*** SPOILER ALERT ***
Well it seemed from what little we saw, Culpepper was not happy with his wife or daughter. He wanted to take his wife to Hawaii, but she didn't seem to pleased about it when they talked on the phone. His wife blamed him for the problems of the family and his daughter agreed. He was very aggravated and perhaps rightly so.
We know at the end of the film his wife is divorcing him, and his daughter is changing her name. We don't know if this occurs before he decides to steal the money or afterwards, when the news of it leaks out.
Frankly if I were Culpepper I'd flee to Mexico too. With all that dough he could live like a king there, him and Jimmy the Crook. He could get any woman he wanted, food and drinks.
Getting his pension tripled but have made a difference, and you are right Culpepper still had time to change his mind. The 13 witnesses however could have testified what Culpepper was doing, going the opposite way, no other cops around, driving recklessly towards the border. The courts may havo found leniency with him, but I would bet his pension would have been revoked anyway.
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holbrookp
10 years ago
Even after he was caught, if he was smart, he could have figured out a way to get out of the mess. If it'd been me, I would have said that I was heading off in a different direction because I feared the others might change their minds about turning themselves in and come after me for the money. When I saw them heading after me, I determined to keep away so they couldn't get the money back. I didn't call for help because I was too busy driving fast through traffic to use the radio. And when they hit my car, I ran into the old abandoned hotel, again fearing for my life but valiantly protecting the money.
After all, there was no evidence other than the fact that he made the opposite turn that he was stealing the money.
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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bing-57
9 years ago
> After all, there was no evidence other than the fact that he made the opposite turn that he was stealing the money.
He also parked his car in the boat lot. That's pretty damning. Plus, the dock worker would probably testify that he set up the escape boat.
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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?
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holbrookp
9 years ago
Plausible. If I'd been him, I would claim that I was scared to death of them chasing me and pulled in the boat lot to hide long enough to call for help.
The fact that they were chasing him at speeds over the legal limit could be used to prove that they were being hostile in their pursuit.
I would even say that I suspected they might think twice about the money and come after me, which is why I turned away from them in the first place, and then when I saw them after me, I didn't take the course I had planned but at that point was just trying to get away from them by any route possible. A good lawyer could maybe save his hide.
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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bing-57
9 years ago
> A good lawyer could maybe save his hide.
Perhaps in 2015 a good lawyer could sway a jury, but not in 1965. And also consider that the whole town was corrupt and that includes the judges. He will be found guilty no matter what.
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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?
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holbrookp
9 years ago
I'm not sure that Culpepper's case was so hopeless. Yes, the whole town was corrupt, including the judges.
But that might have been what saved Culpepper!
Remember, Police Chief Aloysius felt so sorry for Culpepper that he blackmailed the city officials into giving Culpepper a generous retirement package. They were scared to death of what Aloysius had to reveal.
Yes, Aloysius had given the order to arrest Culpepper, but he did so with regret.
Maybe later he felt guilty for telling Culpepper that "You're an honest cop! You've got that and that's ALL you've got!"
Maybe he'd blame himself for driving Culpepper into an act of desperation. And he'd want to make it right, especially if Culpepper kept insisting that he wasn't trying to steal the money for himself.
So maybe Police Chief Aloysius would have further blackmailed the city government into getting Culpepper found innocent. If those officials had enough to hide, they would pull some powerful strings to make it happen!
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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bing-57
9 years ago
> So maybe Police Chief Aloysius would have further blackmailed the city government into getting Culpepper found innocent. If those officials had enough to hide, they would pull some powerful strings to make it happen!
Aloysius cashed in his advantage to get the city council to triple Culpapper's retirement. If he tried to further extort the Council, he'd quickly find himself in cement overshoes. Crooks with millions of dollars to lose, only tolerate blackmail once. If Aloysius tries a second time, that means he can't be counted on to keep the secret forever.
There is a bit of honor among theives.
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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?
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holbrookp
9 years ago
But it wasn't THEIR money they were paying out. It was the state's or the county's. They hadn't handed out any money yet anyway.
I don't think the crooked officials were evil to the point of having somebody killed off. They were white collar thieves. And Aloysius could still see to it that the information he had was given to the press if anything happened to him. I think they would have understood that the whole point was to give Culpepper a comfortable life of retirement and given in to one more demand, so maybe they'd come across with the acquittal and maybe then with a warning not to push them for more.
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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bing-57
9 years ago
> I don't think the crooked officials were evil to the point of having somebody killed off.
Think about it. Aloysius used his knowledge of crimes that the city council comitted and that he, himself, participated, to get triple pension for Culpepper. The council agreed.
Now, you want Aloysius to come back and use the same threats to demand that charges against Culpepper be dropped. If that worked a second time, everyone involved would realize that Aloysius could use the same threats to get whatever he wanted forever. That can quickly turn white-collar criminals into murderers.
> I think they would have understood that the whole point was to give Culpepper a comfortable life of retirement and given in to one more demand,
You keep trying to make out that the city council are nice guys that just want to help Culpepper. They are not. They hate him. He shut down the "houses" (Gambling, prostitution, etc.) and cost the council a lot of personal money. That's why they killed off his pension in the first place. Revenge.
And, they fought Culpepper for years to keep it that way. They aren't going to give in to him twice.
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scamper67
9 years ago
Ohhhh closing down the houses, I always wondered what that meant! Blackmail material indeed.
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bing-57
9 years ago
> Blackmail material indeed.
Yes. Culpepper was the only good guy in a town full of rotten apples. The whole city council was corrupt and ran all of the gambling houses in town. Aloysius used his position as police captain to keep the heat off the gambling houses. And, at some point, Culpepper shut down all their illegal activities. Unfortunately, he was not able to secure convictions and they all retained their positions on the city council and in the police force.
But, since the city council controlled the amount of the police chief's pension, they stuck it to him as revenge.
Culpepper saw that stealing the money (that had previously been stolen and buried) as his only chance at a retirement. Alas, the first criminal act he ever tried backfired on him and he lost everything; his job, his pension, his family, and his freedom. He's screwed and that sucks for the only good guy in the movie.
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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?
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