Who Needs an Enemy? story
A dishonest man finds a way to avoid prosecution. Directed by: Harry Morgan. Story by: Arthur A. Ross.
12 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| falling out of friendship | choice | As alluded to in the title, Ed catching his best friend and business partner Charlie defrauding him of around $100,000 triggered what turned out to be an irreconcilable falling out. |
| betrayal | major | Ed felt betrayed by his best friend and business partner, Charlie, upon discovering that he'd swindled around $100,000 from their brokerage firm. In the end, Charlie was pointedly betrayed by his fiancée, Danielle, who conspired with Ed to murder Charlie and make it look like a suicide. |
| criminal fraud | major | The story is premised on Charlie defrauding his best friend and business partner, Ed, of around $100,000. In the end, Ed resolved to deduct the $60,000 loss as stolen money without reporting he had gotten the money back. |
| engaged couple | major | Charlie and his fiancée, Danielle, plotted to fake his suicide and get away to South America with $60,000 in stolen cash. |
| how to fake one's own death | major | Charlie staged his own suicide in order to avoid paying back the $60,000 he's embezzled he ran with his best friend, Ed. |
| murder of a lover | major | Danielle was initially under investigation for the murder of her fiancé, Charlie. Little did the police detective know that she'd helped Charlie fake his own suicide. In the end, Danielle stood in solidarity with Ed as he shoved a bound and gagged Charlie off the peer to his death. |
| suicide | major | Charlie faked his own suicide as part of a plot to get away to South America with his fiancée and $60,000 in stolen cash. |
| coping with the death of someone | minor | Charlie's friends and family gathered at his memorial service to bid him farewell. |
| facing life in captivity | minor | Charlie added up the numbers, seven count of fraud at five years each, and concluded that 35 years of prison would, for all intents and purposes, amount to the rest of his life. He'd be 70 and pretty much dead before he'd be released. Seeing no other way out, he staged his own suicide. |
| funeral rite | minor | Charlie's friends and family gathered at his memorial service to bid him farewell. |