I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: Difference between revisions

[[File:chaingang_5488.jpg|frame]]

 

 

 

Muni plays Sergeant James Allen, who on his return home from [[World War I]] knows he is now a changed man, and leaves home to go work in construction. However, along the way, he manages to talk to the wrong man at the wrong time, and on a trip to go get a bite to eat he is caught up in a robbery. Held at gunpoint, Allen is forced to steal 5 dollars from the restaurant (that's about 150-200 dollars today,) and when the man holding the gun at him dies, he takes the money and runs. He is soon caught, and sentenced to serve ten years in a [[Deep South]] chain gang.

 

Based on the true story of Robert Elliott Burns, and with the help of this movie Burns (who was still on the run at the time this was made) was pardoned in 1945, and lived free until his death ten years later.

* [[All Crimes Are Equal]]: Allen is staying the same amount of time, doing the same labor, and living in the same conditions as people who murdered (most notably mentioned is a man who killed his mother, wife, and sister-in-law, which makes Allen reasonably unwilling to say he's only in for stealing five dollars at gunpoint).

* [[Artistic License: Law]]: Averted - the practices you see in this movie were lawful until the 1950's. This movie helped it stop.

* [[Fade to Black]]: Happens in the final scene. During filming a lightbulb on the set blew out, and director LeRoy liked the look of Muni creeping into the shadows so much, he decided to [[Throw It In]], so by the end of the movie the quote at the top of the page is said in utter darkness.

* [[The Film of the Book]]

{{quote|'''Helen:''' Oh, Jim. It was all going to be so different.

'''Jim:''' It is different. They've made it different. I've gotta go.