MovieChat Forums > Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Discussion > Any signigicance to the high heeled shoe...

Any signigicance to the high heeled shoe in the garbage can? *Spoiler*


My mom and I were glued to the DVD, anxiously looking at the 2 hr, 35 minute mark come and go. A LONG MOVIE! We just *knew* there'd be a big payoff.

Not so. A note. Trash in the trash can, including that strappy heel? What the heck does that mean? Why was she crying? Why one shoe in the trash? And the girdle (according to a poster here)? Quite the letdown, but after reading a lot of the posts I guess a rather sophisticated movie given the times.

thanks

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I also would like to know anybody's opinion on the high-heeled shoe in the trash at the end. Maybe I can revive this thread.

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The park manager said she was crying when they left. The only thing I came up with was that her black eye came from her husband, and she was now facing more time with a man who frequently flew into jealous rages, without even the new friends she'd made in that town.

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First of all, sorry for the late reply, but I just watched the movie yesterday.
I think the broken heel might signify that Laura won't be wearing anymore shoes like that again.
Also I think she would be crying because she would realise that her husband would be more jealous than ever and she would know that she would be locked into that relationship.

Strange movie for these times, but in the 50's, life (and movies) were very different. Especially American movies, so I understand. Movies made in Europe were different.

Rape or forced sexual intercourse is unacceptable at any time, but is extremely difficult to prove without obvious evidence. And there was atendency back then, to excue the rapist and to blame the victim.

But I disagree with the thought that the husband 'got away with it'. He was tried and found not guilty. Mainly because of the fact that the victim took the underwear and considering the state they were found in, torn etc, well I think that would be too hard to explain away.

Another interesting thing to come out much later, but much beside this point,I know, is that George C Scott had a reputaton for beating women. I t is reported that he beat Ava Gardner so bad, he nearly killed her. And got away with it!

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But I disagree with the thought that the husband 'got away with it'. He was tried and found not guilty. Mainly because of the fact that the victim took the underwear and considering the state they were found in, torn etc, well I think that would be too hard to explain away.
Whether or not Laura was raped isn't the point. What the husband "got away" with is murder. As explained in the movie several times, rape of your wife isn't justification for killing a man, unless you catch him in the act, and even then it's questionable. Lt. Manion murdered Barney Quill and got off scot-free. The whole "irresistible impulse" thing was a sham.

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Thanks for your comments. Am not too sure we even have "irrisitible impulse" as a defence here. We certainly have what is termed 'provocation' and believing that your wife had been raped is that.

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As far as the "irresistible impulse" defense being a sham...well, a psychiatrist determined Manion suffered from it, his description of a person experiencing dissociative reaction aligned neatly with a witness's description of Manion's behavior on the fatal night, and a precedent allows for it as a defense against a charge of murder. So I think the worst we can accuse it of being is extremely convenient.

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the high heel means what you interpret it to mean.. that's kind of the point of the movie. the scene right before the verdict pretty much sums up the theme of this movie, that law is an abstract, an idea interpreted by various people with various backgrounds.

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[deleted]

Or someone got cracked in the head with it?

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The catetaker said Mrs. Manion was crying when they left...

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It’s implied that the the Ltd. was really guilty, as evinced by the letter in which he says he left “out of irresistible response (just like the murder).” That comment meant that he wasn’t insane at the time he killed Barney; he really murdered the guy and got away.

Now — remembering that he is guilty, you should assume that he is a bad guy. So his wife was crying because they likely had a fight or he revealed that he did kill Barney. The heel in the trash was just meant to show that they left in chaos, likely during a fight

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