A SMILE AND RAISED CHAMPAGNE GLASS TO JACK WARDEN!

Last Saturday morning, I was reading the newspaper over breakfast when I learned that veteran Actor Jack Warden had passed away in Manhattan. Due to enormous technical difficulties with Blogger, I am posting this BLOG late. However, a promise is a promise. And I'd like to use our "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" to Honor Jack Warden with a Double-Feature I hope each of you will enjoy: "12 ANGRY MEN" AND "THE VERDICT".

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Released before most of us were born (1957), "12 Angry Men" is an intense Trial Drama about an 18 year-old Latino boy who is accused of murdering his father. The trial has already been presented and delivered to a jury of 12 men who hold the accused man's life in their hands. Director Sidney Lumet, who by sheer coincidence also directed THE VERDICT 25 years later delivers a cast that is a tour-de-force: Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Ed Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda. Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec and Robert Webber make up the jury. The set is sparse. How Lumet managed to film in such a close-in set is a miracle. The story and the intense look at each of the jurors, free from prejudice and partisan politics will have you on the edge of your chair until the ending. This film received Oscar Nominations for Best Director: Sidney Lumet; Best Picture: Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose; Best Screenplay: Reginald Rose.

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Our next film, "The Verdict" (1982) is largely regarded as the finest performance of Paul Newman's lengthy career. Paul Newman is "Frank Galvin", a one-time brilliant Attorney-turned binge-drinking alcoholic whose life has hit rock bottom when his retired mentor and law partner "Mickey Morrissey" (Co-Star Jack Warden) throws what appears to be an "open and shut case" to help Galvin collect his one-third settlement out of Court. Warden shares an almost equal billing with Newman with a masterful performance rarely seen in today's "personality of the hour" trend. While these are two films from different decades, the consistently of Warden's acting retains an Integrity that is refreshing. Ordinarily, I never repeat a film from "Friday Movie Suggestion Night", but given the circumstances, I felt this was reasonable and appropriate to feature "The Verdict". And just as coincidental as Director Sidney Lumet's work on this project as well, this film was the very first feature of FMSN beginning in 2005!

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for Jack Warden