| “ | Brother, I've seen all kinds of dishonesty in my day, but this little display takes the cake. Y'all come in here with your hearts bleedin' all over the floor about slum kids and injustice, you listen to some fairy tales... Suddenly, you start gettin' through to some of these old ladies. Well, you're not getting through to me, I've had enough! What's the matter with you guys?! You all KNOW he's guilty! He's GOT to burn! You're letting him slip through our fingers! | „ |
| ~ Juror 3 trying to convince the others to declare a vote for 'guilty'. |
| “ | It's one of those open and shut things. They proved it ten different ways. | „ |
| ~ Juror 3 in the 1997 film. |
Juror 3 is the main antagonist in the teleplay 12 Angry Men and its 1957 film and one of two main antagonists (alongside Juror 10) in the 1997 TV film. He is the third of twelve jury members.
He was portrayed by the late Lee J. Cobb in the 1957 film, and by the late George C. Scott in the 1997 TV film.
Personality[]
| “ | I feel sorry for you. What it must feel like to want to pull the switch! Ever since you walked into this room, you've been acting like a self-appointed public avenger. You want to see this boy die because you *personally* want it, not because of the facts! You're a sadist! | „ |
| ~ Juror 8 to Juror 3 |
Juror 3 is shown to be a character full of prejudicial and vengeful motives. He is the primary antagonist of Reginald Roses “Twelve Angry Men” with the movie adaptation of the teleplay being released in 1954. His main goal throughout the course of the story is to convince the other jurors that the person is guilty. He often refers to others as having a ‘Bleeding Heart’ which shows a tinge of arrogance and narcissism. However, as seen in the closing moments, it’s more than likely a defense system about the running away of his son. Juror 8 describes him a ‘Sadist’ at the end of Act I. Juror 3 also describes himself as excitable, which is obvious in the way that he’s the quickest to start conflict of the twelve jurors. He also describes it lucky that they got a murder case, when in conversation to Juror 2.
Constantly shown butting heads with Juror 8, who often gives Juror 3 disputations to his arguments, he is constantly shown believing he’s in the right. When discussing the boys pass, Juror 3 says it’s good he got a good beating. This is also the scene where we first learn about his son, who ran away at 18. Based on the fact he shuts himself up, it’s obvious he’s embarrassed at the failure of raising his son. Juror 3 also gets mad whenever someone switches votes, showing that he feels that once some ones left, they’re gone. However, later, he insults Juror 12 for constantly switching, meaning he believes that people should live in a world where everything is binary.
Juror 3 is also often disputed for his literalism during multiple times. Examples include when Juror 8 calls out his not meaning he’ll kill him, and Juror 2 calling out the fact he said to throw away all the other evidence. This shows he is a more emotionally based than logically based person. In the climax when Juror 3 defends his case towards the ten jurors against him [With Juror 10 sitting out due to prejudice] he tears the photo of he and his son after complaining about how he wasted his life for a person who just ran away. After being comforted by Juror 8, or having a mental breakdown in the movie, he finally decides to let go of his son, and see the accused as someone else. This causes him to finally change his case to Not Guilty. From all this it’s apparent that Juror 3 is a somewhat prejudicial, mostly emotionally based and somewhat nostalgic person seeking a form of closure from his son running away.
Role[]
Juror 3 is a businessman who has a short temper. He was called in for jury duty to discuss the case of a teenager boy who was allegedly believed to have stabbed his father to death. The jurors are told to come up a unanimous vote: the boy will receive a death sentence if declared guilty.
Throughout the story, almost all of the jurors (including Juror 3) had their vote to 'guilty', except for Juror 8 (the protagonist), who finds reasonable doubt. Because of this, Juror 3 finds himself at odds with Juror 8 and mocks him for his sympathy towards the boy and maintained with his guilty vote.
However, as story goes, Juror 8 manages to point out several omissions that no one could see when the crime happened, which caused the other jurors to change their votes to 'not guilty'. Despite this, Juror 3 maintained with his guilty vote, and finally breaks down, revealing that he has a son who hasn't talked to him for 2 years and that the accused boy reminds him of the strained relationship that Juror 3 has with his son, which would explain why he declared his guilty vote.
After tearing a picture of himself and his son, Juror 3 weeps and finally votes "not guilty", knowing that it is not worth it. With the vote unanimous, the jurors leave to declare their decision to the court. While they do so, Juror 8 helps the distraught Juror 3 with his coat as a sign of compassion, and Juror 3 respectfully nods in return.
Trivia[]
- Juror 3 isn't the only character played by both Lee J. Cobb and George C. Scott; they both also played Lt. William Kinderman in The Exorcist films.
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 Villains
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12 Angry Men 12 Monkeys Citizen Kane First Monday Hawaii Five-O JAG MacGyver Magnum P.I. Murder, She Wrote NCIS NCIS: Hawai'i NCIS: Los Angeles NCIS: New Orleans NCIS: Sydney Raven Scorpion Simon & Simon Strange Bargain The Law & Harry McGraw Whiz Kids | ||