History Film / TwelveAngryMen

''12 Angry Men'' is a 1957 drama film directed by Creator/SidneyLumet, adapted by screenwriter Creator/ReginaldRose from his own teleplay of the same name. It stars Creator/HenryFonda and a veritable AllStarCast of character actors as the eponymous jurors.

The plot concerns a seemingly straightforward murder trial. An eyewitness, forensic evidence, and the accused himself all seem to clearly point toward an adolescent boy from the slums having murdered his father. In the deliberation room, most of the jurors push for a quick guilty verdict, but a single juror, known only as Juror #8, holds out and insists that they examine the evidence thoroughly to make damn sure that the accused really deserves his punishment: a mandatory death sentence.

''12 Angry Men'' is a 1957 drama film directed by Creator/SidneyLumet, based on a 1954 teleplay by Creator/ReginaldRose. It stars Creator/HenryFonda and a veritable AllStarCast of character actors as the eponymous jurors.

Rose's original teleplay, which aired on Creator/{{CBS}} as an installment of the live dramatic anthology series ''Westinghouse Studio One'', starred Robert Cummings as Juror #8. The broadcast earned UsefulNotes/{{Emmy Award}}s for Rose, Cummings, and director Franklin Schaffner.

The plot concerns a seemingly straightforward murder trial. An eyewitness, forensic evidence, and the accused himself all seem to clearly point to an adolescent boy having murdered his father. In the deliberation room, most of the jurors push for a quick guilty verdict, but a single juror, known only as Juror #8, holds out and insists that they examine the evidence thoroughly to make damn sure if the accused deserves his punishment: a mandatory death sentence.

* ''Film/TwelveAngryMen1997'': MadeForTV movie on Creator/{{Showtime}}, starring Creator/JackLemmon as Juror #8 and Creator/GeorgeCScott as the main antagonist, Juror #3. This adaptation {{race lift}}ed several jurors, {{gender flip}}ped the judge, and [[RuderAndCruder added more cussing]]

''12 Angry Men'' is a 1957 drama film directed by Creator/SidneyLumet, based on a 1954 teleplay by Creator/ReginaldRose. It stars Creator/HenryFonda and a veritable AllStarCast of character actors.

The plot concerns a seemingly straightforward murder trial. An eyewitness, forensic evidence, and the accused himself all seem to clearly point to an adolescent boy having murdered his father. In the deliberation room, most of the jurors push for a quick guilty verdict, but a single juror, known only as Juror #8, holds out and insists that they examine the evidence thoroughly to make damn sure that the accused deserves his punishment: a mandatory death sentence.

* AbusiveParents: It's revealed that the murder victim was an abusive dad.
* AggressiveCategorism: Juror #10 is one of the last holdouts for a guilty verdict. As time goes on it becomes clearer and clearer that he doesn't care about the evidence; the defendant is a AmbiguouslyBrown young man from a slum, and for #10 that is enough to think he's guilty.

'''Juror #10:''' ''(angrily)'' You're a pretty smart fellow, aren't you?

--->'''Juror #3:''' I'll kill you! I'll kill you!!\\
'''Juror #8:''' You don't really mean you'll kill me, do you?

** Juror #9 also suggests that this trope could explain why the old man testified that he saw the defendant fleeing the murder scene, when his ability to have done so was in doubt. He was [[FifteenMinutesOfFame so eager for the chance to be part of a murder investigation and trial]] that it overrode his good sense.

* BlindWithoutEm: An important plot point: Juror #9 recalls that a key witness in the murder case had marks on her nose suggesting that she usually wears glasses, though opted not to in court. He points out that she was unlikely to be wearing them in bed late at night when she claims to have seen the murder from all the way across the street, thereby making her less than credible as a witness.

** Inverted when Juror #10 goes on a bigoted diatribe, is shunned by everyone one by one, and spends the rest of the film in defeated silence.

* DissonantSerenity: Juror #8 when Juror #3 is pretending to stab him (the other jurors are standing up, worried that #3 is ''actually'' going to stab him).

* EnvironmentalSymbolism: As tempers rise, the room seems to get more and more claustrophobic; that's not an effect: the actual walls were gradually moved closer in as the film goes on, making the room smaller and smaller.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: It's not established exactly at what time deliberations started, but it's implied they started no later than noon, through a rainstorm that started late in the afternoon, and finally winding down sometime after 6 pm, of the same day. The editing makes it feel like it's happening in real time, but the outside lighting and weather reminds us that it's actually taking a bit longer.

* TheGenericGuy: The jurors don't all get the same amount of focus, but most of them get at least one moment or trait to really set them apart from the others. Juror #1 doesn't really get this so much. He's one of the jurors with the fewest lines and mostly just serves as the one who will officially read out the verdict once it's reached but plays very little role in actually reaching it. Juror #6 also gets very little characterization; the only thing that's ever really revealed about him is the fact that he works as a painter.
* TheGhost: The witnesses mentioned are never shown.

** The jury seems to be operating under a “slightest possible doubt” basis instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.

-->'''Juror #3''': I'll kill you! I'll kill you!
-->'''Juror #8''': You don't ''really'' mean you'll '''kill''' me, do you?

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Juror #4 initially comes like a bit of an aloof jerk, but by the end he proves to be one of the more reasonable jurors, calling out #10 for his bigoted rant, changing his verdict when given sensible reason to do so, and clearly regretful at the end when he realizes where he went wrong with his reasoning.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[{{Tagline}} Life Is In Their Hands -- Death Is On Their Minds!]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmwu4n2fjnzytntvknc00nzq0ltg0mjatytjlmjfhnguxzdfmxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjc1ntyymjg_v1_sy1000_cr006491000_al.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: [[{{Tagline}} Life Is In Their Hands -- Death Is On Their Minds!]]]]

The plot concerns a supposedly straightforward murder trial. An eyewitness, forensic evidence, and the accused himself all seem to clearly point to an adolescent boy having murdered his father. In the deliberation room, most of the jurors push for a quick guilty verdict, but a single juror, known only as Juror #8, holds out and insists that they examine the evidence thoroughly to make damn sure that the accused deserves his punishment: a mandatory death sentence.

This work is best known as the film that [[TropeCodifier popularized]] the RogueJuror trope, and most of the other works on the RogueJuror page reference it either directly or indirectly. There is even a redirect to the trope in reference to this film: OneAngryJuror.

!Tropes used include:

'''Juror #10:''' You're a pretty smart fellow, aren't you?

This work is best known as the film that [[TropeCodifier popularized]] the RogueJuror trope. Though it was not the first work to use it, it was the first to receive widespread critical acclaim. It's a classic of American cinema and recommended watching -- especially because most of the other works on the RogueJuror page reference it either directly or indirectly. There is even a redirect to the trope in reference to this film: OneAngryJuror.

* TitleByNumber: '''''12''' Angry Men.''

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Juror #9, who provides great insights on the eyewitnesses based on their appearances at court, and in turn gives fairly logical reasons for why their testimonies might not be truthful. Also leads to the WhamLine, below.

** Juror #4, who is known to use this to quip back at some of the apparently less-than-logical theories.

* AbsenceOfEvidence:

** Juror #8 doesn't look too impressed when #3 and #12 are playing a game rather than listening to the evidence.

** Juror #10 doesn't look too impressed when #3 and #12 are playing a game rather than listening to the evidence.

* TheJudge: Shown issuing instructions to the jury in the opening scene. Many stage productions (and [[Film/TwelveAngryMen1997 the 1997 TV version]]) cast a woman in the role as a way of bringing at least some token gender diversity to the play without having to change its title.

* AggressiveCategorism[=/=]{{Profiling}}: Juror #10 is one of the last holdouts for a guilty verdict. As time goes on it becomes clearer and clearer that he doesn't care about the evidence; the defendant is a AmbiguouslyBrown young man from a slum, and for #10 that is enough to think he's guilty.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: The defendant has a slightly darker skin color than the rest of the cast, and is referred to as being part of an unnamed ethnicity that lives in a New York slum. The actor, John Savoca, is of southern Italian descent (his surname is a toponym that ties his family origin to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoca Savoca]], Sicily).

-->'''Juror #8:''' The old man according to his own testimony -- "I'm gonna kill you", body hitting the floor a split second later -- would have had to hear the boy make this statement with the L roaring past his nose! It's not ''possible'' he could have heard it!

* IneffectualDeathThreats: {{Invoked|Trope}}. Juror #3 fixates on the evidence that a neighbor heard the defendant yell "I'll kill you!" during a fight, and when its pointed out that people say that sort of thing all the time and don't mean it, Juror #3 says, "Oh no... if you say that, you mean it." Juror #8 baits him with insults until Juror #3 attacks him and must be held back by the others.

* ManInWhite: Juror #8 wears a very light-colored suit that appears white in the black-and-white footage. This is easiest to see in the last scene, as he's sitting down most of the time.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Juror #8 is first seen pondering at the window of the jury room before being called over to begin deliberations. Notably, he isn't shown speaking and chattering excitedly like most of the jurors, hinting that the majority sentiment won't go through as easily as previously thought.

[[caption-width-right:350:Life Is In Their Hands -- Death Is On Their Minds!]]