Boomerang
Tags: flashback

Plot synopsis:
Father Lambert (Wyrley Birch), a priest, is shot dead on a Bridgeport, Connecticut street at night. The police, led by Chief Robinson (Lee J. Cobb), fail to immediately find the murderer. It soon becomes a political hot potato, with the police accused of incompetence, and the city's reform-minded administration comes under attack. Robinson and the prosecutor Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) come under severe pressure by political leaders to find the killer or bring in outside help.
After strenuous efforts yield nothing, a vagrant ex-serviceman, John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), is apprehended and identified in a lineup. He is interrogated for two days by police until, deprived of sleep, he confesses. The evidence seems solid, and a gun in his possession is believed to be the gun that was used in the shooting.
Harvey, however, is not convinced. He questions Waldron, investigates the evidence and the witnesses. Harvey then risks his reputation and incurs the wrath of the police and the public in proposing that the defendant is innocent, while he and his wife (Jane Wyatt) are also being threatened by a businessman named Harris (Ed Begley). In court, even though he is the prosecutor, Harvey lays out the flaws in the case before the judge, and indicates he intends to dismiss the charges. The judge suspects Harvey's motives; Harvey's relationship with Chief Robinson is strained; and a mob unsuccessfully attempts to impose their own justice on Waldron.
A sub-plot involving Paul Harris and a property under consideration for sale to the city—at a price Harris desperately needs to keep himself afloat—also has a prominent place in the film. Harris tries to blackmail Harvey by threatening to destroy his wife, a City Council member, unless he supports the sale and sits idle, allowing Waldron to be convicted.
At a preliminary hearing, Harvey once again presents evidence that would lead to Waldron's exoneration. When a reporter gets wind of the double-dealing and threatens Harris with exposure, Harris commits suicide in the courtroom.
The film ends with a narration that the murder was never solved, and the real Henry Harvey was Homer Cummings who rose to the position of U.S. Attorney General.

Review: Maybe the problem is the story.
It starts off very effectively; a car containing two people who are bickering loudly goes off the road, and both are injured.
The reasons for the argument are brought out during the film.
I had no concerns about the acting since Laurent Lafitte, Melanie Laurent and Audrey Dana handle their roles very well.
Especially Melanie Laurent who can make the most banal, trite story seem like a masterpiece.My problem was with the story which seemed old-fashioned: one character is positively Victorian in her moral judgements while another seems badly out of tune with the France of 2016.
If you're going to make a film that feels like a Simenon tale, it's better to set it in the 1950's, let's say, so that characters and actions can mesh better.
With this reservation noted, I want to finish by saying that this film is well worth your attention.
I gave it 8/10..
The black sheep of the family.
How the the black sheep of the family, is revealing the family secrets and becomes a survivor.
All encourages by his psychologist..
The problem is not the story, but the telling of it.
Every once in a while, you see a drama that is so well-intentioned, but so...'normal' (for lack of a better word) that you're left unable to decide whether it was bad or good.
Boomerang is one of those films.The story mainly revolves around Antoine's unhealthy obsession with what he perceives to be a mystery regarding the death of his mother.
Whenever he asks about it, he's given the silent treatment.
His sister, Agathe, has her own daily life problems and quickly gets sick of Antoine always hammering on about little details that just don't add up.
Nevertheless, as Antoine keeps digging, he finds answers and more questions.
This results in a film about the long-term harm family secrets can cause.The basic problem with Boomerang (besides the painfully symbolic title) is that it's really hard to care about these characters, particularly the main character.
Antoine is immediately suspicious about the perceived silence on his mother's death.
We don't get to see him slowly become suspicious, so we can share his anxieties.
The result is that, instead of rooting for Antoine, we tend to agree with Agathe and others who want him to stop whining.
I mean, get this: early in the film, Antoine crashes his car, out of anger or some subconscious desire to re-enact the death of his mother (which also involved a car), causing Agathe to be hospitalized.
The next day, Antoine's whining to someone about how he doesn't understand Agathe's reticence to talk about their mother's death and his suspicions!
This is our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen.
The only character I liked was the biker chick who's tragic past shared some similarities with Antoine's, so it was nice to see these two troubled souls getting together.But yeah, every problem Boomerang has can be traced back to its dreadful first act.
Here, the film should have made us root for Antoine, but it doesn't, which causes us to lose interest in the mystery.
A mystery by the way, that doesn't turn out to be as interesting as I hoped.
It's predictable in that, you already know it couldn't have been a murder due to the film's overall feel, so there's only one other option: social scandal.
The film is obviously well-intentioned and its themes of transgenerational family secrets and the grief enforced silences can cause come through loud and clear, but the film doesn't render these themes in an emotionally fulfilling fashion..
Great movie on the victory of the internal win.
A must see move that showcases the internal struggles and transformation through action and a moving storyline.
The movie revolves around the main character seeking the truth of his past.
During his journey, he is ignored and ridiculed by his family, but continues no matter what the sacrifice.
And in the end he finds himself.
What I liked so much about this movie was the slow transformation of the characters in the film.
Every time a layer of the onion is peeled i.e. getting closer to the core truth, the characters slightly change with each step.
It was a delight to be a part of the journey of transformation.
This movie is truly a gem that showcases in an authentic way the various shades of humankind from the courageous to the cowardice and everything in between.
And how each impacts the lives of the other..
Usual French drivel.
For thirty years a man is not bothered with his mom's death, and suddenly he gets obsessed with what happened to her.
He's rude, audacious and has no respect to any of his family members.
Even at the funeral of his grandmother he creates a scandal and insults his father.
Why did he need 30 years for coming to this?
The story is just unbelievable.
And it's boring as much as a French psychological drivel can be.