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Twelve Angry Men Video Guide Activities

The document provides vocabulary and questions about the 1957 film "12 Angry Men" which depicts the jury deliberation in a murder trial. It asks the reader to watch the film and answer questions about the jury system, each individual juror's characteristics and opinions, and themes around reasonable doubt and presumption of innocence. The reader is also tasked with filling out a table profiling each juror and commenting on quotes that characterize the jurors' views.

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Barburiceanu Irina
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288 views5 pages

Twelve Angry Men Video Guide Activities

The document provides vocabulary and questions about the 1957 film "12 Angry Men" which depicts the jury deliberation in a murder trial. It asks the reader to watch the film and answer questions about the jury system, each individual juror's characteristics and opinions, and themes around reasonable doubt and presumption of innocence. The reader is also tasked with filling out a table profiling each juror and commenting on quotes that characterize the jurors' views.

Uploaded by

Barburiceanu Irina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Twelve Angry Men

1. Study the following vocabulary from the film:

premeditated murder to serve a jail term for forgery


reasonable doubt a filthy neighborhood
unanimous potential menaces to society
foreman eyewitness
slum to talk one’s ears off one’s head
acquittal recognition
secret ballot to wipe off fingerprints
hung jury to yakety-yak
open and shut case to play charades
orphanage to slip through one’s fingers
circumstantial evidence stab wound
murder in the first degree switchblade
to play on the nose of one’s face Napoleon truth
to cry at the top of one’s lungs to have the guts to do what you think is right
alternative juror phoney story
unshakable testimony to gamble on probabilities
to send a man to chair to rub one’s nose
12 to nothing public appearance
to take a preliminary vote to intimidate someone
to separate the facts from the fancy

2. Watch the concluding speech of the judge addressing the jury and fill the gaps with the
missing words.
The judge: To continue, you’ve listened to a long and complex 1………..of 2……………………...
The 3 …………………….is the most serious 4…………. 5…………. in our 6
……………………. You’ve listened to the 7 …………….. You had the law read to you and
interpreted as it 8 ……………….in this case. Now your duty is to sit down and try to separate the
facts from the fancy. One man is dead and another man's life is at stake. If there's 9
……………………….in your minds as to the 10 ……….of the 11 ……………, a 12
……………………..then you must bring me a 13 …………………………….. If however, there is
no 14…………………….., then you must in good conscience find the 15…………………guilty.
However you decide, your 16 …………..must be unanimous. In the event that you
17………………….guilty, the bench will not entertain a recommendation for mercy. The 18
…………………is 19 ……………..in this case. You are faced with a 20 …………………... Thank
you, gentlemen. The alternate jurors are excused. The jury will now retire.
3. Watch the whole film and answer the following questions:
1) What is the role of a jury in a criminal trial?
2) How many jurors must agree in order to reach a verdict?
3) What happens if the jury does not reach a verdict?
4) What must the prosecution prove in order to get a guilty verdict?
5) What is “reasonable doubt?”
6) What instructions does the judge give to the jury?
7) What is the procedure of considering the verdict?
8) Do you agree that the jury is isolated from everybody while considering the verdict?
9) What crime is the defendant charged with?
10)What is the punishment for this crime?
11) What is the role of a foreman in the jury? Was it performed successfully in 12 Angry Men?

4. While watching the film fill in the table about each juror:

Order of Clues (how Juror #8


Juror Characteristics Actor voting “not made them change
guilty” their mind)
Juror #1
Juror #2
Juror #3
Juror #4
Juror #5
Juror #6
Juror #7
Juror #8
Juror #9
Juror #10
Juror #11
Juror #12

5. Comment on the quotes from the film. How do they characterize each juror?
1) Juror №10: Bright? He's a common ignorant slob. He don't even speak good English.
Juror №11: Doesn't even speak good English.

2) Juror №8: It's very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And no matter where
you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth. Well, I don't think any real damage has been done here.
Because I don't really know what the truth is. No one ever will, I suppose. Nine of us now seem to
feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities. We may be wrong. We
may be trying to return a guilty man to the community. No one can really know. But we have a
reasonable doubt, and this is a safeguard which has enormous value to our system. No jury can
declare a man guilty unless it's SURE. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure.
Maybe you can tell us.

3) Juror №2: It's hard to put into words. I just think he's guilty. I thought it was obvious from the
word, 'Go'. Nobody proved otherwise.
Juror №8: Nobody has to prove otherwise. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The
defendant doesn't even have to open his mouth. That's in the Constitution.

4) Juror №3: You're talking about a matter of seconds. Nobody can be that accurate.
Juror №8: Well I think that testimony that can put a boy into the electric chair SHOULD be that
accurate.

5) Juror №10: Oh, listen, I don't see what all this stuff about the knife has got to do with anything.
Somebody saw the kid stab his Father, what more do we need? You guys can talk the ears right off
my head you know what I mean? I got three garages of mine going to pot while you're talking! So
let’s get down and get out of here!

6) Juror №7: You a Yankee fan?


Juror №5: No, Baltimore.
Juror №7: Baltimore? That's like being hit in the head with a crow bar once a day.

7) Juror #8: Look, there was one alleged eye witness to this killing. Someone else claims he heard
the killing, saw the boy run out afterwards and there was a lot of circumstantial evidence. But,
actually, those two witnesses were the entire case for the prosecution. Supposing they're wrong?
Juror #12: What do you mean, supposing they're wrong? What's the point of having witnesses at all?
Juror #8: Could they be wrong?
Juror #12: What are you trying to say? Those people sat on the stand under oath.
Juror #8: They're only people. People make mistakes. Could they be wrong?
Juror #12: Well, no, I don't think so.
Juror #8: Do you 'know' so?
Juror #12: Oh, come on. Nobody can know a thing like that. This isn't an exact science.
Juror #8: That's right, it isn't.
8) Juror #8: I just want to talk.
Juror #7: Well, what's there to talk about? Eleven men in here think he's guilty. No one had to think
about it twice except you.
Juror #10: I want to ask you something: do you believe his story?
Juror #8: I don't know whether I believe it or not - maybe I don't.
Juror #7: So how come you vote not guilty?
Juror #8: Well, there were eleven votes for guilty. It's not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off
to die without talking about it first.
Juror #7: Well now, who says it's easy?
Juror #8: No one.
Juror #7: What, just because I voted fast? I honestly think the guy's guilty. Couldn't change my
mind if you talked for a hundred years.
Juror #8: I'm not trying to change your mind. It's just that... we're talking about somebody's life
here. We can't decide it in five minutes. Supposing we're wrong?
Juror #7: Supposing we're wrong! Supposing this whole building should fall down on my head. You
can suppose anything!
Juror #8: That's right.

5. Juror #8 is the only one who votes not guilty.


1) Why does he vote not guilty? What are his possible motives? Is it easy
to stand alone against the opinion of the majority? Why?
2) Juror #8 plays a sort of a trick on his comrades. He calls for a vote and
says he will abstain. If the other eleven voted guilty he would not stand
in the way of a conviction. The old man votes not guilty so that more
discussion takes place. What are the possible risks of such a venture.
3) Juror #8 enumerates several of the possible reasons why the boy’s
lawyer didn’t like the case he had to work on and consequently didn’t
do his best to save his client. Write them down.
4) What logic (evidence) was faulty? (name 10)
6. Comment on the verdict ‘not guilty’. Having seen the film Twelve Angry Men, say whether
you are really convicted that the defendant did not commit the crime he was charged with.
7. The film brings up a number of problems associated with the responsibilities of the sides
participating in the trial. With your partner study the list of statements below and agree or
disagree with them giving your arguments.
 Nearly everything in the course of the trial depends on the ability of lawyers.
 People feel inconvenienced by jury duty and vote just to cut it short and get back to their
lives.
 It is impossible for twelve strangers to agree on anything.
 A person's decisions have nothing to do with his or her own experiences.
 It is embarrassing to change your mind in front of others.
 The truth can almost never be known for sure.

8. Game YES BUT… Study the task for your group and follow your teacher’s instructions.
Group A: your initial idea is that the justice system as it shown in the film is hit-or-miss.
Group B: your initial idea is that the presumption of innocence (that is, the belief that a defendant is
innocent until proven guilty) secured in the Constitution of the USA promises defendants a fair trial.

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