"Twelve Angry Men" (1957) Trivia Quiz

Answer: It is situated very close to the elevated railway system.

The noise that was created by a carriage passing the apartment window becomes an important feature in the details of the jury's discussion. The juror played by Edward Binns remarks that he has recently painted an apartment close to the elevated railway tracks, and most of the jurors agree that you can hardly hear yourself think when the carriages pass.

Answer: He had a bad leg and dragged his foot as he walked.

The old man claimed to have got to the door of his apartment in time to see the accused boy running away down the flight of stairs. Juror number 8 calls this into question and simulates walking around the jury room with a limp, whilst Juror number 2 times his journey with his watch.

Answer: A switch-blade knife.

The prosecuting attorney had made much of the fact that the knife used for the murder was one of a kind. Juror Number 8, Henry Fonda, had gone to the same district and bought a similar looking knife from a pawnshop. It was cheap and easily available. At one point Lee J.Cobb's character mistakenly picks it up and says that this is what he did it with.

His mistake proves the point that the murder weapon was not so distinctively unique.

Answer: It had been stabbed downwards and into the chest.

The downward wound was unusual, for the accused was a good deal shorter than the man he was supposed to have stabbed. Another juror, played by Jack Klugman, points out that people who fight with switch-blade knives never hold them overhanded and stab downwards when they are fighting.

The point of the switchblade is that you can change it rapidly from hand to hand to get an advantage. If the accused had committed the murder you would expect him to have stabbed upwards into the lower chest and stomach.

Answer: He said he had probably lost it through a hole in his pocket.

The accused's statement is very weak. He had actually shown a knife very like the murder weapon to some of his friends earlier in the day. Henry Fonda, Juror Number 8, had earlier demonstrated that there were likely to be many knives like it in the neighbourhood.

However, this "hole in the pocket" story still counts against the accused throughout the discussion. It is the balance of the other evidence that creates the reasonable doubt.

Answer: He had been hit too many times and finally snapped.

Again this point about the accused's motive remains in the balance. Some jurors argue that the boy was used to violence and therefore would not respond to being hit one more time. Others suggest that everyone has a breaking point. Two or three jurors point out that the prosecuting attorney did not spend very much time trying to build evidence about the accused's motive.

Answer: He says he was at a late night double bill at the cinema.

Much is made of the fact that the accused couldn't remember the names of the movies nor the people who starred in them, when he was first questioned by the police. Juror number 8 points out that the questions were put to him in the apartment with his father's body lying dead in the next room.

He would be in shock and probably unable to remember any details. He demonstrates this idea by cross questioning the juror played by E.G. Marshall about movies he had seen quite recently. The juror falters over names and identities even though not under any emotional pressure.

Answer: The accused say, "I'm going to kill you", and the body hitting the floor.

Henry Fonda tries to demonstrate that, if all the witnesses are telling the truth, it would be impossible for the old man to have heard anything but the sound of the passing elevated railway. The female eye-witness claims to have seen the murder through the last carriage as it passed the window of the apartment.

It had already been roaring past for several seconds thus obliterating all other sound.

Answer: She was lying in bed trying to get to sleep.

It is a key feature of the argument that the female eye-witness was actually "tossing and turning" in her efforts to get to sleep. Under those circumstances it is highly unlikely that she would be wearing eye-glasses. If proved to need them her evidence would thus become unreliable.

Answer: The old man on the jury noticed marks on the side of her nose.

The old man on the jury, played by Joseph Sweeney, comments that the marks on the side of her nose could only have been caused by eye-glasses. She was a vain woman who did not wear them in court. She would also not have worn them if she was tossing and turning trying to get to sleep. For the juror played by E.G. Marshall this allows him to declare that he has a reasonable doubt, and to change his vote to "Not Guilty".

It is perfectly possible that the woman got the marks from wearing sunglasses, or that she was long-sighted.

However, the woman's eyesight has been called into question, and this shifts the balance of possibilities in the accused's favour.