the audience has as little information as Ginger has about the happy home she might potentially wreck. You'll also see Whit Bissell as the defense attorney, Paul Ford as the judge, and Harry Bellaver as the kind bailiff.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough. One of the best pictures of the year, it has an excellent screenplay, great characters, and a story that's far more engaging than 12 Angry Men.
Since the jury is comprised of men and women, it's not exactly surprising that there's a romance incorporated into the plot. Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan get to show off their acting chops as they fall in love against their better judgment-no pun intended. They're both married, but they feel a deep connection, one that the audience quickly understands. What I love about this movie is there are no flashbacks, and just like 12 Angry Men, all that is shown is the people's experiences as jurors. The beginning of the movie is a fascinating account of how random the juror selection is, and as nothing else is shown except their lives together in the courtroom and hotel suite, you can understand how their new world becomes their whole world. Thelma Ritter, a pregnant housewife, may worry about her children and her husband, but she enjoys being put up in a hotel and eating meals in a restaurant without having to do the dishes. Anthony Ross likes the opportunity to meet new people and make new impressions. Margalo Gillmore brings her personal prejudices to the case, much like Lee J. Cobb's character did. Dennis isn't shown as a family man so the audience has as little information as Ginger has about the happy home she might potentially wreck. You'll also see Whit Bissell as the defense attorney, Paul Ford as the judge, and Harry Bellaver as the kind bailiff.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough. One of the best pictures of the year, it has an excellent screenplay, great characters, and a story that's far more engaging than 12 Angry Men.