MovieChat Forums > 12 Angry Men (1957) Discussion > What if the boy was assumed innocent and...

What if the boy was assumed innocent and Fonda started asking questions?

posted 8 years ago by Erniesam
5 replies | jump to latest

It seems to me that 12 angry men is so popular partly because of the 'happy end." Now what if every juror thought the boy was innocent and Fonda wanted to talk about it? Yes, the facts are supposed to determine the case, but didn't they do that already at the beginning when 11 voted guilty? What if one person could persuade others to switch to guilty using certain interpretations of the facts?

It takes one persuasive and eloquent talking leader type to heavily influence the bunch. Could this movie have also portrayed a reversal of not guilty to guilty?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dooki667 8 years ago

It makes me wonder how often a scenario like that happens in real life juries, maybe its just me but it kinda scares me that one random influential person could have that much control over someones fate regardless of his expertise.

[–] mancunian_nick 8 years ago

Dooki, yes Fonda's character was well spoken, articulate and educated but let's face it, people changed their minds as Fonda and later others, persuaded them there was sufficient doubt to find the defendant guilty. Nobody was coerced or forced to change their minds as was shown by Juror #4 in particular who was shown several things including not being able to remember details about the films he saw on "Monday" and realising he wasn't under stress. Why it was only the evidence regarding the marks on the witnesses nose that persuaded him, puzzled me but again proved even though suffient doubt on the evidence had already been shown to him, he STILL stuck to his guns.

I have just watched this again - one of the best films I've ever seen and I love courtroom films and have seen many. :)

[–] dsumner12345 8 years ago

This was actually done with a TV movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118126/?ref_=nv_sr_2

[–] KingCobra686 8 years ago

Yes you could probably make a movie like that, but what we saw in this movie makes more sense. The main element was the fact that they couldnt convict this boy unles they were sure beyond reasonable doubt.

In this movie, the jury was convinced that the boy was innocent beyond reasonable doubt. Henry Fonda convinced them to look closer and it led to them realizing that none of the presented evidence gave a guilty sentence beyond reasonable doubt.

The opposite of that would be Henry convincing everyone that the evidence they already have is more compelling than the realize. Might be possible to make a movie like that, but it would definitely be less fluid.