12 Angry Men Page #4
NO. 8:
Right.NO. 3:
You bet he's right. (To all) Now listen to this man. He knows what he's talking about.NO. 4:
Next, the boy claims that on the way home the knife must have fallen through a hole in his coat pocket,that he never saw it again. Now there's a story, gentlemen. You know what actually happened. The boy took the
knife home and a few hours later stabbed his father with it and even remembered to wipe off the fingerprints.
[The door opens, and the guard walks in with an oddly designed knife with a tag on it. NO. 4 gets up and takes
it from him. The guard exits.]
NO. 4:
Everyone connected with the case identified this knife. Now are you trying to tell me that someonepicked it up off the street and went up to the boy's house and stabbed his father with it just to be amusing?
NO. 8:
No, I'm saying that it's possible that the boy lost the knife and that someone else stabbed his father witha similar knife. It's possible.
[NO. 4 flips open the knife and jams it into the table.]
NO. 4:
Take a look at that knife. It's a very strange knife. I've never seen one like it before in my life and neitherhad the storekeeper who sold it to him.
[NO. 8 reaches casually into his pocket and withdraws an object. No one notices this. He stands up quietly.]
NO. 4:
Aren't you trying to make us accept a pretty incredible coincidence?NO. 8:
I'm not trying to make anyone accept it. I'm just saying it's possible.NO. 3:
(shouting). And I'm saying it's not possible.[NO. 8 swiftly flicks open the blade of a switch knife and jams it into the table next to the first one. They are NO. 8 swiftly flicks open the blade of a switch knife and jams it into the table next to the first one. They are
exactly alike. There are several gasps and everyone stares at the knife. There is a long silence.]
NO. 3:
(slowly amazed) What are you trying to do?NO. 10:
(loudly) Yeah, what is this? Who do you think you are?NO. 5:
Look at it! It's the same knife!FOREMAN:
Quiet! Let's be quiet.[They quiet down.]
NO. 4:
Where did you get it?NO. 8:
I got it last night in a little junk shop around the corner from the boy's house. It cost two dollars.NO. 3:
Now listen to me! You pulled a~real smart trick here, but you proved absolutely zero. Maybe there areten knives like that, so what?
NO. 3:
The boy lied and you know it.NO. 8:
He may have lied. (To NO. 10) Do you think he lied?NO. 10:
(violently). Now that's a stupid question. Sure he lied!NO. 8:
(to NO. 4). Do you?NO. 4:
You don't have to ask me that. You know my answer. He lied.NO. 8:
(to NO. 5). Do you think he lied?[NO. 5 can't answer immediately. He looks around nervously.]
NO. 5:
I... I don't know.NO. 7:
Now wait a second. What are you, the guy's lawyer? Listen, there are still eleven of us who think he'sguilty. You're alone. What do you think you're gonna accomplish? If you want to be stubborn and hang this
jury, he'll be tried again and found guilty, sure as he's born.
NO. 8:
You're probably right.NO. 7:
So what are you gonna do about it? We can be here all night.NO. 9:
It's only one night. A man may die.[NO. 7 glares at NO. 9 for a long while, but has no answer. NO. 8 looks closely at NO. 9, and we can begin to
sense a rapport between then,. There is a long silence. Then suddenly everyone begins to talk at once.]
NO. 3:
Well, whose fault is that: Well, whose fault is that?NO. 6:
Do you think maybe if we went over it again? What I mean is...NO. 10:
Did anyone force him to kill his father? (To NO. 3) How do you like him? Like someone forced him!NO. 11:
Perhaps this is not the point.NO. 5:
No one forced anyone. But listen.NO. 12:
Look, gentlemen, we can spitball all night here.NO. 2:
Well, I was going to say...NO. 7:
Just a minute. Some of us have got better things to do than sit around a jury room.NO. 4:
1 can't understand a word in here. Why do we all have to talk at once?FOREMAN:
He's right. I think we ought to get on with it.[NO. 8 has been listening to this exchange closely.]
NO. 3:
(to NO. 8). Well, what do you say? You're the one holding up the show.NO. 8:
(standing). I've got a proposition to make.[We catch a close shot of NO. 5 looking steadily at him as he talks. NO. 5, seemingly puzzled, listens closely.|
NO. 8:
I want to call for a vote. I want eleven men to vote by secret ballot. I'll abstain. If there are still elevenvotes for guilty, I won't stand alone. We'll take in a guilty verdict right now.
NO. 7:
Okay. Let's do it.FOREMAN:
That sounds fair. Is everyone agreed?[They all nod their heads. NO. 8 walks over to the window, looks out for a moment and then faces them.]
FOREMAN:
Pass these along.[The foreman passes ballot slips to all of them, and now NO. 8 watches then; tensely as they begin to write.
Fade out.]
ACT 2
Fade in on same scene, no time lapse. NO. 8 stands tensely watching as the jurors write on their ballots. He
stays perfectly still as one by one they fold the ballots and pass them, along to the foreman. The foreman takes
them, riffles through the folded ballots, counts eleven, and now begins to open them. He reads each one out
loud and lays it aside. They watch him quietly, and all we hear is his voice and the sound of NO. 2 sucking on a
cough drop.
FOREMAN:
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.(He pauses at the tenth ballot and then reads it.] Not Guilty. (NO. 3 slams down hard on the table. The foreman
opens the last ballot.) Guilty.
NO. 10:
(angry). How do you like that!NO. 7:
Who was it? I think we have a right to know.NO. 11:
Excuse me. This was a secret ballot. We agreed on this point, no? If the gentleman wants it to remainsecret…
NO. 3 (standing up angrily). What do you mean? There are no secrets in here! I know who it was. (He turns to
NO. 5) What's the matter with you? You come in here and you vote guilty and then this slick preacher starts to
tear your heart out with stories about a poor little kid who just couldn't help becoming a murderer. So you
change your vote. If that isn't the most sickening...
[NO. 5 stares at NO. 3, frightened at this outburst.]
FOREMAN:
Now hold it.NO. 3:
Hold it? We're trying to put a guilty man into the chair where he belongs—and all of a sudden we'repaying attention to fairy tales.
NO. 5:
Now just a minute....NO. 11:
Please. I would like to say something here. I have always thought that a man was entitled to haveunpopular opinions in this country. This is the reason I came here. I wanted to have the right to disagree. In my
own country, I am ashamed to say that.
NO. 10:
What do we have to listen to now—the whole history of your country?NO. 7:
Yeah, let's stick to the subject. (To NO. 5) I want to ask you what made you change your vote.
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"12 Angry Men" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Aug. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/12_angry_men_58>.
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