Boomerang!
Tags: murder, 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: But Boomerang is the story of how the man who eventually became United States Attorney General, Homer Cummings, used his prosecutorial office to prove the INNOCENCE of an arrested murder suspect.
Today poor Arthur Kennedy who plays the veteran accused of murdering a priest in cold blood might have lawyered up and never given the confession in the first place.Under a different name Cummings is played by Dana Andrews with Jane Wyatt as his wife.
'Boomerang!' is one of those thrillers based on real events, presenting a corrupt view of small town America, where politicians seek votes over justice, and might doesn't always equal right.With a cast including Dana Andrews, Lee J Cobb, and Arthur Kennedy, the story unfolds when the local priest is shot dead in the street and a wandering hobo is arrested and then grilled for hours until he confesses.
Kazan gives us the story of a Connetticut district attorney bumping the legal establishment in Hartford by NOT railroading a suspect who he knows to be innocent despite exhausting pressures to prosecute from local elected officials, businessmen, police, etc...
Andrews acting range is not too wide but he delivers here and is more than ably assisted by men(and women) like Ed Begley as a businessman gone bad, Jane Wyatt as his lovely wife(Andrews's wife that is),Arthur Kennedy as the suspect with seemingly little to say, and a couple of Kazan would-be regulars - Lee J.
Elia Kazan's 1947 docudrama Boomerang dramatizes the courage and independence of a Connecticut States Attorney who stood up to political pressure and fought for dismissal of charges against a defendant accused of murder because he wasn't convinced of his guilt.
Using an unseen narrator to provide background information, the film achieves a hard-hitting realism, conveying the feeling that you are watching events as they unfold.Produced by Louis de Rochemont, well known for films dramatizing real events such as "House on 92nd Street" and "13 Rue Madeline", performances are uniformly excellent, particularly those of Dana Andrews as Henry Harvey, the idealistic States Attorney, Lee J.
Cobb as Police Chief Robbie Robinson, Arthur Kennedy as John Waldron, the ex-GI murder suspect, and Ed Begley as the corrupt Commissioner Paul Harris.
The film stays fairly close to actual events with the exception that the States Attorney is shown as an unknown lawyer looking to make a name for himself not the nationally known former Mayor and candidate for US Senate.Boomerang begins with a description of the crime and then in a flashback shows the priest asking his assistant to get help for his unstated problems and threatening to have him confined in a hospital.
When the investigation stalls, pressure is put on the police to come up with a suspect and Dave Woods (Sam Levene), a local newspaper reporter, runs a series of stories criticizing the City government for its inaction in hopes of achieving political power for the paper's owner.After innocent people are arrested simply because they wore clothing that resembled what the killer is alleged to have worn the night of the murder, a disheveled veteran, John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), is arrested in Ohio in possession of a handgun and returned to Connecticut.
Most of the film's dramatic moments take place in the courtroom but there is a back story involving municipal corruption, a theme that Kazan would visit again ten years later in "A Face in the Crowd".The shocking turnaround by the States Attorney does not sit well with party official Paul Harris (Ed Begley) who invested his savings in a corrupt land deal and needs the present government to remain in power to buy that land from him.
When the former soldier John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy) that has fought in the World War II is captured in another town, the witnesses identify him as the killer and he is forced by Robbie and his men to sign the confession of murder.
Harvey (Dana Andrews) finds inconsistent evidences and decides to investigate against the opposition of the politics and the society."Boomerang !" is a film based on a true story about the morality and honesty of a State Attorny that risks his career to prove that a man is innocent and scape goat of a political situation.
(1947)In some ways this is an intensely well made and satisfying film, and when you have Dana Andrews in the lead role combined with Elia Kazan directing, and throw in first rate character actor Lee J.
A large twist occurs (with something of a stutter, dramatically), and then we are in a different kind of drama, a courtroom battle, with Andrews playing the unlikely role of prosecutor looking for the actual truth in a case rather than a conviction.And then the court battle ends, and the movie sort of drizzles to a stop.
He presented this story in the semi documentary style pioneered by producer Louis DeRochemont in his "March of Time" short subjects and brought to full length status in Henry Hathaway's "The House on 92nd Street".In filming this true story, Kazan took his cast and crew to a small Connecticut town similar to the one that the story occurred in.
Harvey, a Connecticut States Attorney who is prosecuting a particularly sensitive case in which a local revered priest was murdered and a homeless drifter was arrested for the crime after an exhaustive search in which the local police was criticized by both the media and local politicians.
Supporting Andrews is Arthur Kennedy as the suspect, Lee J Cobb as the chief of police, Sam Levine as a reporter who knows all, and Robert Keith as a political leader (his son Brian, who later became a bigger star than his father, has a bit)."Boomerang!" is a film made during the time when Hollywood was growing up.
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.
The only man who can save him is attorney DANA ANDREWS, who does a fine job of pointing out weaknesses in the case and destroying the false witnesses.One of the best of its kind, it's done in brisk, documentary style popular in the early forties.
Based on a true incident, the murder of a popular parish priest in Connecticut, the film is powerful in its demonstration of our justice system and how it sometimes works, but sometimes fails because of behind the scenes dishonesty related to political shenanigans..
Lambert, Wyrley Brich, Eli Kazan's "Boomerang!" doesn't go into who murdered Father Lambert, the killer was ever apprehended, but in the story of the Innocent man accused of killing him ex-GI and town drifter John Waldron, Arthur Kennedy.
Harvey prepares a strong case despite Waldron maintaining his innocence, meanwhile the political games around the case build.Based on a true story, this film opens with a narration that "this could happen anywhere" etc in the way that films used to often do.
The cast does feature some famous faces including Cobb, Malden and Levene but it is Andrews show as he leads it well.Overall a good film from Kazan with a solid case at the core while also having enjoyable threads about political game playing (which in fairness was probably stronger than I thought, but I've been into The Wire recently so in this area everything pales by comparison)..
(1947), Lee Cobb portrays Chief Robinson and Arthur Kennedy plays the murder suspect, John Waldron.Of course, Arthur Miller also makes his film "debut" in Boomerang!
When we're anxious to see a murder case closed, do we really care whether the accused is guilty, or whether the wrong man might be executed?This fact-based film is set in a small town.
The characters include a murdered priest, a slew of law-abiding eye witnesses, a bright young prosecutor, a police chief anxious to declare that the streets are safe and a stranger without friends or an alibi.When what first appears to be an open and closed case soon shows cracks, the prosecutor is torn between his ambitions, his loyalties and his morals.
Dana Andrews gives his usual solid performance as a prosecuting attorney who believes a suspicious man they've picked up in Ohio is innocent--however, all of Andrews' findings are kept off-screen, only to be revealed later in the courtroom (where he even has the judge load real bullets into the alleged murder weapon!).
But the district attorney has twinges of conscience and can't bring himself to prosecute a man he doesn't believe is guilty.Such is "Boomerang!", Elia Kazan's quick and dirty docu-drama from the late 1940s, a period rife with films like this.
Elia Kazan directed this true story set in Connecticut, that begins with the mysterious murder of a popular priest that proves quite difficult to solve, until finally a suspect emerges: a drifter named John Waldron(played by Arthur Kennedy) who was known to be in the area, and has no alibi.
Cobb) is satisfied with his suspect, but State Attorney Harvey(played by Dana Andrews) isn't so sure, since there is a distinct lack of evidence(a motive in particular) He then decides to defend Waldron, much to the surprise of his town.
Well told tale based on true story involving a guy held for murder and although we are given strong hints at the start who did it, everybody else has to try and work it out after the guy picked up seems to them so certain, until the case boomerangs Gripping and fascinating with much street filming in Connecticut.
The way this party wants to push itself over onto the legal division as well as the police is a nice touch added to the film and it makes for some even better drama as it puts Andrews in a corner when it comes time for him to try and save the man he's suppose to be putting in jail.
Any fan of cinema would have a smile put on their face by this cast as we get Andrews, Kennedy and Cobb doing great work but we also get nice supporting performances by Jane Wyatt, Cara Williams, Ed Begley, Philip Coolidge and a young Karl Malden.
In the end, we weep more for the judicial system than anything else when we watch Boomerang!; a film with a potentially gloomy outlook on the world which is ultimately a false start, but instead does go to some admittedly impressive lengths to dramatically depict a true-to-life occurrence of a young man accused of murder and the strains on a several people's lives born out of that.
Perhaps 1947 was indeed a little too early to start documenting the very falling apart of the world at its seams; to begin to point the finger at a post-war generation under a new global order for bringing about the social apocalypse, but there were nary those too afraid of jumping that proverbial gun.The film begins with a reassuring enough voice-over informing us of how quaint and assured smaller communities are in then-modern day U.S.A.; a quite audacious, given the time and era of American film-making in which this was made, camera shot accompanies what it is the narrator says, specifically, a full three hundred and sixty degree turn on a cordoned off part of a public street encapsulating the whole of the public thoroughfare which includes passers-by; shoppers; everyday buildings as well as automobiles being genuinely driven by their genuine owners.
Working with Robinson is a certain State Attourney named Henry Harvey (Andrews), an educated and methodical man with a large house and a wife in an upper-class suburban street whom will come to form the sole hope of a young American man called John Waldron (Kennedy) picked up and charged with the murder after some fairly underhand but effective police interrogation tactics that sees him confess.
The process of apprehending such a suspect sees the police force turn to desperation, their snatching of various people off of the street is representative of a tyrannical, somewhat totalitarian regime, and is anything but what a more typified image of American governing is; the disrupting of that idyllic world we saw in the opening has now rippled on into those in charge whom are additionally spoiling their image as a free, conservative and advanced nation.Later plot revelations linked to that of a mayoral election forth-coming, and the desperation the governing mayor has in relation to wanting to win, arises; the putting away of such a criminal whilst he is in office would greatly benefit his campaign, regardless of the man's guilt again inferring a corrupt or tainted political ruling power.
Dana Andrews was too "Deadpan" in those daysAt the end of the film a narrator voices over that this is a true story and that the State Attorney was "Homer Cummings who rose to the highest legal position in the United States".
A youthful Arthur Kennedy makes a big impact as the number one murder suspect who may or may not be guilty of the time, and the whole second half of the film is an electrifying courtroom drama as the district attorney attempts to prove his innocence in the face of overwhelming opposition.BOOMERANG!
"Boomerang" was such a project and was filmed in Connecticut where events in this true story took place.Splendidly directed by Elia Kazan and sharply photographed in glorious black & white by Norbert Brodine "Boomerang" does indeed have a newsreel look about it especially with the fine voice of Reed Hadley (uncredited) doing the narration.
Dana Andrews gives his usual stalwart and likable performance as the local D.A. who suddenly finds himself going over to the side of the defense when the only and hapless suspect is coerced into signing a confession for the murder.The movie has a wonderful all-involving style to it with beautifully lit and splendidly atmospheric courtroom scenes.
Cobb, Arthur Kennedy, Dana Andrews, Ed Begley, Sam Lavene, Jane Wyatt, Robert Keith and more.The story shows how people go about doing things for the wrong reasons.
The man they eventually catch (Arthur Kennedy) does give an inconsistent story but there really isn't much to connect him to the murder other than several eyewitnesses.When the District Attorney (Dana Andrews) gets the case, something bothers him.
Based on a true story, "Boomerang", a taut courtroom drama, directed by Elia Kazan, will not disappoint.
The overall mood of the piece is rather uneasy and becomes increasingly tense as the stakes get higher and the trial of the prime suspect approaches.After the brutal murder of Bridgeport's local priest, State Attorney Henry L Harvey (Dana Andrews) and local Police Chief Robbie Robinson (Lee J Cobb) come under immediate pressure to find the culprit and bring him to justice.
"Boomerang!" is an intelligent movie that's well made and contains an array of fine performances, most notably by Lee J Cobb, Arthur Kennedy and Dana Andrews who looks convincingly stoical as he tries to ensure that justice is done in extremely difficult circumstances..
Political pressures, police procedural, corruption, unstable witnesses, bitter dames and of course an innocent man on trial for his life (we know the latter since it's based on facts and Kazan lets us in on it early on).
In fact, with it's view of just what should be expected from our public prosecutors seeking true justice, BOOMERANG makes a nice companion film to TWELVE ANGRY MEN, which looked at what to really expect from our juries.(*If you check the WIKIPEDIA article on "Homer Cummings" you will find that the suspect who was the basis of Arthur Kennedy's character died in 1961.
State Attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) and Police Chief Robbie Robinson (Lee J.
Cobb) and his assistant, Detective Lieutenant White (Karl Malden), feel the ripple effect of the town's shock as does the State's Attorney, Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews), and his wife, Madge (Jane Wyatt).
Names are changed; the murdered priest becomes "Father George Lambert", the accused man "John Waldron" and the state's attorney "Henry Harvey".
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.
Harvey at first believes the man to be guilty but then as he re-examines the evidence he begins to have second thoughts.This story is based on an actual case that resulted in part, in the character played by Andrews becoming Attorney General of the United States.
Harvey) comes to believe the man accused, young Arthur Kennedy (as John Waldron), did not commit the murder.Newsreel producer Louis de Rochemont and director Elia Kazan set trends with this based-on-fact "documentary style" crime drama.
An excellent drama about a case where political pressures demand a guilty verdict --- facts like guilt or innocence matter not, so long as somebody is convicted.This story was timely in 1947, as it was in 1865, 1966 and again in 2007.
So, I settled in with that assumption and continued to watch the movie.The prosecuting attorney, Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews), actually presents evidence that Waldron did not commit the murder, despite all the political pressure and even blackmail brought against him.