User Reviews

It was turning out to be just one of those days for Joe McDoakes, going from a simple traffic violation to a ten-year prison sentence. Happens to the best of us. It was all started when he was accused to running a stop signal, but the signal was having some sort of mechanical disorder, causing the flags to change constantly from stop to go. Naturally, the cop doesn't believe him and asks for his license. Surprise, surprise, Joe left it at home. He's cited for the violation and is told to appear in court. The judge informs him that if he simply pleads guilty and pays the $2.00 fine, the case will be dismissed. Gosh, only $2.00 for a traffic violation? That's not bad. But with Joe being Joe, he protests the charge and maintains his innocence. He demands a trial by jury. The judge agrees to it, but for some reason, fines Joe $50 for contempt of court. I don't get it, what did he do that was grounds for contempt? Well, as expected, his big mouth ups the fine to $100, and since he doesn't carry cash, he gets thrown in the slammer.

Once inside, he meets an obviously corrupt lawyer that agrees to try his case. The gullible sap excepts, and as you can probably guess, his trial doesn't go over too well, what with the over-the-top prosecuting attorney painting Joe to be some sort of monster, and the eyewitness to the crime being a blind man and his dog. Joe's useless crook attorney is no help at all. So, amidst his claims of being no guilty, Joe is found guilty and put behind bars. His wife comes to visit, reminds him that paying $2 would've allowed to him to skip this whole mess, and brings him a cake with a nail file in it as a joke. Har-har-har. You're not helping, Alice. What else could go wrong? How about Joe's cellmate planning an armed breakout? He managed to sneak two pistols into his cell, giving one to Joe and pointing the other one at his head to force him to go along. Well, they attempt their jailbreak, but ultimately fail--big surprise--and Joe is given a ten year sentence. While in prison, he meets some jackass who manipulates traffic signals. However, at this point, there is nowhere to go but up... unless Joe tries to prove his innocence again and ends up in the hole. Nope. He inadvertently admits his guilt to the warden, and as a result, he gets out on parole! Now a free man after a year of hell, you'd think Joe will steer clear of any violations. He will certainly try, especially when history nearly repeats itself.

Poor Joe, he just couldn't catch a break. Sure, he could've swallowed his pride, admitted his guilt and paid $2, but he was too stubborn. To be fair, everything seemed to purposely work against him: the judge, the trial, everything. I know it was intentionally staged this way to make Joe go through the motions of an innocent man being condemned for a minor infraction. I guess the moral of our story is don't be a cheapskate and justice really is blind. I do recommend this short, even though it's not as funny as some others and in some parts it's frustrating. But it's good stuff. Check it out and take its messages to heart.

"So You Think You're Not Guilty" is an American 10-minute live action short film from 1950, so this one is already over 65 years old and it was nominated for an Oscar, which is one reason why it is among the most known "so you" works from back then and yes there were quite a few. For Hollingshead it was just of many nominations (and wins). Writer and the director was the prolific filmmaker and centenarian Richard L. Bare. This is the story of a man falling deeper and deeper into the abyss of crime after (not?) committing a simple traffic offense right at the beginning of the movie. And despite the serious situation fort him, it is really more of a funny watch for the audience. Like a modern comedic take on the Michael Kohlhaas story. Up to you to decide if you wanna see it. For me personally, the material was not as great as I hoped it would be and that's why I don't recommend checking it out. But it's not a failure either, so if you wanna go for it, do it.

. . . is the basic premise of SO YOU THINK YOU'RE NOT GUILTY. The U.S. justice system has been carefully crafted as yet another tax on ordinary people. Whenever your local government is running low on funds, all they have to do is booby-trap such things as traffic signals, and sit back to rake in the Moolah. It's virtually impossible to prove your "innocence" in an American court UNLESS you're fabulously wealthy, as George O'Hanlon's "Ordinary Joe" character finds out here. Furthermore, if you point out government's nefarious money-making plot to the "authorities," they'll multiply your fine one-hundred fold, toss you into jail, and kill you if you're too vociferous. Joe barely escapes here with his life, after being bankrupted and incarcerated for a year. This exact same thing happened to my uncle near a truck factory up North where he worked years ago. The city was failing, so they rigged a traffic light to cycle from green directly to red (without the customary yellow to mark a transition). Sure enough, there was a cop sitting a few yards away. Was he directing traffic through this obviously dangerous intersection? Heck, no! He was pulling over one plant worker after another for running the red light! My uncle was sharp enough to report this accidentally-on-purpose traffic light "malfunction" to the city's DPW immediately. With the record of his call, he was probably the only victim of this scam to contest the ticket in court (he won, since the maleficent rogue officer didn't dare show up at the hearing). Unlike Joe McDoakes here, my uncle escaped prison, but his pay was docked for being late because of the bogus (if not life-threatening) traffic stop. SO YOU THINK YOU'RE NOT GUILTY exposed the total corruption of the American legal system, as of 1950. It's gotten at least ten times worse these 64 years later!