By Sidney Lumet

JUROR 1 :
Just

remember that this has to be 12 to nothing either way. That's the law. OK, are we ready? All those voting guilty,

please raise your hands. One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. OK, that's 11 guilty. Who's voting not guilty? One. Right. 11 guilty, one not guilty. Well, now we know where we are. Boy, oh boy. There's always one. So what do we do now? I guess we talk. Boy, oh boy. You really think he's innocent? I don't know. SIDNEY LUMET: On this one

day just outside of Calcutta, as the train was pulling

out of the station-- and they were those British

kinds of cars with the center aisle, entrance on

either side, but also individual compartments opening

up with their own doors-- and I was looking

out the window. And there was this little

girl, I guess she was about 12, standing on the platform, and

in the car behind me, a GI, I don't know who, reached out

and swept her off a platform and pulled her into

the compartment that he was riding in. And I was so shocked. I couldn't believe it. And then wrestled

with it for a moment then got up and started making

my way to the car behind me and pulled that door open. And there was a guy,

like that, blocking him. And there were a bunch

of GIs f***ing her, just passing her from one to

the other in the compartment and paying for it. And the guy he

said, you want some? It'll cost you whatever. And I said, no, and then

the whole wrestle with do I do anything about this? I'm not directing

the moral message. I'm directing that

piece and those people. And if I do it well, the moral

message will come through. COP 1 : This is car 2118. Call Greenpoint

Hospital and tell them we're bringing in a wounded cop. COP 2 (ON RADIO):

All right, 10-4. Thanks a lot. [siren] [phone ringing] Eighth Precinct. Yeah. Jesus Christ. Guess who got shot. Serpico. You think a cop did it? I know six cops

said they'd like to. I wouldn't deny that morality

in my movies for anything. I know it's there. The difference between

what we're talking about is you think it's

a conscious choice and I say it's an

unconscious choice. I don't pay any attention to it. [music playing] I had no hint whatsoever

that I wanted to do movies. I've got a very

happy disposition, that as long as I'm at

work, I'm perfectly content. I would have been completely

happy to spend the rest of my life in television. I'm glad it went in

another direction because I had a much better

and bigger canvas to work on, but it wasn't a

necessity at all. If you talk to anybody who's

had any sort of career in, I don't know what

other professions, but in our profession,

the biggest single word you'll hear repeated

over and over again is luck. You did a wonderful

job, wonderful. SIDNEY LUMET: On one of

the shows that I was doing, a show called "Danger," which

was a good melodrama, Tuesday night's, 10:00 to 10:30, we

had found a very good writer by name of Reginald Rose. Reggie wrote "12 Angry Men." It was done on, I believe

it was Philco on NBC and had been a successful

television show. When he had the offer to make

it a movie, he jumped at it. The offer came from

Henry Fonda, who was producing at that

time, wanted to start producing his own movies. And here again,

luck came into it. I had been working with Reggie

on live television stuff. We liked each other enormously

and he said to Hank, listen, you know who I'd love to have

direct this, mentioned me. Before I had gotten

into television, I was running a workshop

down in the Village. It was called the

Actor's Workshop. Two of the people in the

workshop-- there were about 40 of us-- were in "Mister

Roberts," in which Henry Fonda was starring in New York. And so they asked him to

come down and see this play. They both had parts

in it and he came. So when Reggie came to him

with my name, he said, oh yeah, I saw something

Off-Broadway of his. It was good. It was damn good. Fine, take him. That simple. I didn't have to audition. I didn't have to have a

discussion with anybody. United Artists, which

put up the money, they were totally courageous

about giving directors their first movie,

and off we went. I didn't even have to meet

and say what my vision was of the-- I'm laughing

at that because that's, of course, the great cliche. What's your vision

of this movie? WALTER CRONKITE: 399 BC,

The Death of Socrates. You are there. Walter Cronkite reporting. 399 BC in Athens, Greece,

the Hellenistic world is waiting the climax of

the trial and condemnation of the philosopher, Socrates. Before the sun goes

down today, Socrates must, according to Athenian

law, perform his own execution and drink the poison hemlock. We take you now to

Athens outside the prison where Socrates is being held. All things are as they were

then except you are there. HARRY MARBLE: This

is Harry Marble. We are watching the sinking sun

here and counting the minutes in the waning light. Just behind that wall

is the cell in which Socrates is awaiting then end. SIDNEY LUMET: I had moved into

television in the early '50s, and that was so

exhilarating, the thrill of, number one, a place to work,

and a place to work steadily. HARRY MARBLE: Citizen

Aristophanes, one moment. Do you think there is

any chance that Socrates might yet be saved? I hope that he will. I think that he will not. But valuing what is

most precious to me, my greatest concern at the

moment is to protect myself. SIDNEY LUMET: I mean

I was doing at one point 60 or 70 shows a year. Now even if you take a small

average of let's say six actors a show-- but the casts

certainly on "You Are There" were more than that-- so

let's see, six times 70 is 420 actors, different actors

to work with in a year's time. God knows how many different

writers, production people, video engineers, audio men. The exposure was brilliant. MELETUS: Citizens! I must be heard! I vote a hearing. HARRY MARBLE: That is

Meletus speaking now. He was the main

accuser at the trial. In the marketplace,

there are people who are howling for my

life, the same people who urged me to accuse Socrates. Oh, is this justice? Is this reason? I did not want Socrates

to be condemned to death. I thought he would be

fined as I would have been and gladly

paid it had the jury found my accusations false. Where are you now, those of

you who voted against Socrates? Why don't you defend me? I did my duty as a citizen. I spoke for Athens,

for democracy. I don't understand you people. I mean, all these picky little

points you keep bringing up, they don't mean nothing. You saw this kid

just like I did. You're not going to tell me

you believe that phony story about losing the knife

and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how

these people lie. It's born in them. I mean, what the heck? I don't have to tell you. They don't know

what the truth is. And let me tell you, they

don't need any real big reason to kill someone either, no sir. They get drunk. Oh, they're real big

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