12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is a look at twelve jurors who are forced into a small un-air-conditioned room on a smoldering hot day to decide the fate of a scared boy. The jurors are all white middle class males, while the defendant is an uneducated teenage Puerto Rican boy. The boy is charged with first-degree murder for stabbing his father with a switchblade knife. This jury must come up with a unanimous decision, either guilty or not guilty; and if guilty the boy must face his death in the electric chair. This film presents an extremely engulfing examination of the personal prejudices, cultural differences, biases, bad judgments, and stubbornness of the jurors.
The jury members decide to take a quick vote to determine the status of each member’s decision because they don’t want to waste time if the decision is already unanimous. All of the jurors vote guilty except one lone man, named Davis (played by Henry Fonda). None of the others understand his motives for this decision until he presents a very convincing case of why the evidence isn’t sufficient enough to convict this boy and take his life away. The small meeting room quickly turns into the arena for an extremely heated debate. Some of the jurors become enraged while trying to prove that they’re right. Yet Davis, this one courageous juror, stands strong and slowly begins cause the others to reconsider until only one lone man who has become engulfed with anger remains. Yet Davis keeps pushing the fact that the judge said clearly if there is any “reasonable doubt” they must vote “not guilty”.
“If there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused, a reasonable doubt, then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty. If however, there is no reasonable doubt, then you must in good conscience find the accused guilty. However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous. In the event that you find the accused guilty, the bench will not entertain a recommendation for mercy. The death sentence is mandatory...
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