Why did West burn the ticket at the end? The solicitor (Sydney Greenstreet) confessed to a policeman in the street that he killed the woman. He could have cashed in the ticket without recrimination.
Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.
Their three names are written on the back of the ticket. The police would have suspected Johnny's presence at her flat when she was killed.
But Greenstreet's character confessed, saying something like he couldn't live with the guilt. I suppose, though, he was a bit morally weak and might have implicated Lorre's character if it got him a break. After all,That's what the man on trial for murdering a poiceman did. Still, it seems that in real life it would have been a lot harder to burn that ticket and lose the money.
Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.
You explained it yourself quite well - after what he just went through, Johnny had a big fear of getting involved with the police in any way and could not trust Arbutny to keep quiet about his presence at the murder.
But perhaps the main reason for his action is that it provides a philosophical, symbolic, and ironic ending to the movie, leaving us to think about which is more important in life, liberty or money.
Parallels to "THE MALTESE FALCON" and "THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE."
Lost loot and myths and legends. It seems John Huston got a lot of mileage from an old Dashiell Hammett mystery story. The Trilogy: MF, TS, TSM. Interesting.
I don't completely understand the nature of that kind of contest, but wasn't there some dialogue that indicated that all three people needed to be present to cash it in?
shareWatching the scene now, and I agree with you. The terms of the ticket would connect them forever. But the end scene did make you think that he chose a happy life versus money.
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