Off Season story
A trigger-happy cop gets fired from the police department and gets a job in the office of a small town sheriff. Directed by: William Friedkin. Story by: Robert Bloch (teleplay), Edward D. Hoch (short story).
13 total · 7 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| anger management issues | major | Johnny Kendall was a trigger-happy cop who got fired from the force after he shot dead a thirsty hobo in, what seemed like, a berserk rage. He later shot a woman, whom he thought was his cheating girlfriend, in the back as she was running away from him. |
| engaged couple | major | Johnny and Sandy had decided to get married as soon as Johnny had a steady job. |
| law enforcement | major | Johnny was fired from the force. He then moved somewhere else and was hired as a sheriff's deputy. |
| mistrust | major | Johnny came to believe that his girlfriend was cheating on him and lying about it to his face. This lead to him murdering an innocent woman. |
| romantic infidelity | major | The plot revolves around Johnny's belief that Sandy was cheating on him. |
| romantic jealousy | major | Johnny thought Sandy was cheating on him with Milt. Milt goaded Johnny into a murderous rage, and ended up paying with his life. |
| the control of deadly weapons | major | Johnny was told off twice by superiors who recognize that guns are at the root of gun-related accidents. To his dismay, Johnny was forbidden to carry a gun in his new policing job. |
| extramarital affair | minor | Erma was fooling around with the ex-deputy behind her husband's back. |
| getting fired from one's job | minor | Johnny was "honorably discharged" from his job as a beat cop after he got a bit trigger happy and shot a hapless hobo. The sheriff's ex-deputy had been fired for drilling the sheriff's wife. |
| human occupational activity | minor | Sandy started work as a waitress. [waitress] |