Anti-Semitism Is Too Over The Top Here

It was a different time when Ryan's character lived. Nowadays racism is kept more inside and isn't as overt. Back in those day's there were more racists like Robert Ryan's character who couldn't keep it in and were violate with hate against jews or blacks.

"A real anti-semite could watch Ryan's frightening performance and say "well I'm not like that, and I don't know anyone who is. I've got nothing against jews; I've got jewish friends. I just wish they'd become Americans." "

What about all the violently anti-semitic people? I think they would side more with Robert Ryan's character than people who claim that they have Jewish friends.

The sad truth of the matter is that Robert Ryan's character is like a lot of real bigots.

Agreed, the film should have been about homophobia (in a way it was, it was about all bigotry, but the code stopped any discussion of gays) but the violent hatred of Montgomery is not out of place for anti-semitism; he have NAZIs, Neo-NAZIs, Tsarists ect. as proof of that.

"Namu-myoho-renge-kyo"

"...his out of control rage would've been more understandable if his victim had been gay rather than jewish"

Apparently in the original novel it was a homophobic murder, changed to anti-Semitic for the film.
I find the film much more interesting and understandable with this subtext in mind.

I don´t think Ryan´s character´s overtness in his anti-semitism was unrealistic, but the way he started to rant about "you know, people like that... some of them are called Samuels" during the first interrogation in the beginning, was a bit too dumb of him to believe. The way he drunkenly acted in the flashback sequence before the murder was brilliant though with the roundabout verbal abuse (the movie´s dialogue´s outstandingly written in general).



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

Not really, many low class people have antisemitism spouting out of their ears. It is just not acceptable in most places to hate Jews anymore.

The idea that the anti-Semitism is over the top is your opinion, but not a very logical one.

Anti-Semitism is as they say the oldest hatred, and one that sadly continues unabated today. You cannot take 2000 years of Christian teachings blaming Jews for every ill on the earth and expect a scant 40 or 50 years of more rational instruction to expunge the past.

In this film Montgomery did not hide his anti-Semitism, because he felt it was a universal opinion, and nothing that would make him a suspect in this murder.

The only thing I felt to be over the top was having Robert Young, especially after the speech he gives about hatred, gun down Montgomery in the street. Especially so to the eyes of modern viewers.

The idea that the anti-Semitism is over the top is your opinion, but not a very logical one.

Anti-Semitism is as they say the oldest hatred, and one that sadly continues unabated today. You cannot take 2000 years of Christian teachings blaming Jews for every ill on the earth and expect a scant 40 or 50 years of more rational instruction to expunge the past.

In this film Montgomery did not hide his anti-Semitism, because he felt it was a universal opinion, and nothing that would make him a suspect in this murder.

The only thing I felt to be over the top was having Robert Young, especially after the speech he gives about hatred, gun down Montgomery in the street. Especially so to the eyes of modern viewers.

As a kid, I remember hearing that Jewish men didn't make good soldiers and that there was some serious anger among ranks in the military, particularly WWII military, that Jews didn't do their fair share during WWII.
Its not hard to deduce from this that non Jewish soldiers were angry about having 'saved the German Jews' while the American Jew avoided military service leaving it up to Christian soldiers to save their butts.
I do not remember where I heard/'learned' this but I do recall that whomever I heard this from (likely from more than one person) that I never questioned it. I had no reason not to believe that this wasn't true until I went off to college and learned how the Israeli military kicked a**.
The first time I saw this movie I assumed this was why the movie was about soldiers and a civilian Jewish man.