MovieChat Forums > Criss Cross (1949) Discussion > Questions on the Ending (SPOILER WARNIN...

Questions on the Ending (SPOILER WARNING)

posted 17 years ago by wtl471629
17 replies | jump to latest

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and I thought it was great but there are a few things at the end I don't understand. One is how did Dan Duryea know where Burt and Yvonne are when he goes and kills them? Another is after he shoots them Dan hears police sirenes in the air and you know they are coming and with the look he gives you know he is going to shoot it out with them and get killed. How did the police know he and the others were there?

[–] knivsvrt 17 years ago

The guy who drove Burt to the hide out went back to get Dureya, just like Anna said he would. About the police - I don't know, but by the time this movie was made there was sort of an unspoken rule of not letting the bad guy get away with it, as to get a message through that crime doesn't pay.
Or perhaps they where staking Dureya out hoping that he'd lead them to the money or something..

[–] wtl471629 17 years ago

Thank you isso and that is logical that Duryea was stalked since Burt's former police friend Steven McNally would suspect Duryea's involvement somehow. It was pretty obvious the police were almost there and Duryea was going to fight it out with them so his death or at least capture is fairly certain.

[–] ksf-2 17 years ago

yup, Hays production code (approx 1935 - 1965) insisted that no bad deed go unpunished. see wikipedia for specific rules. might be interesting to tally up how many endings were changed to meet the code during that time. it appears that the code wasnt too strictly enforced during the first few years, but quickly went mad with power....

[–] wtl471629 17 years ago

Hey ksf read my question on the 1958 western The Law and Jake Wade with Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark. Sometimes they show that movie on the Encore Western Channel among others. Seems the code may have been laxed on this movie.

[–] topaz-27 17 years ago

Nelson took the 10 thousand and double-crossed Anna and Steve by tipping Dundee off to where they were. It was a story of double-crosses and criss-crosses after all.

The police must have Dundee under surveillence because Lt. Ramierez had sorted out that he had done the robbery, or they simply spotted him on his way to the cottage. Either way, they followed him there, and he looked like he intended to go down shooting it out with them.

[–] wtl471629 17 years ago

It could be but Nelson would have got away with the ten thousand and the Hollywood code would have been violated had Nelson got away with it.

[–] topaz-27 17 years ago

I think Nelson returned to Dundee's hideout and told him about where Steve and Anna were. Dundee then dispensed with Nelson's services by shooting him.

[–] Local Hero 16 years ago

Yes, as others have said, Nelson drove back to Dundee to tell him where they were, just as she predicted they would. But Steve also predicted something correctly, he tells her what his brother, the police lieutenant, had told him: that the police had Dundee under surveillance and were waiting for Dundee to make the slightest move to pounce on him.

[–] wtl471629 16 years ago

I'm sure Dundee either killed Nelson or Nelson was seen and would have been taken into custody. Hollywood was strict that no one got away with crime in those days.

[–] wtl471629 16 years ago

Man nearly everyone is this movie was dishonest and was double crossing everyone!

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 14 years ago

LOL wtl. When it isn't shown we don't know. If they followed the Hays code correctly we would see him go down. People often gave smaller bad guys a slip "because they felt like it".

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] ryancm 14 years ago

Timing is all off to make sense. In just three minutes Nelson got to Dundee and back again? No way Jose. Too many unanswred questions at the end to make this believable. Also, at the Hospital, how did Nelson pretend to be the husband a woman hurt in a crash. Wouldn't the nurse have known?????

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 14 years ago

First of all Dundee said that he followed Nelson.

Second the police was waiting for Dundee to do anything wrong. Apparantly they were staking him out. Steves police friend tell him this in the hospital.

Third. Why would the nurse know. It's not like she would check the file if it was true. He could just sit outside the room of some unconcious woman and say he was her husband.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 14 years ago

Duryea said he was following the driver because he was smart enough to know that Lancaster would bribe him.

As for the police I don't have a clue. Perhaps someone called in the shootings or perhaps the policeman knew about the cabin.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] copper1963 14 years ago

He just murdered the woman that was his wife and whom he loved. The sirens are all in his mind. The headlights are from Nelson's car returning to pick him up. It was all part of the plan.

[–] toshguy 13 years ago

That's my interpretation too, copper. The sirens had an eerie accustic that made them sound more like they were in his head and Dureya's brilliant acting with his face showed his character's anguish and that he's on the verge of breaking down and sobbing like an old lady. No matter how you interpret it, the ending was more poignant and memorable than if we'd seen the cops pointing their guns at him and saying "The gig's up, buster!" A very wise decision on Siodmak's side.

I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die

[–] irishtom99 9 years ago

earlier dialog mentioned he was being tailed,so that would explain the sirens,but the time frame between the thug leaving and dureya showing up was only about 5 minutes..even if he got a phone and called him almost right away,the quickness with which he got there seemed unrealistic..
and by the by,for a an armored car heist that big,the police WOULD have put at least a tight watch on Lancaster,if not a guard..anyway-loved this movie..