Questions

Hi everyone,

I have wanted to see this film for a long time, and finally saw it on TCM last night. I absolutely LOVED it...being a fan of thrillers/suspense movies and big-time fan of both Peck and Mitchum.

With that being said, and also with an apology if this has been addressed elsewhere, I have some questions:

1. Why do the characters never use the word "rape?" Was this considered too extreme for 1962 audiences?

2. When the police haul Cady into the station, the first time, and he only has $7 in his wallet...it's heavily implied that since this is such small sum, they (the law) can charge him with vagrancy. Is this actually true? What if Cady, having just been released from prison, was planning on finding work? It just seemed strange to me that he could have been charged for not having enough money....(and if this is true, who determines how much is "enough" money to not be arrested.)

3. When the private detective (Telly Savalas) calls the police station after trailing Cady to the hotel room where he is holed up with Diane Taylor, he says " you can pick him and charge him with 'lewd vagrancy'"...what in the world is "lewd vagrancy?"

By the time police get there, Cady is long gone, but IF he had still been there, on what grounds could the cops have gone into the room without a warrant? Not that I'm sticking up for Max Cady, but surely, even in 1962, a person was allowed to rent a hotel room without fear the police will break down the door and charge them...no?

4. I was disappointed by the scene with Nancy in the empty school...the audience is supposed to believe it's Cady chasing her, right? It's SO obvious that the man walking from room to room ISN'T Robert Mitchum...he's thick in the middle, with a big gut, and we've already seen Cady's trim physique when he strips down to his shorts in the police station.

5. Finally (well, for now) I got confused in the last scene. Sam is hiding near the houseboat, and then comes OUT of hiding to tell Nancy to call for help. Where is Nancy? Is she on the houseboat, off the houseboat, where?

Thanks guys!