Overview
See production notesHarry Powell is a misogynistic serial killer and self-proclaimed preacher traveling along the Ohio River in West Virginia during the Great Depression. He is arrested for driving a stolen car and serves 30 days at Moundsville Penitentiary. There he shares a cell with Ben Harper, who killed two men in a bank robbery for $10,000. Harper made his children, John and Pearl, promise to never reveal where he hid the money. Despite Powell's attempts to worm it out of him, Harper takes the secret to his grave when he is hanged for the murders. Upon his release from prison, Powell visits Harper's tiny hometown, where he charms the townsfolk and woos Harper's widow, Willa, a waitress for Walter Spoon and his wife, Icey. Overnight, Powell manages to win the town's trust and weds Willa, but John remains instinctively distrustful of him. Powell suspects that John knows where the money is hidden and threatens him to reveal its location. John accidentally reveals that he and Pearl do know where the money is. After Powell refuses to consummate their marriage, Willa deludes herself that he married her to redeem her soul and begins preaching alongside him in tent revivals. She later loses her faith in him when she overhears Powell threatening Pearl to make her reveal where the money is hidden. Powell murders Willa and ties her body to a Model T that he sinks in the river, then claims that she left her family for a life of sin when Walter and Icey question her abrupt disappearance. Uncle Birdie, an elderly friend of the family, discovers Willa's body while fishing, but refrains from telling the police for fear that he will be accused of Willa's murder. Powell threatens the children and learns that the money is hidden inside Pearl's doll. The children escape an enraged Powell and attempt to seek refuge with Birdie, whom they find in a drunken stupor. They use their father's small johnboat to flee down the river and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper, a tough woman who looks after stray children. Powell kills a farmer for his horse and eventually tracks them down, but Rachel sees through his deceptions and runs him off her property with a shotgun. He returns after dark. During an all-night standoff, Rachel gives Powell a face full of birdshot. She summons the state police, who arrive and arrest Powell for Willa's murder. John breaks down during Powell's handcuffing, having a flashback of his father's fate. He beats the doll against Powell's struggling body in anguish, spilling the cash. During Powell's trial John cannot bring himself to testify against him. After Powell's sentencing, Rachel takes John and the other children away as Icey leads a lynch mob toward the police station. Powell is escorted out the back to safety just in time, but the prison hangman vows to see him again soon. John and Pearl spend their first Christmas together with Rachel and her brood of stray children.
Plot from The Night of the HunterCC BY-SA 4.0
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Quotes
See all quotesBirdie Steptoe: [after finding Willa's body] They'll think it was me. They'll think it was poor old Uncle Birdie. Ah, if you could have seen it, Bess, down there in the deep place, with her hair waving soft and lazy like meadow grass under flood water, and that slit in her throat, like she had an extra mouth. You're the only human mortal I can go to, Bess. If I go to the law, they'll hang it on me. Sweet heavens, save poor old Uncle Birdie. John Harper: [hitting Powell with the doll] Here! Here! Take it back. Take it back. I don't want it. It's too much. Here! Here!
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Ben: First, swear you'll take care of little Pearl, guard her with your life, boy. Then, swear you won't never tell where the money's hid, not even your Mom. John: Yes, Dad. Ben: Do you understand? John: Not even her? Ben: You got common sense. She ain't. When you grow up, that money will belong to you. Now, stand up straight, look me in the eye. Raise your right hand, now swear. 'I'll guard Pearl with my life,'...'And I won't never tell about the money.'...You Pearl, you swear too. [Pearl nods]
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Ben: What religion do you profess, Preacher? Powell: The religion the Almighty and me worked out betwixt us. Ben: I'll bet. Powell: Salvation is a last minute business, boy...If you's to let that money serve the Lord's purpose, He might feel kindly turned towards ya...Now don't you think the Lord might change his mind if you was to... [Ben falls asleep]
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Powell: The night before your father died, he told me what he did with that money. That money's at the bottom of the river, wrapped around a twelve-pound cobblestone. Willa: I feel clean now. My whole body's just a-quivering with cleanness.
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Powell: Good evening, John. Your mother and I are getting married tomorrow in Sisterville. She wants me to be a daddy to you and your sister. John: You ain't my dad, you'll never be my dad. Powell: When we get back, we're all going to be friends and share our fortunes together, John. John: [shouting] You think you can make me tell, but I won't, I won't, I won't! [slaps a hand over his mouth] Powell: Tell me what, boy?...We aren't keeping secrets from each other, are we, little lad?...Well, it don't matter. We've got a long time together, boy.
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Willa: Harry? Powell: I was praying. Willa: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I--I thought... Powell: You thought, Willa, that the moment you walked in that door, I'd start to paw at you in that abominable way that men are supposed to do on their weddin' night. Ain't that right now? Willa: No, no, no. [She crosses her hands over her breasts] Powell: I think it's time we made one thing perfectly clear, Willa. Marriage to me represents the blending of two spirits in the sight of heaven. Get up, Willa. Get up! Now go look at yourself yonder in that mirror. Do as I say! Look at yourself! What do ya see, girl? You see the body of a woman, the temple of creation and motherhood. You see the flesh of Eve that man since Adam has profaned. That body was meant for begettin' children. It was not meant for the lust of men. Do you want more children, Willa? Willa: I-I, no. Powell: It's the business of this marriage to mind those two you have now, not to beget more. Willa: Yes. Powell: All right, you can
The Night of the Hunter (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
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