Early on in the film, we are introduced to an underlying theme concerning religion, which will carry on until the very end of the story. After the murder of Ginny Larsen, a seven year old girl, Jerry (the retired detective played by Jack Nicholson) is driven by Mrs. Larsen (the mother of the murdered girl) to "swear by his soul's salvation" on the cross that Ginny made out of wood. After the original suspect confesses to the crime and commits suicide, all the other officers believe that the case is closed, but Jerry has a hunch that the man who confessed to the murder did not actually commit it. Because the suspect had an extreme mental handicap, Jerry believes that he was made to believe that he committed the crime by the man that questioned him.

The religion theme is introduced once again when Jerry goes to interview Ginny's grandmother, who had been extremely close to the young girl. Her grandmother tells Jerry that Ginny had liked

After Jerry buys an old gas station, his search to find the murderer intensifies. He befriends a woman with a young girl, Chrissy, with features startlingly similar to the girls murdered previously. She matches the victim profile exactly: very young with blonde hair and blue eyes. The story continues while Jerry becomes romantically involved with the girl's mother, and acts as a sort of father figure to the Chrissy. Because of his own personal involvement, he becomes emotionally involved in the case, which heightens his own passion in the search to find the killer. He believes that he is on the right track, but because he is retired, he finds it extremely difficult to find any support from his previous co-workers. He finds a drawing my Ginny to be his most useful evidence. After talking to Ginny's best friend, he learns that Ginny had talked to her friend about a man she had been meeting with. She called the man "a giant" and said that he gave her "porcupines" as gifts. Jerry believes that this "giant," who calls himself "the wizard" is also the murderer. Through his interpretation of the drawing, he can assume that the killer drives a black station wagon. In a scene where Jerry is filling a black station wagon with gas, we see Penn's editing once again. He combines slow motion with harsh sound to create anxiety within the viewer.

Later on in the film, Jerry narrows his search to one man, the grown son of a woman of a local craftswoman. Her products? Boot cleaners and other small works of art shaped as porcupines. When Jerry questions the woman, she calls her son Gary a "true gift of the Lord," which is not exactly the typical description of a man who rapes and murders young girls. Not only does Gary "dote on [his mother]" he also ministers at the local church. After it becomes obvious to us that Gary is the prime suspect in the murders, he has his first meeting with Chrissy. "Has your mommy told y

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Approximate Word count = 1292
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)