MovieChat Forums > I Walk Alone (1948) Discussion > questions

questions

posted 13 years ago by lazur-2
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1/How old are the lead characters supposed to be? The actors,Lancaster & Douglas, would be 20 & 18 when Frankie's prison term began, not old enough to be a real force in the organized crime-dominated crime of bootlegging. 2/Why bootleg beer? Successful bootlegging required concentrated, compact goods like whiskey. 3/What called for Frankie's 14-year sentence? 3/A successful businessman like Dink could put a word in with the authorities a get Frankie's sentence convert3ed to work-release. that no such effort was made is a very real reason for Frankie to be angry, yet this is never brought up.

[–] bransonch-1 13 years ago

(1) do a few years here or there really matter in the story? no. (2)somebody had to bootleg beer...maybe some younger, less-experienced bootleggers like the ones you said might have been 18 and 20 years old. (3) Dink calls Frankie his 'murderer' friend, though it is not mentioned as I recall, who was murdered. That, plus bootlegging, evading arrest, etc. was enough to get him 14 years (seems murder might have gotten him a lot more?). (4) Dink mentions early in the film that if he had been known to associate with a murderer like Frankie it would have hurt his image and his club business. Surely putting in a good word would have had the same effect. And yes, Frankie is very sore about not even one visit or letter from Dink.

[–] corriganville 13 years ago

During the flashback, one of them shoots the driver of the car chasing them. Based on where the bullet went thru the windshield, I assumed the driver was killed and that's where the murder charge came in.