Is there room in our society for John W. Burns?

Is there room in our society for John W. Burns?

If so why? If not, why not?

At Lakewood High School (OH) our Civics class period periodically featured a movie with some thoughtful questions raised for summative assessment purposes. The question in the title of this blog I remember verbatim and repeated often among classmates with a bit of light-hearted sarcasm. Here are four movies I recall were part of our Civic instruction. In hindsight, it could be part of the reason I am so fond of classic films. 

Lonely are the Brave (1962) - When itinerant cowboy and drifter John W. (Jack) Burns hears that his old friend Paul Bondi has been sentenced to two years for aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, he returns to Duke City, New Mexico to Bondi's home. After a reunion with Bondi's wife Jerry and finding he can't visit Bondi in jail the nonconformist Burns sets out to join his old friend in the county jail on a drunk and disorderly charge. Burns gets into a brawl in a local cantina, but when the police decide to release him because of jail overcrowding, he assaults a policeman and is facing a one year jail term. Burns is disappointed to find that his friend does not want to escape and risk a longer sentence but do his time and return to his family. Using two hacksaws smuggled in his boot, Burns and two cell mates break out of jail and Burns heads for the Mexican border. Now facing a five year term for his escape, a sentence he could not endure because of his fiercely independent nature, he and his faithful horse Whiskey race up the mountain range to freedom with the authorities in hot pursuit. (John W. Burns is played by Kirk Douglas)

The Incident (1967) - Stark melodrama about two thrill seeking tough guys who terrorize late-night passengers on a New York City train. The random victims are more concerned with their own problems than helping each other and pray that they won't be next. But it's going to take a lot more than prayer to end this nightmare of fear and violence. Film debut of both Martin Sheen and Tony Musante as the hoodlums

The Ox-Box Incident (1943) - The Ox-Bow Incident takes place in Nevada in 1885 and begins with Art Croft (Harry Morgan) and Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) riding into the town of Bridger's Wells. They go into Darby's Saloon and find that the atmosphere is subdued, in part because of the recent incidents of cattle-rustling (the stealing of livestock) in the vicinity. Everyone wants to catch the thieves. Gil learns that his former girlfriend left town at the start of the spring and drinks heavily to drown his sorrows. Art and Gil are possible rustler suspects simply because they are not often seen in town. The townspeople are wary of them, and a fight breaks out between Gil and a local rancher named Farnley. Immediately after the fight, another man races into town on horseback, goes into the saloon and announces that a rancher named Larry Kinkaid has been murdered. The townspeople immediately form a posse to pursue the murderers, who they believe to be the cattle rustlers. 

12 Angry Men (1957) - The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case of murder soon becomes a detective story that presents a succession of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room. This movie starred Henry Fonda as the juror that stood his ground until justice prevailed.