Though I don""t call it stealing.I call it taking back what""s yours.Lane Norwood done the stealing.Been doing it for years.Now, with hard times we""ve got to get our chance back.Promoted and employed as Norwood""s bookkeeping accountant for the financial empire, Marvin began to realize that he tenant farmers were burdened with high interest rates (and carrying fees) for the credit that was extended to them in the company store, and were striking back.They had expected to take a different path to their teacher""s place, but were somehow directed to take a different way:We must""ve takenthe wrong forka few miles back.The Western film genre was a first for both James Stewart and Dietrich - in a perfect example of inspired casting and image reversal...She kills like she kisses!" ("Careful, Dick...she""s as cute as lace pants...but you can""t stop a murderess...if you stop a bullet first!")"FORGET THAT FEELING - She""s got murder in her heart!""The Screen""s Great Mystery Wallop Electrified With High Voltage Thrills, Action, and Excitement!""A Night of Murder the Police Won""t Let Him Forget! The Only Key to His Safety - A Woman""s Face He Can""t Remember!""Hard-boiled, two-fisted, smashing through a crimson maze of treachery, violence, and MURDER!"There were basically three separate narratives that were neatly woven together (Chandler had also woven together hree short stories to create his own narrative in his 1940 novelFarewell, My Lovely):the search for a love-sick ex-con""s missing ex-lady friend, a show-girlthe search for a ""stolen"" jade necklace, including identifying who killed the ""money-bearer"" during the late-night delivery of a ransom paymentthe winding criminal path followed by a lowly show-girl o elevate (and maintain) her social standing as a wealthy, gold-digging, promiscuous trophy wifeThe film""s MacGuffin (a Hitchcockian stand-by) was he menacing femme fatale""s valuable jade necklace worth $100,000 around which much of the action occurred.He explains pain-avoidance to her:Mrs.Pilletti (serving dinner): So, what are you gonna do tonight Marty?Marty: I don""t know, Ma.I""m all knocked out.I may just hang around he house.Mrs.Pilletti: Why don""t you go to the Stardust Ballroom?Marty: What?Mrs.Pilletti: I say, why don""t you go to the Stardust Ballroom? It""s loaded with tomatoes.Marty: It""s loaded with what?Mrs.Pilletti: Tomatoes.Marty: (laughs) Who told you about the Stardust Ballroom, Ma?Mrs.Pilletti: Tommy.[Tommy is Marty""s married cousin.] He say it was a very nice place.Marty: Oh, Thomas.Ma, it""s just a big dance hall, that""s all it is.I been there a hundred times.Loaded with tomatoes - boy, you""re funny, Ma.Mrs.Pilletti: Marty, I don""t want you to hang around the house tonight.I want you to go take a shave and go dance.Marty: (pleading) Ma, when you gonna give up? You got a bachelor on your hands.I ain""t never gonna get married.Mrs.Pilletti: You""re gonna get married.Marty: Ma, sooner or later, there comes a point in a man""s life when he""s gotta face some facts.And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain""t got it.I chased after enough girls in my life.I-I went to enough dances.I got hurt enough.I don""t wanna get hurt no more.I just called up a girl this afternoon, and I got a real brush-off, boy! I figured I was past the point of being hurt, but that hurt.