SCREENING AMERICA 12 Angry Men United Artists. Released in New York April 1957. 93 minutes. Directed by Sidney Lumet. Produced by Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose. Written by Reginald Rose. Photographed by Boris Kaufman. Filmed in New York City. 12 Angry Men. The jury’s first vote is eleven to one in favor of a guilty verdict. CAST OF CHARACTERS Juror 8 Henry Fonda Juror 2 John Fiedler Juror 3 Lee J. Cobb Juror 5 Jack Klugman Juror 10 Ed Begley Juror 6 Edward Binns Juror 4 E. G. Marshall Juror 9 Joseph Sweeney Juror 7 Jack Warden Juror 11 George Voskovec Juror 1 Martin Balsam Juror 12 Robert Webber SCREENING AMERICA/12 ANGRY MEN 1 12 ANGRY MEN “If there is a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused—a reason- able doubt—then you must bring me a verdict 12 Angry Men is about 12 strangers of not guilty. If, however, there’s no reasonable doubt, then you must in good conscience find who have been brought together the accused guilty. However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous. In the event you by the government to serve as find the accused guilty... the death sentence is mandatory in this case. You are faced with a jurors. Alone in the jury room, these 12 men grave responsibility.” must decide if an 18-year-old boy accused of killing his father is guilty or innocent. WHAT TO LOOK FOR: JUROR 8 As the jurors The importance of this decision—the begin their deliberations, the vote is eleven to importance of jury duty itself—is the major one in favor of a guilty verdict. The single vote Henry Fonda This 11-by-14-inch as juror 8, lobby card was described in the one of a set script as “a man that exhibitors who sees many could display in sides to every theater lobbies question and and windows. constantly seeks the truth.” Gift of Gerald Leibowitz theme of 12 Angry Men. As the movie begins, for not guilty comes from the film’s hero, the courtroom portion of the trial has just juror 8. Though some of the other jurors ended, and the judge is giving his instructions respond with anger and hostility, juror 8 insists to the jury. He tells them, “You’ve listened to that they spend more time discussing what the testimony, you’ve had the law read to you they saw and heard in the courtroom. He tells All illustrations and interpreted as it applies to this case. It’s them, “It’s not easy to raise my hand and send are drawn from now your duty to sit down and try to separate a boy off to die without talking about it first.” the collection of the American the facts from the fancy. One man is dead. As the movie continues, juror 8 demon- Museum of the Another man’s life is at stake. strates that there may be more than one way Moving Image. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE SCREENING AMERICA/12 ANGRY MEN 3 to interpret a witness’ testimony or a piece of deep personal prejudices—his hostility toward evidence. He shows the other jurors how prej- anyone who does not share his social and eth- udice can prevent people from judging others nic background—make him believe the fairly. He teaches them what it means to have defendant is a liar. “You know how these peo- a “reasonable doubt.” Eventually, he per- ple lie!” he says. “It’s born in them.” suades all of the others to vote with him. WHAT TO LOOK FOR: THE VERDICT Juror 8 WHAT TO LOOK FOR: JURORS 3 AND 10 The and the others at last convince jurors 3 and 10 most difficult jurors to persuade are jurors 3 and to vote not guilty, but it is important to 10. The filmmakers used these two characters to remember that this verdict could be wrong. At show us what happens when citizens are unable the end of the movie we do not really know to judge a case impartially. Jurors are supposed the truth. We only know how this jury voted. to be impartial, which means that they must If the defendant is truly innocent, then judge a case based only on the evidence—the justice has been done but the real murderer is The script describes juror 3 (center, pointing) as “a humorless man who is intolerant of opinions other than his own.” facts—that they see and hear in the courtroom. still on the loose. If he is really guilty, then this Juror 3’s attitude toward the defendant jury is letting a killer go free. As juror 6 says to Juror 10 is is influenced by painful memories of his rela- juror 8 early in the film, “Supposin’ you talk a bigot. He makes tionship with his own son. He had a fistfight us all out of this, and the kid really did knife the mistake with his son two years ago, and they have not his father?” of thinking seen each other since. As a result he is angry Juror 8 does not answer because there that all the at all children and young people (“Rotten is no answer. The truth is often difficult, if not jurors share his feelings. kids!” he says) and he automatically assumes impossible, to know. Near the end of the that the teenage defendant is lying. Juror 10’s movie juror 8 reminds his fellow jurors, “I 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE SCREENING AMERICA/12 ANGRY MEN 5 don’t really know what the truth is. I don’t them; the right to a public trial in the district suppose anybody will ever really know. But in which the crime occurred; the right to nine of us now seem to feel that the defen- question witnesses who testify against them; dant is innocent.... We may be wrong. We may and the right to call witnesses to testify in be trying to let a guilty man go free.... But we their defense. Criminal defendants had these have a reasonable doubt. And that’s some- rights in 1787 and they still have them today. thing that’s very valuable in our system.” INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY Defendants THE AMERICAN JURY are always considered innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof is on the gov- ernment. Prosecutors know that the evidence A jury is a group of ordinary citi- must be strong enough to convince a group of ordinary citizens, not experts. Also, they must zens, usually 12 of them, who assume that the jury will only hear evidence are chosen at random to decide the outcome—the verdict—of a trial. The practice of deciding a trial by jury dates back to the fourteenth century, and the earliest set- tlers of the original 13 colonies brought this legal custom to America with them. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS The purpose of the jury is to protect individual citizens from the government, which might abuse its power. The founders of the United States were determined to protect the rights of individual citizens, and the U.S. Constitution about the single crime in question. Defendants guarantees that any citizen accused of a crime may question witnesses, call their own witnesses, The jurors has a right to a jury trial. In fact, the founders or even testify themselves, but they are not inspect the murder felt the jury was so important that they required to do any of these things. The defen- weapon. described this right further in the first ten dant does not have to prove his or her inno- amendments to the Constitution, which are cence, but the government must prove the known as the Bill of Rights. defendant’s guilt. The Bill of Rights gave defendants the The government must also, in most fed- right to be informed of the charges against eral and state cases, convince all 12 jurors of 6 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE SCREENING AMERICA/12 ANGRY MEN 7 its version of the facts. This requirement that their votes. As long as a juror believes his jury verdicts be unanimous dates back to the doubt is reasonable, he will fulfill his civic adoption of the Constitution. duty by voting not guilty. REASONABLE DOUBT To return a verdict of JURY DUTY AND VOIR DIRE The Constitution guilty, a jury must be convinced of the also guarantees the right to an impartial jury. accused’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.” To ensure fairness in general, jury service is As jurors learn, “Proof beyond a reasonable required of American citizens—for hundreds doubt is not proof beyond all doubt, or to a of years, the government has called citizens to Juror 3 tells mathematical or absolute certainty,” but the jury duty. To prevent the government from juror 8 about government’s case must still be strong. The choosing only people who would take its side, the son he evidence must convince the jurors of every ele- potential jurors are called at random. hasn’t seen in ment of the crime, including the defendant’s To ensure fairness in a particular case, two years. identity as the person who committed it. the prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge Jurors 5, 6, and 4 (foreground) argue about the testimony of a witness. They have all remembered it differently. A reasonable doubt is “a doubt for question potential jurors before the trial. This which a reason can be given...