Boomerang! (1947)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Richard Murphy (screenplay)
Fulton Oursler (article)

Release Date:

28 April 1947 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

It comes back at you again and again!

Plot:

The true story of a prosecutor's fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a notorious murder.

Plot Keywords:

Attorney | Prosecutor | Priest | Murder | District Attorney

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	State's Atty. Henry L. Harvey
Jane Wyatt	...	Madge Harvey
Lee J. Cobb	...	Chief Harold F. 'Robbie' Robinson
Cara Williams	...	Irene Nelson - Waitress at Coney Island Cafe
Arthur Kennedy	...	John Waldron
Sam Levene	...	Dave Woods - 'Morning Record' Reporter
Taylor Holmes	...	T.M. Wade
Robert Keith	...	Mac McCreery
Ed Begley	...	Paul Harris
Philip Coolidge	...	Jim Crossman

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Finland:S | USA:Approved (11999, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Connecticut, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

First film of Barry Kelley

Quotes:

Harry O'Shea: It's been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Wade.
T. M. Wade: I know.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995)

Soundtrack:

America, the Beautiful

though true, it almost seems like a fable

Very good drama, employing documentary elements, about attorney Homer Cummings' pursuit of justice on behalf of a man wrongly accused of the murder of an episcopalian minister. Cummings went on to become Attorney General of the U.S.

Given the sloppy cases put on by prosecutors today with the only goal in mind being a win, given the intense political influences often in play in bringing cases to trial, Boomerang comes off like a fable about the way justice should work. Harvey, the prosecutor in this case (actually Cummings) refuses to bend to political pressure and rely on sloppy police work to win an indictment in the case of the accused man, beautifully portrayed by Arthur Kennedy.

The interrogation techniques shown in this film were pre-Miranda, but I believe interrogations like this still exist.

Elia Kazan did his usual great job of directing this stark drama and the cast is uniformly excellent: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Kennedy, Ed Begley, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Sam Levene.

Toward the end of the film, Dana Andrews opens a book and reads a quote stating in part that the role of the prosecutor is to see that justice is done. In my experience and observation, it appears that most prosecutors have never read this statement. Maybe that's why Homer Cummings became U.S. attorney general and they haven't.