# 12 Angry Men **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 23, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899 "2026-02-23T00:14:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/41 "2026-02-24T02:36:22Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The thing about discussions like this is that so many racial/ethnic/whatever stereotypes are re-usable generic accusations that it’s easy to look at a bigoted characterization and see a bunch of different potential targets. Yes. I’m mildly embarrassed that I didn’t pick up that “Porto Rican” was as likely as “black”, but I think that the dialog was intentionally open-ended / generic about prejudice target (at least, that’s my excuse). > [@Biffster](#): > > Most of?? How would you not watch until the end? Mind blown. I missed the opening court scene the first time around. The jury was dancing around the subject of who “they” were, and I just filled it in. In my life, ‘black’ people and ‘wogs’ have been more the subject of prejudice than ‘spics’, so that’s what I jumped to. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/42 "2026-02-24T02:56:53Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > They all turn their backs on him if memory serves. No. 4 tells him to shut up and not speak again. Right. They all suddenly find a reason to look out the window, turning their backs on him. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/43 "2026-02-24T04:56:48Z")
It’s been a while since I last watched it, but what I remember is that after Juror 10 (the bigot) went on one of his rants, Juror 5 said he’d lived in a slum all his life, that he had played in yards that were filled with garbage, and finished with “maybe you can smell it on me.” I think that was the only reference to smell. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/44 "2026-02-24T05:49:20Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > > [@Biffster](#): > > > > Most of?? How would you not watch until the end? Mind blown. > > I missed the opening court scene the first time around. The jury was dancing around the subject of who “they” were, and I just filled it in. In my life, ‘black’ people and ‘wogs’ have been more the subject of prejudice than ‘spics’, so that’s what I jumped to. Fair enough. I think I missed the opening first time I saw it as well. Kid looked so innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/45 "2026-02-24T05:51:29Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Right. They all suddenly find a reason to look out the window, turning their backs on him. Which was weird, since even No. 3 turned his back. Not a totally unified front. Great staging and choreography in that Moviefilm. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/46 "2026-02-24T19:08:48Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > No. 4 tells him to shut up and not speak again. Yes. And from that point on, Juror 10 didn’t utter another word. When he cast his “not guilty” vote, he did it by shaking his head. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/47 "2026-02-24T19:30:26Z")
That _was_ awesome - thanks. The reference to characters in _The Facts of Life_ was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/48 "2026-02-24T22:50:07Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > The reference to characters in _The Facts of Life_ was hilarious. The comment about how Jo would break that guy in half was my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/49 "2026-02-24T23:13:18Z")
Anecdotally, my husband’s grandparents experienced anti-Italian racism as late at the 1970s. So it’s plausible to me they were really talking about Italians. But they were also, probably, really talking about racism in general. I loved that movie. I don’t know if my takeaway was supposed to be the takeaway, because I came away with an impression of how terrifyingly arbitrary our justice system can be. I had no sense of whether the guy was truly innocent because you have to go based on the impressions of suggestive, fallible jurors. Truly harrowing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/50 "2026-02-24T23:21:38Z")
Didn’t it even end with someone asking the hero who he thought actually did it, and he said probably the defendant? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/51 "2026-02-24T23:23:59Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Anecdotally, my husband’s grandparents experienced anti-Italian racism as late at the 1970s. So it’s plausible to me they were really talking about Italians. A third-generation Italian-American friend in the early 1980s got a bit of that from the parents of a super-WASPy girlfriend. Sort of gender-swapped _Love Story_, so to speak. Although by that time (and this includes the time of the 1970 _Love Story_ itself), it was hard to disentangle “pure” ethnicity-based racism from anti-Catholicism and class prejudice. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/52 "2026-02-24T23:27:35Z")
In their case, they were extremely successful in business and it was often assumed they were earning it dishonestly. Which really hurt his grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/53 "2026-02-24T23:30:45Z")
No, the very end has Juror 3 admit that his strained relationship with his son was the reason why he was strongly voting guilty, and the revelation causes him to change his vote. And Jurors 8 and 9 exchange names before leaving. But, I think that a lot of people analyzing the film came away with the impression that the defendant may have been guilty, despite everything discussed in the film to change people’s votes, and maybe that’s what you were remembering. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/54 "2026-02-24T23:55:29Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And No. 9 turns out to be named “McCardle,” making him at least part Irish or Scottish. Yeah, I wish they had left off at the end when Henry Fonda walks out of the jury room and we see the detritus of what everyone left on the table. That last little vignette just takes me completely out of the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/55 "2026-02-25T01:19:16Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > may have been guilty, despite everything discussed in the film to change people’s votes, and maybe Who killed O J Simpsons wife? She’s a women, she’s dead, without seeing any evidence, I would think probably her husband did it.. Same here. Lacking any valid evidence, I think it was probably a family member. That’s statistics, not proof. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/56 "2026-02-25T02:34:43Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > On a related note, Lee J. Cobb was the original Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Very different character than Juror No. 3 though. Brilliant actor. I recently saw _Our Man Flint_, and _In Like Flint_; those probably didn’t showcase his range. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/57 "2026-02-25T03:11:17Z")
Well, he got to do Angry Bluster, and a paycheck. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/58 "2026-02-25T04:32:48Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, I wish they had left off at the end when Henry Fonda walks out of the jury room and we see the detritus of what everyone left on the table. Detritus including the second knife. Probably not the smoothest move to leave behind evidence of juror misconduct, but, hey, it was the 1950s, simpler times and all. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/59 "2026-02-25T04:39:54Z")
I wondered if jury directions had changed since the 1920’s (Assuming, as per usual, that anything represented in 1955 had to be already long out of date) I’ve never read an example of Jury Directions at all. I know that it was an iconic moment in English law when they found that paying off the jury to achieve a result was improper. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899/60 "2026-02-25T06:28:10Z")
It’s a fantastic film, but it does leave you wondering, did the kid even have a defence attorney?! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-angry-men/1027899.md?page=4)