The cast includes the following actors:
Henry Fonda as jury member eight
Lee J. Cobb as jury member three
Joseph Sweeney as jury member nine
Martin Balsam as a jury member one
Ed Begley jury member ten
John Savoca as the accused young boy
Jack Klugman as jury member five
Jack Warden as jury member seven
John Fiedler as jury member two
E.G. Marshall as jury member four
Edward Binns as jury member six
Robert Webber as jury member twelve
Plot summary:
The opening sequence of the movie displays a country courthouse in New York where the judge speaks to the jury members saying that after knowing all the case details, it’s time for the court to take the decision. And the court needs the opinion of the jury for that and they are given some time. This case is actually a murder case where a 12 years old boy is accused of killing his father by stabbing him with a knife. Now the jury has to decide whether the boy is guilty or not. Now all the jury members come to a room where they sit together and discuss the case and their decision.
The first two witnesses nearly convince the jury that it was the boy who killed the man and he should be proven guilty. One of them says that he saw from his window that the boy was attacking his father with a knife. Another man says that he saw the boy shouting at his father telling him that he will kill him and he even saw the man falling on the ground and the boy running from the scene. According to the old records of the boy, he seems to be a bit violent. A few days ago, he had bought a knife similar to the one which was stabbed on his father’s body. The knife is presented to the jury. But the fingerprints were removed from that knife.
At first, all the jury members take the case very lightly, especially jury number seven who is in a hurry to go and watch a basketball match. Early voting begins when all the jury members accept that the boy is guilty except jury number eight. He thinks that we can’t reach the decision without having further discussions in the case. He asks the second witness and brings another knife also just as same as that knife which means that the knife is common. Now the secret voting happens once again and now one more voter that is jury member nine says that he also thinks that the guy is not guilty because he too thinks that more discussion needs to be done before deciding.
The discussion begins. Jury number eight says that due to the noise of the train passing through the house where the murder happened nothing is audible and he tells that witness number two must have heard something else. After this, jury member five too changes his vote supporting the boy as not guilty. Similarly, jury member eleven says that if the boy has murdered his father, then he will not come to take the knife back from which the fingerprints are already removed. Jury member eight adds that many times people verbally tell that they will kill someone else but this literally doesn’t mean that they are really going to kill them and these are the words that come out of anger and nothing else. Jury members five, nine, and eight now start questioning the witness now which furies jury member eight and they get into a fight. And as a result, he tells jury member eight that he will kill him. And hence the point of jury member eight is proved that people tell such words out of fury. Although jury member three told that he really didn’t have an intention of actually doing it.
After listening to this jury members two and six changed their vote. And hence now half of them think that the boy is guilty and the other half jury members think that they are not. Jury member four has a doubt about what the boy told during the hearing and he thinks that the boy didn’t tell what really happened that night. And hence to prove him wrong jury member eight takes a memory test of him asking him what he did a week ago. It becomes difficult for him to remember things. And hence he tells that as it became difficult for jury member four to remember things from the past, the boy too probably has forgotten some details.
Jury member two adds that since the boy is smaller than his dad in height hence it must not be possible for him to stab his dad with the wound spreading from top to bottom. Jury member three experimentally shows how this is possible by showing stabbing gestures toward jury member eight. But jury member five shows that a stabber who knows how to use a knife will always stab from bottom to top.
Jury member seven who had to go to watch a match finds that his match was canceled and hence he changes his vote too and his actions make jury member eleven angry. Now the voting starts one more time when jury members one and twelve change their vote too. Now nine of them are for ‘not guilty’ and three are for ‘guilty’.
During all these jury member ten becomes angry at all the other jury members but jury member four calms him down. Jury member four tells that the first lady witness saw the boy stabbing his father from the other side of the road. Now jury member twelve comes again for ‘guilty ’ after hearing him. Now jury member four starts pressing at the mark made on his nose due to his spectacles. Looking at that jury member Nine suddenly remembers that the lady about whom they are talking also had a similar mark but she had not worn the specs in the court. Jury member eight adds that the lady was sleeping during the incident and hence was not wearing the specs. And it is not convincing that she put the specs at that very moment to look at the incident and hence she must have seen something else.
After this all the jury members except jury member three support for ’not guilty’. Jury member three becomes angry and starts shouting at each of them. He also remembers his relationship with his son and starts crying and tells " Not guilty". Now all of them are supporting ‘not guilty’. All of them come out of the room to give a decision. Jury member eight helps jury member three to calm down and put on his coat. And hence finally, the boy, who was nearly considered guilty before is now proved not guilty. Outside the court, jury members eight and nine are seen shaking hands and introducing themselves for the first time, and walking their own way.
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