He should have forgiven his wife - Detective Story (1952) Discussion

[–] HoferPM-1 18 years ago

He wasn't the kind of guy who could forgive any indiscretions. It was good that she left him. He would always be bringing up the past to her and probably pushing her around as time went by. Every time he saw her speaking to a man, he would be accusing her of having an affair with him. Not good!!! He was too hot headed and not really a good cop no matter what anyone said.

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[–] budselig 17 years ago

No, he should've taken her into an alley and shot her in the back of her head.

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[–] Alfriend 16 years ago

That was the tragic flaw of Mcloud's (Kirk Douglas) character. He couldn't forgive his father or his wife. He realizes that after she leaves him. Everything in his world is black and white. He couldn't see shades of grey. You were either a saint or you were a sinner like the abortionist.

It also is a salute to Wyler, Kingsley, Douglas and company that you do get so frustrated with the character's unbending willfulness.

The other thing that is sad is that Mcloud's view of women was quite common amongst some men of that time. Alot of men expected their wives to be virgins and if they weren't they were often not considered worth marrying.

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[–] Errington_92 13 years ago

McCloud forgiving his wife would not have been right for the storyline. If anything it was the right way to set up the finale. He had nothing else to live for.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

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[–] Jason_Radley 13 years ago

You can view Jim as a figure from a morality play pitching an Old Testament view of forgiveness against the New Testament's. In that regard, he's a bit like Javert from Les Miserables.

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[–] timlin-4 12 years ago

If I understood it right, because of her whorish past she couldn't bear him any children. And she was claiming to be a virgin. He should have taken her with him

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[–] sanjay_kn 12 years ago

NO the lawyer at the end says something that infuriates him further after nearly pardoning his wife! I did not get that( after they make up!)

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] activista 10 years ago

@Timlin

What the hell----how does ONE indiscretion count as being whorish? Give me a break! The woman made ONE mistake---was she supposed to spend the rest of her life paying for it? Give me a fcking break! He already know she couldn't have kids, and he was being an unforgiving and self righteous a**hole about it.

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[–] mdonln 9 years ago

safeinsanity says > She obviously loved him but the big dummy was too jealous and stubborn.

Maybe that's your idea of love but it sure isn't mine. If I were McLeod I would be just as upset as he was. I didn't think it's such a bad thing for him to lose someone he never knew and who had been lying to him since the day he met her.

Never hold your lover's past against them.

That's a wonderful concept but it only works when there's complete honesty. One can only truly say they don't hold their spouse's past against them when they are fully aware of what that past contains. Otherwise, a situation may arise like the one in this movie. It would be horrible to find out your spouse did something in their past that does not align with your values and causes you to see them in a different and negative way.

Life is too short, as he found out the hard way.

Yes, life is too short so why waste it? Mary stole McLeod's life. She's the reason he was willing to face a nut with a gun. She turned him into an object of ridicule. The people he worked with knew his private shame, he knew he had wasted several years on a relationship with someone he didn't know then she has the nerve to run out on him, and he knew it would be hard to trust people again. He had no reason to live. Thanks to her, nothing mattered to him anymore. Be careful with whom you associate!

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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[–] Florestan51 8 years ago

Since the indiscretion occurred long before she met McLeod, he was done no wrong by that indiscretion and therefore there was no meaningful sense in which he could forgive her for it.

McLeod had only one thing to forgive her for, viz., failing to tell him about this aspect of her past. How big a transgression was that? It wasn't active dishonesty, i.e., she didn't actually lie about anything. Call it passive dishonesty if you will. And did she even suspect that she wouldn't be able to have any further children?

On the other hand, if they had any kind of extended courtship his ruthlessly vindictive attitude to anyone he judged guilty of moral errancy would (or should) have become obvious to her during that courtship. That should have been a signal to her to come clean and tell him the facts.

But perhaps it was a whirlwind romance and it all happened too suddenly for her to think clearly about this matter and/or she was afraid she'd lose him. At the time in which the movie is set they were evidently enjoying a very happy marriage despite their childless state. It wouldn't have occurred to her that her past could come back to her through a particular professional instance of her husband's fanaticism, especially as he never talked to her about his job.

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[–] beepstein 8 years ago

Having an abortion was a crime. Telling him about it would have been confessing a crime to a cop. Also implicating the doctor as well as the old boyfriend who was complicit. Given his unforgiving ways I can thoroughly understand her reluctance.

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[–] ElKabong1940 (323) 5 years ago

More importantly, should she have told him about her past? If he never found out about it, everything would have been fine. However, when he does find out about it, the results are not very good. So it would be better if she told him up front. He could then decide to accept her as is or not.

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