12 Angry Men Are There In A Few Good Men

Key Actors

Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec, Robert Webber

Summary

An 18 year old boy from a slum is on trial for the murder of his father. As the film opens, closing arguments have been delivered and the judge is giving instructions to the jury before deliberations begin. The vast majority of the story takes place inside the jury room, where Henry Fonda's character, Juror #8, is alone in voting “not guilty.” The other 11 jurors are ready to send the defendant to his death without so much as a discussion of the evidence, however Juror #8 isn't convinced and believes that it is their duty to discuss the case when a man's

He shouts that the defendant has “got to burn!” and that he is “slipping through our fingers!” saying that he would like to “pull the switch” on the electric chair himself. (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957) Juror #8 reprimands him, stating that he has been acting like a “self-appointed public avenger” and calling hi a “sadist.” (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957) Juror #3, now physically held back from attacking Juror #8, begins shouting, “I'll kill him!” to which Juror #8 replies, “You don't really mean you'll kill me, do you?” proving his earlier point that people often say things in the heat of the moment that they don't really mean. (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957)

Juror #11, a European immigrant, gives an impassioned speech about their duty as a jury, and about democracy, saying that they have nothing to gain or lose from the verdict in the case, so they should not take it all so

Juror #3 begins ranting about the evidence, saying, “Everything that's gone on has been twisted and turned,” pulling out his wallet and throwing it on the table. (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957) Upon seeing the photograph of himself with his estranged son, he shouts, “Rotten kids, You work your life out!” (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957) After tearing the photograph into pieces, he dissolves into tears, sobbing “Not guilty. Not guilty.” (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957)

Memorable line

“It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. Wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent. But we're just gambling on probabilities. We may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free. I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's sure.” (Fonda, Rose & Lumet, 1957)

Historical