(Article is below...)

Quotations from 12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a movie about a single juror in a murder trial that is slowly convincing the others that the case is not as simple as things seemed in court. The crime is originally seen as an open and shut case about a murder of a father by his young Spanish-American son. The entire movie takes place in the jury room. Based on the play of the same name.

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Starring: Martin Balsam, Henry Fonda, and Lee J. Cobb

Scene From 12 Angry Men



Juror #6: Well, I'm not used to supposin'. I'm just a workin' man. My boss does all the supposin' - but I'll try one. Supposin' you talk us all out of this and, uh, the kid really did knife his father?

Juror #8: It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And 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. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us.

Juror #8: There's something else I'd like to talk about for a minute. I think we've proved that the old man couldn't have heard the boy say "I'm gonna kill you," but supposing...
Juror #10: You didn't prove it at all. What're you talking about?
Juror #8: But supposing he really did hear it. This phrase, how many times have all of us used it? Probably thousands. "I could kill you for that, darling." "Junior, you do that once more and I'm gonna kill you." "Get in there, Rocky, and kill him!" We say it every day. That doesn't mean we're going to kill anyone.
Juror #3: Wait a minute. What are you trying to give us here? The phrase was "I'm gonna kill you." The kid yelled it at the top of his lungs! Don't tell me he didn't mean it. Anybody says a thing like that the way he said it, they mean it.

Juror #2: It's hard to put into words. I just think he's guilty. I thought it was obvious from the word, 'Go'. Nobody proved otherwise.
Juror #8: Nobody has to prove otherwise. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defendant doesn't even have to open his mouth. That's in the Constitution.

Juror #3: You're talking about a matter of seconds. Nobody can be that accurate.
Juror #8: Well I think that testimony that can put a boy into the electric chair SHOULD be that accurate.

Juror #11: I beg pardon...
Juror #10: "I beg pardon?" What are you so polite about?
Juror #11: For the same reason you are not: it's the way I was brought up.

Juror #3: That business before when that tall guy, what's-his-name, was trying to bait me? That doesn't prove anything. I'm a pretty excitable person. I mean, where does he come off calling me a public avenger, sadist and everything? Anyone in his right mind would blow his stack. He was just trying to bait me.
Juror #4: He did an excellent job.

Juror #7: You a Yankee fan?
Juror #5: No, Baltimore.
Juror #7: Baltimore? That's like being hit in the head with a crow bar once a day.

Juror #3: Look, you voted guilty. What side are you on?
Juror #11: I don't believe I have to be loyal to one side or the other. I'm simply asking questions.

Juror #9: Hey... what's your name?
Juror #8: Davis.
Juror #9: Mine name's McCardle.
[pause]
Juror #9: Well, so long.
Juror #8: So long.
Next: A Place in the Sun
More 1950s movie quotes