Mug shots
The retro mug shots in the end, what a brilliant move. It almost came as a shock to me to realize, yes, indeed, poor Max Dembo is doomed. It wasn't for want of trying, he really wanted to succeed, even taking a job at the cannery, but it wasn't going to work.
And it wasn't until the end, with those mug shots going back to when he was just a kid, that it struck me: the poor guy doesn't stand a chance. This is his fate. Hence his famous last words to the girl when she asks why she can't come along, and he says: because I gonna get caught.