THAT is seriously one of the most BADASS scenes ever filmed. The way it is shown how convinced the men are of something only to be immediately contradicted. The first stage of the seemingly bulletproof facts to be gradually dissolved.
@@nateds7326 because it's a movie. That setup was perfect. I like that they did. They acted like it was impossible to have a similar knife, then BOOM. So much better of a statement to be made AFTER they said it wasn't possible.
@@dx315 He also said that the knife was ~6 dollars. I think that was about 50$ in today's money. So, a day's pay at minimum wage. Spent a lot of cash to prove a point, and it's damn obvious it was worth it.
@@astronaut3248 Yes, $60 or so in 2020 dollars. And interestingly enough, you can buy an Italian Stiletto knife for around that price. A minor point might be that Juror #8 broke the law more than one time--once in buying the knife in New York, again researching evidence outside the courtroom, and finally, bringing a switchblade into court! Automatic knives are legal in many states, but bringing one into a courthouse could get you on the other side of the jury box.
@Ontrol I once heard someone summarize it pretty well: "if you can make a genuinely gripping and compelling narrative about something as boring as jury duty, you deserve a damn medal"
Henry Fonda’s Juror 8 is the greatest hero in Cinema history. Doesn’t hit or kill any bad guy, doesn’t get any girl or romance, wins nothing, loses nothing, defends a boy he doesn’t know or won’t see again, walks out of the courthouse just like any other person. Just wants to see fairness.
@@willtheprodigy3819 You're comparing apples to cotton. This is a pretty good example of an epistemological straw man: He didn't *know* the kid was innocent when he violated his oath to do some sleuthing on the sly. The situation is not reducible to a mere violation of the law.
"It's against the law to buy switchblade knives." "That's right I broke the law" God I love Henry Fonda in this movie, he's such a bad ass hero. One of the greats in Cinema history
@@sonoftheway3528 My guess would be to investigate the case only using the testimonies and the evidences which were present to the judge since judge will decide on the punishment
For an architect, possibility is too much at stake. For a stockbroker, certainty is impossible, so the most probable choice must be picked. Good on you for noticing it!
An architect is used to construction. Building something from the ground up, making sure everything is proper, to specification, no shortcuts. Long, detailed process. Ensuring that the client is taken care of and overlooking nothing! By the book. A stock broker is in it for the money, the quick commission. The stock tanked? "Hey pal, nothing's a certainty. That's why they call it the stock market. See ya later! "
And the argument is with Juror 4...a stock-broker...who basically has a career of making gambles that work...while Juror 8, an architect, must be absolutely sure. Juror 8 was the first juror not convinced of guilt.
You know a movie is a classic when it can keep up it's suspense when it's dead quiet 90 percent of the run time. There's 3 music cues in the whole movie, the begining, the second vote, and the ending.
This brings to mind Castaway, with Tom Hanks. There isn't a single note of music in the soundtrack until the moment he finally escapes the clutches of the island. Listen for it. It's an amazing Alan Silvestri moment.
You know what's interesting... When E.G. Marshall says, "The boy stayed home, had another fight with his father, stabbed him to death and left the house 10 minutes after 12:00. He even remembered to WIPE THE KNIFE CLEAN OF FINGERPRINTS. If he knew the knife was clean of prints, he would have no reason to go back there at all. Clearly... I know this is just a movie but I always loved that part cause it makes the kid innocent...
"But not very probable." Henry Fonda absolutely nails the conflicted body language and facial expressions when they cut back to him. It's what separates a good performance from a fantastic performance.
To think the kid is not guilty one must believe: 1. A six inch long dense piece of wood & metal fell out of his pants or shirt pocket and he didn't notice it 2. This undetected knife misplacement happened the same day his father is murdered by someone using a duplicate 3. The 'real killer' bought this duplicate even though he wasn't looking for a match, as Fonda's character was.
And that this movie had such a low budget they had to film all scenes from one camera angle first, then move the camera and do it all over again. Those interactions are weeks apart.
@@jimmy2k4o : before it’s too late!! I had a sister that was rather the black sheep of the family but I finally decided to reconnect. I’m glad that I did because just over two years later, COVID ended her life. 😢🥀🕯
@@slcRN1971 im sorry to hear that. Must be painful to hear people talk about covid like it’s no big deal. I have it just now, I’ll be okey but it is a big deal. I’m sorry for your loss but glad you were able to have a relationship before she passed. Families re often like school, there’s the good kids, bad kids etc etc and eve families will have the outcasts. But nobody wants to be an outcast even if they’re a loner and live alone and like it, it doesn’t stop us being social animals in need of friends etc. I have a sister I couldn’t imagine losing her, though I lost My dad before we were able to have a heart to heart even if that was necessary, which I don’t know.
it sucks that no one at my work, or even my age that i know of, has seen this movie? And I'm 23 years old. So, I'm not that young, but than again, I'm not that old. But I'll tell ya, this right here is a masterpiece. One of my favorites.
james ramirez I was around 23, maybe younger when I had to watch it for a class in college. I liked it so much, I rented it from the library and brought it home, and played it over and over. My father knew about it, so I got to have intelligent conversations about it w him. The guy who was against everyone made me laugh sometimes, like when he said 'what is that the discovery of the age or something ?' .....'you can throw out all the other evidence ......!' Lol. My father would say 'there's your friend....'.....til this day I think it's one of the best films/plays I got to see. The acting is superior, and they all had their perfect place in it.....But I know what you mean about no one knowing about it. I remember other friends I had in my 20's , no clue about it at all......
I have seen this movie dozens of times, and never tire of it. I can also say, every time I watch it, I find something that I didn't see before! Keep watching!
I was watching this on my laptop with my earphones in, my boyfriend was gaming next me when I yelled out loud and scared him. 😂😂 I love the tension and sheer badassery of this scene. No words, he just pulls it out and everyone goes nuts.
I accidentally watched 12 Angry Men on television, I meant to change the channel but my remote was out of batteries.. Best thing to ever happen to me lol. I have what you might call a "Monkey-Brain". I can't sit through a whole movie without losing focus unless there are gunfights and car chases. This movie cured me.
It was this scene, this moment, that dialed me into this movie. I remember looking over at my dad and saying “That was so smooth!” He just nodded, smiled and said “Yep. And it’s just getting started.”
when i first watched this in high school as an "exam", my class and i were groaning and moaning we are going to watch a boring 50s film and it doesn't take place anywhere but in one room. the beginning was slow for us, but as soon as the movie goes on, it started to get interesting. we were allured, but not invested...until juror 8 brought out his knife identical to the murderer's weapon, we were completely sold and remained dead quiet, excited by the tension, drama and mystery. Enough, to understand it and pass the exam. best exam day ever
95%+ of this movie takes place in the same setting, The Jury Deliberation Room. Yet it's still so good I hardly noticed. That's how well this was acted.
$6 in 1957 money is about $63 in today's money. In the context of today it sounds like the knife was a cheap, insignificant thing, but back then the movie was actually emphasising that the knife was a fairly costly investment.
0:51 the same reaction when I first saw this movie, one of my favorite moments. This is why I love to watch these old movies, with a nice plot and slow rhythm I can watch for hour to relax
I just watched this movie for the first time a week ago. When he stabbed the table with the second knife it knocked me back in my seat. One of the greatest movies I've ever seen.
12 guys who don't buy switchblades so they don't know it could be a super common design by that company. This is the kind of stuff the LAWYER should have brought up in court! 🤣
Iconic scene! I'll never forget this movie. I'm 25 now and I saw it for the first time at age 13 and it legit changed the way I think about the justice system
In the original play, at the very end after everyone else has left the jury room, Juror #3 takes the knife, points it at Juror #8 like he's about to stab him, and then turns it around and hands it to him. Juror #8 closes the knife and puts it in his pocket, unlike the movie where they just leave it there on the table. I thought maybe that was meant to show #3 was doing something nice, letting #8 off the hook when he could've easily given it to the bailiff instead.
Today, this would have been considered a criminal offense, but not for the reasons of possessing a switch blade. It's juror misconduct to seek out evidence outside of the court room, and therefore illegal. Yet he did it anyway; Henry Fonda, a badass man.
@@honestdave I went in court several times for school projects. Sometimes you get under the metal detector, sometimes you don't. It depends on where in is compared to where you're going
I have read many great comments about this movie over the years. The part, I have always liked that Henry Fondas character a family man with a career took the time to go out walking around the boys neighborhood. We in our lives are so busy, often too busy for others. This character took the time to walk in the neighborhood to care to see things from the boys perspective and probably just by accident found the same knife for sale in the store. All we want in this world is people to care and he cared enough to walk in the boys shoes for a couple of hours and look what he found.
@@paulthompson8996 It's possible that nobody else knows about it. #8 didn't leave the knife there, and I don't think any of the other jurors would mention anything about it.
Sometimes I think it's funny to imagine that juror #8 was the real murderer, that the knife he pulled was the actual murder weapon that he bought "last night," and this was his way of getting someone accused of his crime not to suffer without having to confess himself.
Before this moment, I used to think this movie would be boring and I’d easily forget it… But the moment he takes out the identical knife and sticks it into the table, my jaw dropped and it quickly became one of my favourite movies of all time!
This movie is ranked 5 of 250 top rated movies on IMDB. If you scroll down to the bottom of the comments section, you can read comments of people that dont like the movie.
I mean, a simple rating of a movie on IMDB doesn't mean anything. It means most people liked it and made it achieve its top 5 in the rank. I consider this movie to be a masterpiece for sure. (Some people just don't like the genre)
This scene felt like a first knockdown from hands of underdog. The setup leading up to this was executed so brilliantly, that i could hardly count movies with such on my one hand after this one (1957!)
7 лет назад
"Oh i wonder how crazy it would be if someone decided to put a bunch of people in a room and shoot a whole movie like that! Were in 2017 Hollywood, make it happen! B I T C H P L E A S E
And just like that, juror 8 should be removed and/or a mistrial should be declared. You are not allowed to do your own investigation as a juror. You are decide the case based only on the facts as presented in the courtroom. Juror 8 isn't a hero; he's dangerous.
juror 8 just takes out an identical knife and demonstrates a 1 in a million coincidence right on the spot, and these men still can't believe something coincidental is possible
So if the kid did actually lose his knife on the night his father was killed, I personally like to believe that someone else found it and took it to the pawn shop where Juror 8 saw and bought it.
That something is possible is not necessarily sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt. The words of the juror "But not very probable" should have been given more consideration by the other jurors.
$6 in 1957 is almost $60 dollars today. The fact that Juror 8 spent that much money on something he'd likely never use or see again shows just how compassionate he is.
Interesting tonal shift when the other jurors realize that the knife is not unique at all. They move the goalposts to preserve their pride. But he convinces another, humbler, juror to flip.
SO, Juror 8 went to the scene and bought a knife to consider evidence not produced in court. I think the jury foreman now has to inform the judge of this. Attorneys on both sides then have to be told to consider a motion for a mistrial. In most courts, a jury is sequestered during deliberations, especially in a murder tiral.
Huh. Back before they had metal detectors at the entrance to every courthouse. Such a simpler time, when a juror could just walk into the jury room with an illegal weapon.
Yea what sold me is 1. The boys face ( he just didnt look guilty) 2. The train sitiation and how theres no way you would hear a body drop through those walls especially while a train goes past. 3. The glasses situation 4. The limping situation and how theres no way he could make it to the door in 15 sec 5. Him going back to the house Now what made me second guess myself 1. Who cares if he found a knife similar theres tons of similar weapons theyre massed produced. Also nobody else had motive for killing the dad except the boy who sets up a child then kills the dad at the precise moment the kid leaves. 2. The old guy couldve limped faster by adrenaline because he was frightened. 3. I didnt understand the switch blade scenerio who cares how a knife is properly used in the moment of suspense anyone would use a weapon the most effective way. The most effective fast way to kill was down in his heart. Like how people beat people with guns instead of shoot to not make as much noise. So idk if the biy is guilty but since there was probable doubt ig they shouldve said not guilty. Even tho the possibilty of someone else doing it is slim
I've seen this movie more times than you would believe, it's one of my favorites.. and ill grant you Fonda has some great arguments.. especially regarding the L train noise & the woman not wearing her glasses and the crippled neighbor shuffling to his door.. but its always bothered me who else coulda killed the old man?.. and with a knife just like the kid had.. and at just the time the kid was not home to see anything. Ida probably had a reason to doubt his guilt but I would have always wondered if I had let a murderer go free.
Obviously the boy is guilty and they've just delivered the most nonsensical verdict in criminal history. Even the first time I watched it, more than 40 years ago now, I recognised that despite its brilliance it makes no sense at all in many respects. I always imagined the foreman delivering the 'not guilty' verdict and even the defence lawyer passing out in shock and disbelief. There's a brilliant article on the internet about this by Mike D'Angelo, where he points out all the things that would have to happen in order for The Kid to be innocent.
"It's against the law to buy ourselves switchblade knives." Wonderful thing, the law, protecting citizens from criminals who are sure to follow it. But then laws are more in the interest of order than justice.
