MovieChat Forums > Boomerang! (1947) Discussion > Did I Miss Something (SPOILER)?

Did I Miss Something (SPOILER)?

posted 16 years ago by kapnkirk
5 replies | jump to latest

Did they ever explain why the priest was killed? I know they were framing Arthur Kennedy but did they ever explain his death?

When you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.
Adaptation

[–] Bflogal11 16 years ago

No, because in reality, the murder was never solved. Hollywood threw in the creepy psycho guy to give people something to chew on, to assume he did it because the priest was going to turn him in for whatever it was he confessed to the priest in the beginning of the movie, but the movie never states he was the killer.

Push the button, Max!

[–] timothyhodge 15 years ago

The priest knew about the land deal. (Or Harris was afraid that he would soon find out). And Harris knew he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

I assumed that the accident that was reported in the paper at the end was the real killer. It was the guy that rushed out of the courtroom. When the cops tried to stop him for speeding, he tried to get away, lost control of the car and crashed. Justice served (but nobody ever knew). I figured that Harris had hired him to pull the trigger.

[–] Jason_Radley 13 years ago

There's no reason to think that Harris had anything to do with the priest's murder, or that the priest knew anything of the land deal. He shot himself because he realised that the case had collapsed, the current administration would lose the next election and the land deal wouldn't go through and he'd be ruined. Frankly, it was a bit too melodramatic and offkey in the context of the movie.

[–] bgillen 12 years ago

Agreed - there's no connection between Harris and the priest's death.
The movie shows the priest telling the weirdo that unless he checks himself into a 'sanitarium' he will report him for some unnamed but terrible thing. This gives the audience reason - along with the weirdo's other odd behavior - to suspect that he killed the priest. This is never conclusively shown to be true, but gives those of us who dislike open endings something to hang onto to.

[–] CaperGuy 9 years ago

I agree that Harris's personal financial problems and the land deal are subtexts and that they are unrelated to the murder of the priest. The priest's murder does not appear to be a random act and he was probably targeted by someone who felt threatened by the priest's knowledge of some wrongdoing.

Since confessional records are not kept, it would be virtually impossible to investigate the murder without the cooperation of eyewitnesses.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. - Proverbs 23:7