So much average

Purely Joyful Movie!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

No idea what the title of this film means. The film is based on a true story about the killing of a priest. The police needed to get a conviction for political motivations and a culprit was identified - an ex-army wanderer Arthur Kennedy (Waldron). However, did he actually commit the crime? Dana Andrews (Harvey) is the prosecutor tasked with convicting him.There are a lot of characters singing from the same page in going for a conviction and handing out the death penalty to Kennedy. The film actually starts quite slowly and we keep getting a narrator unnecessarily blabbing on and on. Things pick up with the appearance of Kennedy and it helps that the film is relating a true incident. It all ends in the courtroom scene which will keep you watching as Andrews maintains the tension with his unorthodox approach. The film satisfies in that it also provides an update at the very end as to how things pan out for a couple of characters.It's an ok film with a good cast - detective Karl Malden (White) isn't even credited. He's there along with police chief Lee J. Cobb (Robinson) and director Elia Kazan, all of whom would reunite for the classic "On the Waterfront" (1954) with Marlon Brando.

As dusk settles on a small Connecticut city someone approaches a well-liked priest who is out for a walk and shoots him in the head.The act of violence occurs as the city is under the leadership of a reform city government which comes under fire from the local press for ineptitude for not arresting someone right away. When they do, of course it's the wrong guy, a World War 2 veteran of the Pacific campaign, sort of a drifter looking for a new start. Dana Andrews plays the prosecutor who resists a strong current of opinion that this guy must be convicted in order to project the right image whether or not he's actually guilty. His wife is played by Jane Wyatt in a pretty good role, but the actual stars of this well-done courtroom drama are the ones who play the eye-witnesses and Andrews himself, who is stellar, as usual. The actors and script by Richard Murphy mesh well together, each side brings out the best in the other, thanks most likely to Elia Kazan the director. For a ninety minute film it contains quite a bit of well-drawn out angles.

A Closeup on one of the witnesses coke bottle glasses. Another closeup on the feeble old obviously insane bum as one of the culprits in the ridiculously eclectic police lineup. The expressions of the shunned waitress that screams "I'm lying and just seeking revenge." Scenes where townsfolk speak to each other which sound like a much too perfectly timed rehearsal. The politicians having a meeting while an idyllic putting green of a golf course sleeps in the background. Ed Begley pulling a gun, and thus making leading man Dana Andrews's role that much less mysterious and engrossing. Sam Levene, as usual, playing the perfectly wise "progressive" working man, who knows more than anyone with a wink, almost directed right at the audience. And a narrator that pours on the grim irony behind a pseudo-documentary template. Boomerang is extremely disappointing, especially since it's a movie starring Cult Film Freak Cinema's favorite actor, Dana Andrews, and directed by one of my favorite directors, Elia Kazan, who hadn't yet met Marlon Brando i.e hit his stride, and became more subtle, and implied.Idealistic is an understatement for this contrived Film Noir that's hardly a Film Noir. And that's the word to center on... The one connected to Under... Which is, Statement. This movie is not only making one, it's screaming like a wounded and abused banshee. This is why Dana's usual director, Otto Preminger, hit it outta the ballpark with his masterpiece Anatomy of a Murder, by having all the characters ambiguous, and, unlike Boomerang, remaining realistic without having heroes and villains. Such characters should never be anywhere near a Courtroom Drama.Anyhow: Dana Andrews did a good job and stayed tried and true despite starring in a movie that not only made up its mind from the start, but takes sides, one side... One-Sided, and beyond!

This is a very powerful film. Dana Andrews is at his best here, and I always thought it sad that despite some very good movie roles that he never made it to the upper echelon of acting. Perhaps that was due to his alcoholism.As is made evident in the film, it is based on a true story from 1924 Connecticut, when a priest, walking along a street at night, is shot in the head. A vagrant and discharged soldier with emotional problems in indicted for the murder, but only after the case lags and the local government is skewered by the press and the citizenry. So once a suspect is found and arrested, there is a rush to judgment. However, the local district attorney -- and later Attorney General of the U.S. under FDR -- doesn't believe the man in guilty. Through an interesting courtroom segment, the man is found not guilty.Elia Kazan does a bang-up job directing here, but, unfortunately, with the film being shot on location (although in a different community from where the events actually took place), production values are not high. It's interesting to see the lovely Jane Wyatt, although her part is of passing interest (as Andrews wife). Lee J. Cobb (as a detective) and Arthur Kennedy (as the suspect) are never favorites of mine, but both turn in very good performances here, as due Karl Malden (another police officer) and Ed Begley (as a shady local politician).If I were into crime dramas more, this would probably find a place on my DVD shelf, but I'll settle for occasionally watching it on TCM. And, make no mistake, this one is definitely worth watching.