MovieChat Forums > ...tick... tick... tick... (1970) Discussion > So why did Price run for Sheriff?

So why did Price run for Sheriff?



Little seemed to be a competent and fair sheriff who would treat everyone equally. If he was crooked then Price shouldn’t have allowed him to be deputy.


The entire story hinges on there being a reason for “change” but I see no reason to go to all the trouble of bringing in organizers to put Little out of office only to hire him as a deputy.


Actually the only reason he would have had to run for sheriff would be to show whitey who is boss.


Again if Little treated black people unfairly he shouldn’t have been allowed to be a deputy with close to the same authority.

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I saw this movie when it first came out at a wide screen cinema. It was shortly after MLK and a lot of things were being open to black people if they dared to ask for it.

Sheriff Price had interviewed a black man for deputy and the man said it was time for us to take over. Of course Price turned him down for the job. Later on a black girl came into the office said she was raped and it was the person who applied as sheriff. When he went looking for him some black people said now you are arresting black people. His answer is I do when they rape black sisters.

Little wrestled with wanting to be a law man but lost the election. Finally he knew law was in his blood so he asked to become deputy.

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Don't forget that it was his DEPUTIES who were shown to be the worst part of Little's "regime". I'd have to watch it again, but maybe what the makers of the film wanted to show was that for fairness to come about, there needed to at least be ONE black person involved in law enforcement in the town. Checks and balances?

Although Little didn't appear to care much for the antics of either of his deputies, I got the impression that, as things had stood before Price was elected, his hands were kinda tied. Good OL' boy network, "important" family ties, that kinda thing.

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Price ran because the election had come up and the Blacks just got the vote. They wanted to show that they had influence. No, Little, was not a bad Sherriff but he did capitulate to what the Mayor and town folk in general wanted, and he was prejudice and racist, that changed during the run of the movie. Mostly it was to show that their vote mattered and to prove to Colusa as a whole that they were a force and that they could influence any vote that happened so the white population now had to deal with them as equals.

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