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Background Summary The Director & The Film Comment The Twelve Jurors

About the text More understanding about some

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Summary

A diverse group of twelve jurors (all male, mostly middle-aged, white, and generally of middle-class status) are uncomfortably brought together to deliberate( 商议 ) ， after hearing the 'facts' in a seemingly open-and-shut （一目了然的） murder trial case.

Summary

They retire to a jury room （陪审团休息室） to do their civic duty and serve up a just verdict for the defendant .

The 18-year old defendant who grew up in slum was accused to murder his father in a midnight.

Summary The powerful evidences were present before t

he 12 jurors: the woman lived in the opposite through win

dows saw the defendant killing his father with a knife;

the old man lived downstairs heard the defendant cried” I want to kill you!” and the sound of body’s falling down;

the knife penetrated into his father was similar with the one the defendant used to buy.

Summary

Most jurors are inclined to judge him guilty. Fortunately, one brave dissenting juror votes 'not guilty' at the start of the deliberations because of his reasonable doubt. Persistently and persuasively, he forces the other men to slowly reconsider and review the shaky （不可靠的） case( 证明理由 ) and eyewitness testimony against the endangered defendant.

Summary It was such a

fluctuating procession that the jurors discuss and vote 6 times totally . The results are 11 vs. 1, 10 vs. 2, 8 vs. 4, 6 vs. 6, 3 vs. 9, 1 vs. 11.More and more jurors believe the defendant is not guilty and finally all are in favor of his innocence.

The Director & The Film

This was television-trained director Sidney Lumet's( 悉尼 · 吕美特 )first feature film , a low-budget ($350,000) film shot in only 17 days from a screenplay( 电影剧本 ) by Reginald Rose.

The Director & The Film

The film was in a financial disaster when it first opened (during a time of colorful widescreen film offerings), but it did receive three Academy Award nominations (with no wins): Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. All three categories lost to David Lean's Oscar-sweeping epic film The Bridge on the River Kwai

Comment

The jury of twelve 'angry men,' entrusted with the power to send an uneducated, teenaged Puerto Rican, tenement-dwelling( 出身贫民窟的 )boy to the electric chair for killing his father with a knife. They are locked into a smaller than 40m2, claustrophobic( 封闭的 )room on a hot summer day until they come up with a decision - either guilty or not guilty.

Comment

The film examines the twelve men's deep-seated（根深蒂固的） personal prejudices, perceptual（感性的） biases and weaknesses, indifference, anger, personalities, unreliable judgments, cultural differences, ignorance and fears ,which influence their decision-making abilities, cause them to ignore the real issues in the case, and potentially lead them to a miscarriage of justice.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #1 (The Foreman):

(Martin Balsam) A high-school assistant head coach, doggedly concerned to keep the proceedings formal and maintain authority; easily frustrated and sensitive when someone objects to his control; inadequate for the job as foreman, not a natural leader and over-shadowed by Juror # 8's natural leadership.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #2: (John Fiedler)

A wimpy, balding bank clerk/teller, easily persuaded, meek, hesitant, goes along with the majority, eagerly offers cough drops to other men during tense times of argument; better memory than # 4 about film title.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #3: (Lee J. Cobb) Runs

a messenger service (the "Beck and Call" Company), a bullying, rude and husky man, extremely opinionated and biased, completely intolerant, forceful and loud-mouthed, temperamental and vengeful; estrangement from his own teenaged son causes him to be hateful and hostile toward all young people (and the defendant); arrogant, quick-angered, quick-to-convict, and defiant until the very end.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #4: (E. G. Marshall) Well-

educated, smug and conceited, well-dressed stockbroker, presumably wealthy; studious, methodical, possesses an incredible recall and grasp of the facts of the case; dispassionate, cool-headed and rational, yet stuffy and prim; often displays a stern glare; treats the case like a puzzle to be deductively solved rather than as a case that may send the defendant to death; claims that he never sweats.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #5: (Jack Klugman)

Naive, insecure, frightened, reserved; grew up in a poor Jewish urban neighborhood and the case resurrected in his mind that slum-dwelling upbringing; a guilty vote would distance him from his past; nicknamed "Baltimore" by Juror # 7 because of his support of the Orioles.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #6: (Edward Binns)

A typical "working man," dull-witted, experiences difficulty in making up his own mind, a follower; probably a manual laborer or painter; respectful of older juror and willing to back up his words with fists

The Twelve Jurors Juror #7: (Jack Warden) Clownish, i

mpatient salesman, a flashy dresser, gum-chewing, obsessed baseball fan who wants to leave as soon as possible to attend evening game; throws wadded up paper balls at the fan; uses baseball metaphors and references throughout all his statements; lacks complete human concern for the defendant and for the immigrant juror; extroverted; keeps up amusing banter and even impersonates James Cagney at one point; votes with the majority.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #8: (Henry Fonda) An

architect, instigates a thoughtful reconsideration of the case against the accused; symbolically clad in white; a liberal-minded, patient truth-and-justice seeker who uses soft-spoken, calm logical reasoning; balanced, decent, courageous, well-spoken and concerned; considered a do-gooder (who is just wasting others' time) by some of the prejudiced jurors; named Davis.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #9: (Joseph Sween

ey) Eldest man in group, white-haired, thin, retiring and resigned to death but has a resurgence of life during deliberations; soft-spoken but perceptive, fair-minded; named McCardle.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #10: (Ed Begley)

A garage owner, who simmers with anger, bitterness, racist bigotry; nasty, repellent, intolerant, reactionary and accusative; segregates the world into 'us' and 'them'; needs the support of others to reinforce his manic rants.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #11: (George Vosko

vec) A watchmaker, speaks with a heavy accent, of German-European descent, a recent refugee and immigrant; expresses reverence and respect for American democracy, its system of justice, and the infallibility of the Law.

The Twelve Jurors Juror #12: (Robert

Webber) Well-dressed, smooth-talking business ad man with thick black glasses; doodles cereal box slogan and packaging ideas for "Rice Pops"; superficial, easily-swayed, and easy-going; vacillating, lacks deep convictions or belief system; uses advertising talk at one point: "run this idea up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes it“.

Paraphrase 1. I think it’s customary to take a preliminary

vote. (partⅠ para3) I think it is a common practice to take a first

just to find out where we are before we start our discussion.

2.Maybe we can all get out of here. (partⅠ para4) NO.7 means that if everyone agrees that the

boy is guilty, then they can take the verdict to court and et the whole thing over and right away.

Paraphrase 3.The kid will be trailed again and be found

guilty, sure as he was born. (partⅠ para79) The boy will be put on a trial again and still

be proved guilty. There is no doubt about it.

4. The kid yelled it at the top of his lungs. Anybody says a thing like that, the way he did, he means it! (partⅡ para3)

The boy shouted it out at the top of his voice. If anybody says a thing like that, he means it.

Paraphrase 5. He is much too bright for that. (partⅡ

para4) He is too clever to do that. He would have

been really too dumb to let everybody know that he is going to kill his own father.

6. Well, let’s see if the details bear him out. (partⅡ para33)

Well, let’s find out whether the details of his descriptions support his statements or prove what he said was true.

Paraphrase 7. He’s got to burn and you let him slip

through our fingers. (partⅡ para43)

He’s got to be sent to the chair or to be executed, and you let him escape the punishment by the law.

8. Maybe you’d like to pull the switch. (partⅡ para46)

Maybe you would like to be the executioner.

Paraphrase 9. I feel sorry for you .What it must feel like to

want to pull the switch. You are a sadist! (partⅡ para48)

I feel sorry for you .I can’t understand what kind of feeling it is that will make you want to pull the switch. The only possible answer is that you are a sadist. You enjoy inflicting pain. You enjoy watching people suffering.

10. I go for that too. Let the kid take his chances with twelve other guys. (partⅡ para58)

I also agree. Let the kid try his luck with twelve other jurors.

Paraphrase 11.This is the way I stabbed a man who

was taller than I was. Now tell me I was wrong. (partⅡ para95)

NO.3 is challenging people to say that he is wrong, because he thinks everything he did is so obvious that he can’t be wrong.

12.I only know the woman’s eyesight is in question now. (partⅡ para148)

I only know the woman’s vision has become a question now; I only know her eyesight is now quite doubtful.

By Monica & Jenny