MovieChat Forums > American History X (1998) Discussion > Firefighter murdered on duty.

Firefighter murdered on duty.


I watched the movie a couple of times over the last 23 years. I watched it first when i was 18 years old and its the type of movie that left me in shock and little depressed for a couple of minutes after watching it.But its just after watching it recently that it occured to me to ask myself this ; wouldn’t Derek’s family collect some insurance from the murder of the father who was shot on duty? I mean it was never mentioned as far as i remember, and by seing the crummy apartment they were renting (well at least it was much less nicer than their family house where they all had breakfast before.) So what do you think?Does a firefighter have a good life insurance plan? And would the insurance premium to collect from dying on duty be much more?

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They probably did have a life insurance policy as well as some kind of widows fund. But doubtful they could live just on that. Remember in the time in between their fathers death and Derek's incarceration they were still in the house and Danny mentions that Derek was working and making good money. After Derek's arrest, they would have lost what was their main income (the mother didn't seem to work), and had to pay for his legal bills. While still having 3 kids to feed, they probably figured they needed to sell the house so to have some money and save on the fewer bills.

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