A punch-line about double jeopardy

It doesn’t matter. The law calls it double jeopardy. You could sign that statement a dozen times in front of a dozen witnesses, you could shout it from the housetops, read it over the radio, and there isn’t a thing anyone can do about it.

Otto Preminger was best known for making these really bold and topical films that dealt with socially conscious issues ranging from sex, drug addiction and the injustices in the legal system that virtually no other films or filmmakers from the time were tackling to his extent. In other words, Otto Preminger was one of the first true punk-rockers of the classic Hollywood studio system. Before you even see Anatomy of a Murder or The Man With The Golden Arm, you know exactly what the topic tackled is going to be. But Angel Face, compared to the latter films, is different, for its topic isn’t the main attraction and it really isn’t until the final act where it’s socially-conscious messaging starts to take form for the viewer. A one-hour and thirty-minute long build-up to a punch-line that has you saying to yourself, “if the double jeopardy law never existed, a life, and many more lives, would possibly have been saved.”. Angel Face really brings to light how altercations and loopholes in the legal system can obstruct the true justice of a case where it may be revealed a person was indeed guilty after an acquittal, but nothing can legally happen to them because of the specific sets of laws already in place. But apparently there isn’t anything that can be done about it.