12 Angry Men and 1 Girl

Friday night times means leftovers and family movie night at our house. With a couple loads of laundry thrown in. Tonight was no different, it’s been a long first week back at school and work – we were ready for some quality vegging out.

Animated princesses and SpongeBob usually feature prominently in the movie night lineup. My sweet gifted girl who wanted a poster of the periodic table for Christmas, could sit and zone out for hours to the adventures of Tinkerbell. Of course, that’s prime time for my budding Pinterest addiction.

We’ve been saving Soul Surfer on the DVR but somehow my husband and I got talking about the movie 12 Angry Men. We exchanged one of those “what do you think” looks over the leftover beef stew and both shrugged our shoulders. So, 12 Angry Men was the feature. I’m not talking the 1997 version with Tony Danza, but the original black and white starring Henry Fonda. With a 7-year old girl.

12 Angry Men

I admit I did a quick check on Common Sense Media to make sure I hadn’t forgotten some gruesome details. By the way, if you haven’t used this site before – check it out. I don’t always agree with their recommendations but it’s a handy tool.

Honestly, I thought she’d be bored since it’s lacking the action of a classic SpongeBob episode and when she ran out of the room I figured she’d had enough of our classic movie night. But then she came running back in with her calculator to try and figure out how many train cars could’ve passed by the window. You’ll have to watch the movie to get that reference. Personally, I just trusted that Henry Fonda would work it all out and convince all those grumpy guys, including Ed Begley Jr.’s dad. Obviously, she was hooked.

She made it all the way through, much to our surprise. Have to admit I loved seeing her captivated by a movie more than 50 years old.

Watching it with her generated conversation about keeping your mind open and not following the crowd – there are few topics more important to address with your kids. Not to mention an easy civics lesson. Yep, I’m feeling like I accomplished a lot of quality parenting tonight thanks to old-school Hollywood. Don’t judge.

Gary the Snail

I have a feeling tomorrow morning she’s going to be back to SpongeBob. And I’m ok with that because I’m a big Gary fan.

 

 

1 Comment

  1. I was 10 when I first watched that movie, so I can definitely relate. I don’t know what made me watch a black and white movie in first place (we had cable tv and lacked parental supervision, so pretty much anything was game), but I remember trying to figure out if all the facts lined up! Very good movie to watch with the gifted ones in our lives!!

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