Reviews

With no need for special effects, overly dramatic music, singing or dancing, this gem has stood the test of time.

There is very little about this motion picture that can become dated and ruin it.

It's pure dialogue -- well-acted and well-written dialogue.

But I must say, I disagree with the verdict. I keep coming back to the knife and the remarkable coincidence Fonda sold to his fellow jurors.

The odds of the defendant buying a unique knife, losing it and having his father stabbed by an unknown assailant with an identical knife are staggering. Fonda finding an identical knife at a pawn shop doesn't alter my thinking.

When you add this to the sworn testimony of the woman across the way, I couldn't vote for an acquittal.

I will say Fonda successfully got me to discount the testimony of the old man. His points there were valid and made sense.

Regardless....this film is a masterpiece.

A full hour of British hatred of one of America's top war heroes. It's almost as if Montgomery himself had written the script for it. I found it interesting that the "History's verdict" episode devoted to Monty glossed over his dismal failure in Operation Market Garden, not touching it until late in the show. But Patton's version OPENED and focused for several minutes on his failed raid on a German POW camp. Later, they mention his unremarkable performance at West Point, without giving him props for making it through the academy with dyslexia. Patton is given props for his tactical genius in Sicily and during the Battle of the Bulge (even the Brits couldn't gloss over that). But the close of the show, they quote noted leftest and Patton hater Dwight MacDonald on his negative views about the general....never mentioning MacDonald's politics.

For years, I insisted that this was a bad film which was accidentally entertaining. But after watching it several times and never tiring of it, I've changed my stance. This is actually a good film which was intentionally ridiculous. And once you accept that fact, you'll realize that it's actually a unique piece of film making. Half of the people reading this are thinking "Well, duh, what took you so long to realize this?" The other half are thinking "What an idiot. He actually thinks this piece of crap is a good film?" That alone is proof positive of the genius behind the motion picture. Even legendary film critic Roger Ebert admitted being entertained by this flick, but couldn't make up his mind on whether it was a parody or not. But the fact is, there is ample evidence that this film is pure satire. Exhibit A: The character known as "Tinker" was so laughable that viewing the film in anything other than a comedic light isn't possible. Exhibit B: Take one look at the scene where the bad guys are shooting at Dalton's approaching (and empty) Mercedes and try not to laugh. Watch how Pat (the fired bartender) handles his shotgun like Elvis Presley and tell me that's intended to ramp up the suspense. Sorry, but no way. That's funny and was meant to be funny. Exhibit C: The mere notion of a famous bouncer with a household name all but screams tongue-in-cheek. This film was intended to make you laugh and with me, it succeeded several times. I thereby rate it a solid eight, without shame.