In Fools’ Parade (1971) the Biblical admonition that we’re all sinners is elaborated upon. Three sinners are released from prison during the Depression, and because one of them has a just claim on a lot of money, some leading citizens of Glory, West Virginia decide the ex-cons should be deprived of that money, and similarly their lives.
Yep, those are the latest fashion from Pawtucket.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
It’s a memorable meditation on how the lust for wealth and the unworthiness of the Other will excuse and distort the behaviors of those subject to it. As our nominal sinners complete their service to society, the hyenas of that same society, in the forms of a banker and a Sunday School teacher, begin to circle their prey. The dogs are loosed! (Actually, a bloodhound has a prime role in the movie, first tracking the ex-cons, but later coming to live with them, perhaps symbolizing the basic amorality of tools, or, in other words, morality is defined by intent and knowledge.)
One, the main gunner, must be reassured that the prey are “atheists”, and then his enthusiasm for the hunt knows no bounds, and he fairly drools when he encounters the unhappy men. But, unhappy they may be, they are not without wiles, and the hunter’s very source of morality is turned against him as an escape is made.
But make no mistake, the leaders of this betrayal of the morality they claim to uphold know what they are doing, even if they mutter about protecting the town in these tryin’ times. The wealth attracts them like flies to a dead horse, and unlike the flies, there’s some tearing at each other over the stench of the wealth.
But it’s interesting that the most despicable are the leading lights of Glory. It reminds me of an article from Skeptical Inquirer discussing those who disbelieve the evolution the strongest – it’s the best educated, not the worst. Here we see those who should know best, who should be most moral, who are most willing to capsize the ship of society in pursuit of their own bedizenment. This might escape the general attention, except that the storytellers make sure we end the movie with a mob scene in which it turns out the mob is not there to persecute the innocent ex-cons – but one of the instigators of foul corruption.
This movie greatly benefits from the skills of Jimmy Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell, Strother Martin, and Anne Baxter, who know how to bring a movie to life through the stuttering of men under the pressures of alcoholism, avarice, and many other such motivations.
This is not Lord of the Rings, or Pacific Rim.
No, it’s Fools’ Parade, and it has its own gentle lessons to teach, all the while entertaining you. Recommended.
