MovieChat Forums > The Killer Is Loose (1956) Discussion > No way!

No way!

posted 15 years ago by corriganville
13 replies | jump to latest

I really enjoyed this movie. The cast was fine from top to bottom (It was nice to see Michael Pate get to play a good guy for a change.). There were some nice 50's LA locations on display. I felt there was a lot of tension throughout the movie. But there was something that struck me towards the beginning that I thought was absurd (something that allowed "the bad guy" to recognize "the good guy's" wife at the end).

At the conclusion of Wendell Corey's trial, who's sitting in the front row? Detectives Cotten and Pate WITH THEIR WIVES! What cop would ever drag their wife to a trial, let alone one in which they were called to testify? Ridiculous! Not to mention that witnesses do not sit in the courtroom but are called in when needed to testify (at least that's how it is now).

Still well worth watching!

[–] devastation_x 15 years ago

Yeah that seemed strange to me right from the start.

[–] calif562 15 years ago

Good movie, but one you could pick apart in our modern era. I thought the Detective shooting through the door and killing Poole's wife was lame. Imagine a cop doing that today. He's be charged with murder. And after the cops bust in, Poole is just waking around the room with no face to the floor and handcuffed.

Communications was primitive compared to today's. It's always interesting to watch old cop shows to see how far we've advanced.

[–] LCShackley 15 years ago

That's the part that got me. They dive into a dark room and pump several bullets into the first thing that moves. But that's pretty typical of pre-1960 movies. Cops have guns out, firing willy-nilly, often in situations where civilians could be hurt.

[–] JohnnyStaccato 15 years ago

I don't know how primitive forensics was back then, let alone ballistics, but I imagine cops as authority figures were given the "benefit of the doubt" in "accidental" murders.
_____
Suddenly, thud! My mind tottered like a jinkyboard in a windstorm...

[–] HillieBoliday 15 years ago

PUH - LEEZE! You have cops TODAY, with their guns out, firing willy-nilly,
with civilians getting hurt....and they don't get charged with murder!

Things haven't changed THAT MUCH!!!!!

"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

Well, they'd been shot at and had the intel showing that Poole was in there alone, so it's understandable they didn't take any chances once they got into the room. A mistake, but an understandable one.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] pdmh48 15 years ago

I enjoyed this movie, but I agree with you about the three wives in the courtroom and the cops shooting through the door. Joseph Cotten's doesn't even say he is sorry, just silences the cop who says that they didn't have to shoot through the door with a look.
The character of Lila should have been less demanding and more cooperative, too.

[–] marbleann 12 years ago

I just saw this movie. Cotten kept on saying they said she wasn't there. The ad was crazy. He shouldn't have stolen from the bank. Plus different jurisdiction the court set up is very different. I a sure the wives were there for support. Who knew that the defendant was a stark raving mad maniac out to avenge his wife's death. I am sure if they knew he was nutty they would of sent the cops family out of town an at the least told them to stay away from the courtroom.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] LudwA 10 years ago

ok maybe the cop in a Freudian way wanted his wife to get killed? :P

(the two main characters both seemed to be married 'out of their league')

[–] jonkennedy 9 years ago

Few things - what were two cops doing standing right in front of the door of a suspect they knew was probably armed in the first place? Sam does tell Foggy he was sorry. They didn't think Foggy's wife was there due to information they got from the building manager's wife - that she had gone out earlier and I guess wasn't noticed returning.

I also enjoyed the film. Maybe it was "Take Your Wife to Work Day"? 😜

Another odd procedural thing was the cops interviewing the bank hold-up witnesses together. Usually witnesses are interviewed separately so they don't "cross pollenate" each other's stories of what happened.

[–] monsieurzy 9 years ago

Great performance by Wendell Corey, but man, Joseph Cotton's character should be run outta town...(Spoiler) thanks to him, several innocent folks were killed (either directly or indirectly), his pregnant wife was put into serious danger, and then he turns his neighbourhood into a shooting gallery at the climax..you can bet all those neighbours gathering on his front lawn were probably telling him to pack his bags and leave

[–] movies789 9 years ago

"...witnesses do not sit in the courtroom but are called in when needed to testify..."

That's true generally, though not always. One lawyer or the other generally asks the judge to "invoke the rule" (to exclude witnesses from the courtroom), which the judge then does (with the exception of the primary investigator in the case). But, very rarely, witnesses can remain.