12 Angry Men

After a murder trial, eleven jurors are ready to convict a teenager, but one holdout insists that they examine the evidence. As tempers rise in the sweltering jury room, reasonable doubt exposes the men’s biases, assumptions, and private wounds.

Sidney Lumet made his feature-directing debut here, filming the tightly rehearsed production in just 21 days and for roughly $337,000.

12 Angry Men earned Academy Award nominations for picture, director, and screenplay, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2007.