Mary (Eleanor Parker) should have run off with Tammy (Gerald Mohr). He was a much nicer guy and more handsome. He cared more about her than the doofus she was married to. Sanctimonious AH was her husband (Douglas). People make mistakes in life. He was not the kind of man that would forgive.
shareYou seem to choose to ignore the reasons she didn't stay with Tammy. Tammy was not only a criminal when she had her first affair with him, but was and still is married.
Tammy himself said he could not divorce his wife. His solution was to run away with Mary and have the baby instead of trying to resolve things. Even if they had run off together, she'd never have the security of a marriage with Tammy and he likely would have tired of her after a while and gone back to his wife. Tammy may not have come off as bad as her husband, but he definitely wasn't much better!
You'd also notice that although he seemed interested in her to some extent, he didn't really try to involve himself.
And although her husband was the way he was, she did love him and for a long time they got along perfectly. He thought she was pristine and he admired her because of that assumption. His attitude towards her began to change after he discovered her history. He probably felt betrayed by her to some extent because he had set her on a pedastal for so long. I'm not saying it's good reasoning, but that's the way he seemed to feel going by his reactions. Despite being a police officer, or perhaps in part because of, he sees the world in a severe black and white. It's not until the end that he realizes he was wrong.
Mistake or not, You dont cheat on someone that you love, period! I can relate to this movie very much..
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While Mary may have been a flawed person (who isn't?). the point of the story was that her husband was flawed even more. Here was a man who knew only how to judge and condemn, not to forgive. His wife gave him more to think upon than a hundred police proceedure manuals.
sharei agree with you slinter.The whole point of the story is that the character Douglas plays has the world divided into good people and bad people.Of course there is no such thing ,there's good and bad in everyone and he learns it the hard way.Great movie.
shareSkylinexBleedsxRed says > Mistake or not, You dont cheat on someone that you love, period! I can relate to this movie very much..I agree but which character are you referring to? The only person who cheated on anyone was Tami but no one claimed he was in love with his wife. I'm not defending him but he was in the movie all of about five minutes.