Love him or hate him for his politics, there's no denying that Elia Kazan could make one heck of a film. Pictures like On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire remain as true classics. One of his earliest films is 1947's Boomerang, starring Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, and classic screen tough Lee J. Cobb. It's not a full-blown masterpiece of its genre, but more of a courtroom drama. Boomerang it is an intriguing story that brings a rather thought-provoking slant to its turn of events.

Based on a true story, Boomerang centers on a ghastly crime committed in a small Connecticut town. A local priest out for his usual nighttime walk is murdered in cold blood, the killer managing to slip away into the darkness. Days go by and due to a lack of clues and the witnesses' vague descriptions of the assailant, the police are at a complete loss.

After weeks of intense pressure by the public to find a suspect, the police supposedly find their man: John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a drifter whom fits the killer's profile to a tee. After some intense interrogation, Waldron even provides a full confession, and the stage seems all set for a swift indictment. But there's at least one man working in Waldron's favor: Henry Harvey (Andrews), the state's attorney, who's not quite sure that Waldron was given a fair shake. Though he finds himself being pressured on all sides to see that Waldron gets locked up, Harvey puts his career, reputation, and even life on the line to ensure that justice is properly served, to prove that there's more to this case than meets the eye.

Boomerang may not be a full-fleged noir, but shades of such do emerge over the course of the film. The story bases itself in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "wrong man" formula, following an innocent man caught up in a situation in which the deck is seriously stacked against him. That's not to say that Waldron is fully depicted as such; the plot provides plenty of evidence as to why the police should lock him up and throw away the key. It does come across as one of those hackneyed stories in which the crusading counselor goes on a one-man mission to see that justice is served, but Boomerang provides a little more substance than that. The film's first half comprises the hunt for the killer, focusing on how much political and societal pressure is put on the authorities to find something. When Waldron is caught, the anxious masses instantly brand him guilty as sin; Harvey makes it his task not so much to prove him innocent but to ensure that the guy receives a fair trial under such dire circumstances.

Boomerang is more about talk than it is about action. There are no clichéd tough guys hanging around in trench coats waiting to pull people in for a back-alley brawl, which is why the picture's film noir label is such a misnomer. Boomerang is more along the lines of part courtroom drama and part police procedural, though Kazan does make a solid effort not to drown the story in words and endless litigation. Centering a good part of the story on the increasingly tense search for the killer is a good angle, and the judicial proceedings are jazzed up as well, thanks to a healthy dose of theatrics.

Harvey's climactic defense provides some of the picture's most suspenseful moments. Andrews gives a fine, well-balanced performance as a man whose views of the Waldron case don't exactly make him a popular man. Solid support is also lent by Cobb as the town's tough-as-nails sheriff and Ed Begley as an associate who tries to blackmail Harvey in one of the film's most intriguing scenes. Kennedy was a bit over-dramatic as Waldron, though, and as Harvey's doting wife, Wyatt's role turned out to be a pretty thankless one.

Though the film isn't packed with memorable visuals and the script a little too talky at times, Boomerang remains a solid enough drama in its own right. Originally released on DVD, pulled from sale, and then re-released again, film aficionados may find Boomerang's curious journey enough of a reason to seek it out. Just consider the fact that it's actually a pretty good flick to be a bonus.

Director: Elia Kazan

Writer: Richard Murphy (based upon a Reader's Digest article by Anthony Abbot)

Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Arthur Kennedy, Cara Williams, Ed Begley

Rating: No MPAA Rating (some offscreen violence)

Classic Movie Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Run Time: 88 minutes

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Format: Black-and-white, fullscreen