I loved everything about the movie apart from this. How could a sheriff, no matter how small-town minded, not think to ask for someone's badge if they claim to be FBI? He just believed the guy without ever thinking to check if he was actually in the FBI?
shareAll he said was that he didn't see the badge, not that he didn't see the I.D. (As paxman was referring specifically to a badge).
shareHe was a simple "small town" shefiff, trusting and unjaded by urban corruption who had probably never even heard of crimes such as identity fraud.
I doubt if he even locked his doors at night.
So his apparent "stupidity" is plausible.
MrBullo is exactly right. You might be surprised how things work in small towns. There are actually a lot of tidbits of truth in The Andy Griffith Show, believe it or not.
shareThat's not the part that bugged me. What bugged me--and what was completely implausible--as how he stood there with a wide grin on his face, completely oblivious to Hank's fearful screaming (and seemingly reaching for a gun), like an idiot, not responding to his (strange) charge of the guy having a gun and his pleas to pull his.
He stands there like a moron with that smile on his face, not even looking behind him, and simply telling the guy to pull his badge to calm Hank's fears. It was so silly. That was the main issue I had with this otherwise good film.
I have to agree. The sheriff was a complete idiot. So dumb. When he got killed that was all I could think. And why would he not ask to see a badge? I also have to agree with SeasonalAffective. The sheriff sees Hank yelling and he's smiling like an idiot and asking, "What are you talking about?"
shareIt's because what Hank is yelling sounds so bizarre and foreign, the naive small-town sheriff probably doesn't even know how to mentally process it. Never in a billion years would that sheriff expect someone to pretend to be an FBI agent and end up shooting him in the back. Spend some time in a small town (and I mean a really small town) and you will see it's quite different from the jaded cynicism of the city. I found this detail (both not asking for a badge in the first place, and not comprehending what Hank was yelling about) completely realistic.
sharewell, it wasn't just the sheriff. everyone on this film played their part of being stupid. the 3 stooges, the wives, the sheriff, the fake FBI agent and the dead farmer. it's a movie about stupidity.
shareit's a movie about stupidity.
He was a total moron.
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.
He was pretty stupid in hindsight, but I would be curious if anyone on the boards is in law enforcement and knows the protocol. If someone came in your office claiming to be FBI, do you ask for their badge? I think it's so far fetched in the sheriffs mind that he didn't think he had do ask. I wonder if you are a policeman and working a case, and someone comes in your office claiming to be a cop from another city, and had questions about the case, if you are supposed to ask to see ID? I don't think many cops would think someone would have the balls to do it, and ask. But I am not in law enforcement and don't know that answer. Perhaps he flashed a fake badge really quick? Would the officer ask to look at it closer? It may seem like an insult, so maybe they don't ask to see it again,
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