So does George go to jail?
It shows him handing the gun to the sheriff so I assume he is going to jail for murder.
shareYes, the sheriff wraps the gun in his handerchief for evidence.
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MovieChat Forums > Of Mice and Men (1940) Discussion > So does George go to jail?
I don't think so. After the sherrif took the gun I got the clear impression that he just walked away. Case closed....justifiable shooting. Remember, all the farm workers and Curly were armed and after Lennie and were going to shoot him on sight.
I don't think the sherrif would have arrested any of them either. Only Slim knew what really happened and he was not going to say anything to the sherrif.
I always figured that if the makers wanted to show that the Sheriff and Co were to let him go they would have showed the Sheriff tossing the gun in the water.
They made a big show of the Sheriff wrapping the pistol in the handkerchief.
The only reason to do so would be to keep from tainting the evidence.
Can't remember what year 'finger printing' was discovered/developed.
Good theory Ironman54. Obviously the film makers left that question open so that folks like us could express our own conjectures. I can't remember how the author John Steinback finished up he book. He may have left it open too. Been too long ago since I read it in high school.
I always figured that if the film makers wanted to show that the Sheriff and Co wanted George brought to justice, they would have showed the Sheriff putting handcuffs on George and saying something like "Let's go George" (no Miranda statement in those days). The Sheriff never put a hand on George. Slim, George, and the Sheriff all walk away together. THE END
The Sheriff probably wrapped up the highly collectable Luger as he wanted it for himself. It would have been illogical to throw the gun in the water. Fingerprints? Of course George's were on the gun....he voluntarilly handed over the pistol with a witness present.
Everybody seems happy that someone got Lennie for the crime he commited and the Sheriff felt the case was closed. After all, who would stand up and demand justice for the dead Lennie? Such was the life and times of the 1930's migrant farmworkers. One should not forget the context in which the story takes place.
One would think Curly and the boys were out to lynch Lennie. But then, how did the sheriff arrive on the scene so quickly? Someone from the ranch must have notified the sheriff. That would make Curley and the boys acting as a posse instead of a lynch mob. George therefore saved Lennie from the law, and he would have indeed been arrested.
shareIn John Steinbeck's original play (and the novel adapted from it), George's saving of Lennie from certain abuse, torture and actual murder is an unquestioned act of mercy whose morality is the story's ultimate point. With the loss of his friend (and reason for living), George simply moves on undetected.
Unfortunately, the Hollywood Production Code (censorship) of the time required that no crime go unpunished. This meant that George's killing of Lennie had to be reinterpreted as an immoral crime; thus the added tag in which George appears to turn himself over to the law.
But it is to the credit of all concerned (including the Code) that this seeming arrest and its consequences are gently implied rather than exploited. The scene is without dialogue and there is nothing to suggest that George will not be treated with compassion. In a less honorable film from the same era, Hollywood "morality" would surely have hanged George on-camera and made sure we all felt the threat.
Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime
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