12 Angry Men Page #2

NO. 2:
(nervously laughing). Well… I guess . . . they're entitled.

NO. 3:
Everybody gets a fair trial. (He shakes his head.) That's the system. Well, I suppose you can't say

anything against it.

[NO.2 looks at him nervously, nods, and goes over to water cooler. Cut to shot of NO. 8 staring out window.

Cut to table. NO.7 stands at the table, puffing out a cigarette.]

NO.7:
(to NO.10). How did you like that business about the knife? Did you ever hear a phonier story?

NO.10:
(wisely). Well, look, you've gotta expect that. You know what you're dealing with.

NO.7:
Yeah, I suppose. What's the matter, you got a cold?

NO.10:
(blowing). A lulu. These hot-weather colds can kill you.

[NO.7 nods sympathetically.]

FOREMAN:
(briskly). All right, gentlemen. Let's take our seats.

NO.7:
Right. This better be fast.' I've got tickets to The Seven Year Itch tonight. I must be the only guy in the

whole world who hasn't seen it yet. (He laughs and sits down.) Okay, your honor, start the show.

[They all begin to sit down. The foreman is seated at the head of the table. NO. 8 continues to look out the

window.]

FOREMAN:
(to NO. 8). How about sitting down? (NO. 8 doesn't hear him.) The gentleman at the window.

[NO 8 turns, startled.]

FOREMAN:
How about sitting down?

NO. 8:
Oh. I'm sorry. [He heads for a seat.]

NO.10:
(to NO. 6). It's tough to figure, isn't it? A kid kills his father. Bing! Just like that. Well, it's the element.

They let the kids run wild. Maybe it serves ‘em right.

FOREMAN:
Is everybody here?

NO.12:
The old man's inside.

: Is everybody here?

NO.12:
The old man's inside.

[The foreman turns to the washroom just as the door opens. NO. 9 comes out, embarrassed.]

FOREMAN:
We'd like to get started.

NO.9:
Forgive me, gentlemen. I didn't mean to keep you waiting.

FOREMAN:
It's all right. Find a seat.

[NO. 9 heads for a seat and sits down. They look at the foreman expectantly.]

FOREMAN:
AII right. Now, you gentlemen can handle this any way you want to. I mean, I'm not going to

make any rules. If we want to discuss it first and then vote, that's one way. Or we can vote right now to see how

we stand.

NO.7:
Let's vote now. Who knows, maybe we can all go home.

NO. 10:
Yeah. Let's see who's where.

NO. 3:
Right. Let's vote now.

FOREMAN:
Anybody doesn't want to vote? (He looks around the table. There is no answer.) Okay, all those

voting guilty raise your hands.

[Seven or eight hands go up immediately. Several others go up more slowly. Everyone looks around the table.

There are two hands not raised, NO. 9's and NO. 8's. NO. 9's hand goes up slowly now as the foreman counts.]

FOREMAN:
Nine... ten ... eleven... That's eleven for guilty. Okay. Not guilty? (NO. 8's hand is raised.) One.

Right. Okay. Eleven to one, guilty. Now we know where we are.

NO. 3:
(sarcastically) Somebody's in left field. (To NO. 8) You think he's not guilty?

NO. 8:
(quietly). I don't know.

NO. 3:
I never saw a guiltier man in my life. You sat right in court and heard the same thing I did. The man's a

dangerous killer. You could see it.

NO. 8:
He's nineteen years old.

NO. 3:
That's old enough. He knifed his own father, four inches into the chest. An innocent little nineteen-year

old kid. They proved it a dozen different ways. Do you want me to list them?

NO. 8:
No.

NO. 10:
(to NO. 8). Well, do you believe his story?

NO. 8:
I don't know whether I believe it or not. Maybe I don't.

NO. 7:
So what'd you vote not guilty for? : So what'd you vote not guilty for?

NO. 8:
There were eleven votes for guilty. It's not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die

without talking about it first.

NO. 7:
Who says it's easy for me?

NO. 8:
No one.

NO. 7:
What, just because I voted fast? I think the guy's guilty. You couldn't change my mind if you talked for a

hundred years.

NO. 8:
I don't want to change your mind. I just want to talk for a while. Look, this boy's been kicked around all

his life. You know, living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. That's not a very good head start. He's a

tough, angry kid. You know why slum kids get that way? Because we knock 'em on the head once a day, every

day. I think maybe we owe him a few words. That's all.

[He looks around the table. Some of them look back coldly. Some cannot look at him. Only NO. 9 nods slowly.

NO. 12 doodles steadily. NO. 4 begins to comb his hair.]

NO. 10:
I don't mind telling you this, mister. We don't owe him a thing. He got a fair trial, didn't he? You know

what that trial cost? He's lucky he got it. Look, we're all grownups here. You're not going to tell us that we're

supposed to believe him, knowing what he is. I've lived among 'em all my life. You can't believe a word they

say. You know that.

NO. 9:
(to NO. 10 very slowly). I don't know that. What a terrible thing for a man to believe! Since when is

dishonesty a group characteristic? You have no monopoly on the truth.

NO. 3 {interrupting) All right. It's not Sunday. We don't need a sermon.

NO. 9:
What this man says is very dangerous.

[NO. 8 puts his hand on NO. 9's arm and stops him. Somehow his touch and his gentle expression calm the old

man. He draws a deep breath and relaxes.]

NO.4:
I don't see any need for arguing like this. I think we ought to be able to behave like gentlemen.

NO.7:
Right!

NO. 4:
If we're going to discuss this case, let's discuss the facts.

FOREMAN:
I think that's a good point. We have a job to do. Let's do it.

NO.11:
(with accent). If you gentlemen don't mind, I'm going to close the window.

(He gets up and does so.) (Apologetically) It was blowing on my neck.

[NO. 10 blows his nose fiercely.]

NO. 12:
I may have an idea here. I'm just thinking out loud now but it seems to me that it's up to us to convince

this gentleman (indicating NO. 8) that we're right and he's wrong. Maybe if we each took a minute or two, you

know, if we sort of try it on for size.

FOREMAN:
That sounds fair enough. Supposing we go once around the table.

NO. 7:
Okay, let's start it off.

FOREMAN:
Right (To NO. 2) I guess you're first.

NO.2:
(timidly). Oh. Well. . . (Long pause) I just think he's guilty. I thought

it was obvious. I mean nobody proved otherwise.

NO. 8:
(quietly). Nobody has to prove otherwise. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defendant

doesn't have to open his mouth. That's in the Constitution. The Fifth Amendment. You've heard of it.

NO. 2:
(flustered). Well, sure, I've heard of it. I know what it is. I . . . what

I meant . . . well, anyway, I think he was guilty.

NO.3:
Okay, let's get to the facts. Number one, let's take the old man who lived on the second floor right

underneath the room where the murder took place. At ten minutes after twelve on the night of the killing he

heard loud noises in the upstairs apartment. He said it sounded like a fight. Then he heard the kid say to his

father, "I'm gonna kill you.!” A second later he heard a body falling, and he ran to the door of his apartment,

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