Who Is Reverend Harry Powell In The Film The Night Of The Hunter

In Charles Laughton’s 1955 film The Night of the Hunter, I chose to write about Reverend Harry Powell. This movie is about a crooked reverend/serial killer who tries to charm a gullible widow and steal ten thousand dollars hidden by her dead husband. He is motivated by his hatred for women and his belief that he is doing “God’s work”. From the very beginning, we see Reverend Harry Powell fleeing away from his most recent murder scene. He has murdered another widow and is now traveling up the Ohio River. He stops at a burlesque show and while he is watching, he flicks the switch on his switchblade and it erects through his coat pocket thus symbolizing his arousal. This is awkward because he hates women, but he is able to still be aroused by them. It shows that he is still a man. Towards the middle of the film, Harry has found out about the ten thousand dollars that Ben Harper stole. As soon as Harry was released from prison, he starts on his search to find Ben’s widow and children. He already has an idea of where the money is because Ben mentioned that the children are the only people who know the location of the money. He knows the location of the Harpers and starts looking for them there. Powell goes into the local ice cream parlor owned by Walt and Icey Spoon. Although he wins over all of
John and Pearl escape somehow with the money and take off up the Ohio River on Ben’s old skiff. Rachel Cooper ends up finding them. She is a lady who looks after abandoned children. Reverend comes to the house and tells Rachel that he is their father, but Rachel does not buy it. She runs him away after pointing a shotgun at him. Later, he comes back and tries to break into the house to kill her. This time she shoots him and then calls the police on him. He is then arrested and convicted for all of the murders. Reverend gets sentenced to death by