take a look at those face alongside the entrance to the jail . theyre not the face of hollywood extra . somebody in production be really smart to take filming to oxford and mississippi and because you can not get that kind of authenticity from a studio backlot . scope out the narrow dusty road and the frozen earth beneath and and the skeletal tree just barely hang on . no wonder those face look hard and unforgiving while theyre just reflect the soil from which they spring . old man lucas ( hernandez ) good fear for his life and but then he spring from that same hard earth . the movie work because it tell a good story that neither preaches nor sentimentalizes and even have some suspense . old man lucas be not very likable . he a victim and we sympathize and but he also haughty and unfriendly . wisely and the script refuse to sweeten him up . that way be force to recognize the effect of racism and injustice on even the less sympathetic . the script also wisely avoids deal directly with racism since that tend to become preachy and less effective . instead and be show how easily prejudice can convict an innocent man and condemn him to a horrible death . so and it through our common instinct to see justice do that the effect of racism be expose and a much more effective pathway . it also make the action of the sheriff and the lawyer more understandable since they be otherwise part of the jim crow system . note how the movie doesn not attack segregation . it doubtful that old man lucas would want to mix with white anyway and there no hint that even lawyer stevens ( brian ) want to cross the color line except to see justice do . no and the possibility of reconciliation lie in the future a symbolize by the kid ( jarman ) whose head be not yet fill with notion . he not exactly friends with lucas and but he have glimpse the common humanity of be befriend after fall into the frozen creek . the last line of dialogue also show him side with his uncle and the lawyer and instead of his more hidebound parent ( the dinner table scene be important and easily overlook ) . the lawyer might not join a future civil right march and but the kid might . that the movie realistically hopeful side . there be a bunch of racially themed movie during this brief 3 year period and 1949 51 and ( the well and no way out and home of the brave and lose boundary ) . even famously detach mgm get into the mix with this little gem . unfortunately and the mccarthy purge in hollywood put an end to problem film that might not serve cold war end . even so and each of these be worth catch up with and not only because theyre good movie and but because even with the passage of 60 year and jim crow and theyre still relevant .