every so often, i'll feel inclined to explain some movie-related term of my own invention so as to add smaller xombyte fodder to my endless lists...

"ducksouping" is a fairly common concept, based on my own experiences. as a boy, i was introduced (by elwy yost, no less... on saturday night at the movies, no less...) to the marx brothers. those who've known me for a while might recognize that since then, i've dedicated my life to being just like groucho. yosts's double feature was a night at the opera & a day at the races. eventually i also saw animal crackers... a night in casablanca... horse feathers...

but the one i hadn't seen was their "masterpiece", duck soup. every legitimate movie guide or site or critic or fellow marx brother fan said it was their best movie. it's in the afi's top 5 comedies of all time. & for over 10 years as a marx brothers fan... i hung my head in shame at having never seen it.

several years ago, i finally saw it... & was seriously disappointed. moments, maybe... but not even up to animal crackers or horse feathers. certainly not worthy to be used for a queen title...

coupla years later, i saw it again... & couldn't stop laughing from start to finish. it's still not my personal favourite... but it's a GREAT movie!

and from then on, i use "ducksoup" as a verb to describe what i've done when a second viewing of a movie makes me appreciate it as great cinematic art.

i'm telling you that to tell you this: another title was added to the ducksoup list today... a slow, stagy legal character drama called "12 angry men." exactly the sort of movie they're talking about when they say, "they don't make movies like that anymore."

one of the truly great "new-style" american movies of the 1950s, this had two strikes against it the first time i saw it.

one... we know how it's gonna end right from the start. henry fonda & 11 other jurors head into deliberations on an open-n-shut case. only fonda doesn't want to RUSH the cold-blooded killer to the chair. so he stands alone against 11 men looking to wrap things up so they can get home in time for the ball game. trust me... it went the same way when they redid the story on the andy griffith show years back.

two... it's early tv roots are clearly in evidence. director sidney lumet made his jump from the small screen to the big with this movie. he had worked on television as far back as 1948, & it shows. the academy rewarded him with a best director nomination for this movie (AND best picture)... but it wouldn't be until 1962's long day's journey into night that lumet would leave tv direction behind him.

but i watched it again today & lo 'n' behold... i ducksouped a GREAT legal drama. so simple as to look too simple. no good guys / bad guys... this was the NEW hollywood of the 1950s (on the waterfront... marty... rebel without a cause...) sparse sets & the kind of lingering direction that they just dont do anymore (especially on tv!!).

& the CAST!!! i'm not going to quibble with alec guinness fleshing out the arse-stomping "bridge on the river kwai" inflicted on the competition at the 1957 academy award handouts. but i'll quibble with henry fonda not getting a best actor nomination. bad enough he got robbed of his rightful oscar for "grapes of wrath"! fonda DID win a british academy award for his work in this movie, so there's the BRITS getting it right!

but the other 11 men should at least have been garnered one best supporting actor nomination (there were 2 from "peyton place" that year?). lee j cobb, jack klugman, ed begley sr, e.g. marshall, jack warden, martin balsam, john fiedler, robert webber, george voskovec, edward binns & joseph sweeney. you may not recognize the names, but you'll know all of them if you've seen enough movies or tv of the 1950s -- 70s.

those of you who read my little on the waterfront blog-rade know my love of lee j cobb. & as the final holdout... DAMN! the climactic cobb/fonda showdown is what movie-watching is all about.

btw: there exists (i've just learned) a remake. in 1997, 12 angry men returned to the small screen with a similar who's who cast... jack lemmon, george c scott (as fonda & cobb, i'll betcha), hume cronyn, ossie davis, armin mueller-stahl, tony danza, edward james olmos, william petersen & james gandolfini.

i don't watch movies featuring tony danza... & i don't make a point of watching remakes. but the original is a ducksoup, & i don't mind admitting it.