12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men screens at The State Theatre on Saturday, August 8, as part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series. It's a 1957 black-and-white drama that runs 93 minutes, presented in DCP.

The story is a tight one: twelve jurors have to decide whether to convict a young boy of murder. Every man but Henry Fonda is ready to vote guilty and go home, leaving him to defend the boy's innocence and uphold the system of justice. It's remembered for Fonda's typical heroism and for its thrilling glimpse at the fragility of justice. Fonda shares the screen with Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, and E.G. Marshall, and the whole thing was directed by Sidney Lumet.

The screening is at The State Theatre, part of the Paramount and Stateside Theatres complex at 613 Congress. The neighboring Paramount Theatre has stood on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin for over a century; built in 1915, it's the city's oldest surviving theatre. Originally a Vaudeville and variety house, it's a City and State Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one of the few remaining 'hemp houses' in America. Today it hosts Austin's red-carpet film premieres, takes part in SXSW and the Austin Film Festival, and presents the Moontower Comedy Festival, run alongside the State Theatre by The Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Doors open at 2:30 PM, and the show starts at 3:30 PM. Tickets are $3.