Klugman and the Knife

This is a clip from the movie 12 Angry Men. It is part of the scene in which the jurors are arguing over the alleged knife wound and how it could possibly have been made by the switch blade. Earlier in the film we as the audience learn that Juror #5, was brought up in the same sort of bad neighborhood as the boy who is being tried for murdering his father. So when he says he knows how to use a switch blade, and has experience seeing/watching knife fights, we are assured through ethos that he knows what he is talking about.

In this scene, juror #5, as portrayed by Jack Klugman, is using logos to explain how the accused kid could not have been the one who stabbed is father. He begins by explain the logic in how the knife was made. He demonstrates that the knife was made for and easy open and an upward thrust stab as opposed to switching hands and using it for a downward stab. He then has everyone remember that the boy was experienced with switch knives because of where he lives. Then Juror #5 asks the rhetorical question of: if the kid knew the right way to use the knife, then logically speaking, why would he use it the wrong way? He ends by stating that if the kid was experienced with a switch blade, then he would not have wasted time in switching hands just to use to the wrong way.