Synopsis

After a murder trial, twelve jurors enter a sweltering room to decide the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father. When Juror 8 alone votes not guilty, the group must reexamine the testimony, physical evidence, and their own prejudices. As certainty gives way to reasonable doubt, the deliberation becomes a tense examination of justice, conformity, and personal responsibility.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film grew out of Reginald Rose's 1954 live television drama, which had originally been broadcast on the Studio One anthology series.

• Nearly the entire film takes place in the jury room. The courthouse sequence, the judge's instructions, and the final exterior scenes provide the principal departures from that confined setting.

• Production took place entirely in New York City, with Foley Square used for the opening and closing exterior views.

• The production was rehearsed and filmed in a little over a month and was made for approximately $340,000.

• Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose formed Orion-Nova Productions by combining the names of their respective production companies. Both men deferred their salaries.

• Two performers from the original television production returned for the feature: Joseph Sweeney and George Voskovec.

• The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, despite achieving only modest commercial results on its initial release.

• It won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Film and received major recognition from the British Film Academy, the Berlin Film Festival, and critics' groups in Italy and Poland.

• Before its press screenings, the film was shown to bar associations in all forty-eight U.S. states then in existence. The American Bar Association later honored it for helping the public understand the American justice system.

• Its treatment of group pressure, prejudice, and decision-making led to its use as a training aid for corporate managers studying workplace behavior.

• In 2007, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry. That same year, it ranked number 87 on the American Film Institute's updated list of the greatest American films.