Ebert Review

The movie review focuses intently on the impression that certain scenes of the movie made, and how these scenes have been taken and used in other film productions because they were so powerful. Some of these include Willa's body in the car, in the river and the image of the preacher approaching the stairs to find the children. The movie has a haunting quality, where as everything is set up to make the audience feel uneasy about coming events. The suspense is successful, as are the characters according to Ebert. When you began to feel the children would be safe, instantly the children are again threatened by the preacher. I would have to agree that Mitchum creates a character both menacing and intriguing.It is a movie unique in it's plot, and characters according to Ebert. The movie doesnt receive the credit it deserves because the director wasn't distinguished. I don't agree that it was as humorous as Ebert proposes, there was definitely a dark side to the film that had a stronger impact on me. The main character, the preacher, had a manipulative quality to him and a deep seeded dark side that you see right from the beginning. The legacy of this character is clear in Ebert's description, and the powerfully distorted righthand/left hand message when we know that the preacher doesn't have good intentions. This may be me, but I couldn't figure out the hiding place of the money until the middle of the movie. I think that it was under the protection of the children and within arms reach throughout the movie was a clever twist. Additionally I like the significant age difference between the children. This doesn't just encompass years but also maturity. The young boy was able to see through an adult's manipulation while the younger girl always went back to her step father despite her brother's actions and the danger that accompanied him. Also, I think the woman who played Willa depicted successful a submissive woman, whose naivety led to her demise in the end. Overall I agree with Ebert's rating of the film, but not as passionately. I don't consider this movie "timeless," as certain themes in the movie still seem relevant today, i wouldn't go as far to say that the movie as a whole has as great an impact as Ebert implies.