Murder, He Says

Murder, He Says (1945) is a ninety-minute comedy/horror film starring Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Helen Walker, and Peter Whitney. The action takes place in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains near the fictitious town of Plainville, Arkansas. According to the American Film Institute, the production team made recordings of Arkansas accents to help cast members learn how to speak like native Arkansans. Appearing in a small uncredited role was actor Arthur Hunnicutt, who was originally from the Arkansas community of Gravelly (Yell County).

The story concerns a murderous backwoods family, the search for stolen loot from a bank robbery, a beautiful young woman who is not what she seems, and an innocent pollster who gets caught in the middle of it all. The director was George Marshall, who directed the classic crime drama The Blue Dahlia (1946) the following year starring actor Alan Ladd, originally from Hot Springs (Garland County). Filmed on the back lot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood with scenes primarily taking place at night, the film had the working title of Murder Farm. That title was eventually changed to Murder, He Says.

The movie poster featured an illustration of a perplexed-looking MacMurray and a gun-toting girl wearing cut-off shorts such as those worn by the character of Daisy Mae in a popular comic strip at the time, L’il Abner. Some reviewers perceived Murder, He Says to be a kind of rural companion piece to the hit film Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), another black comedy about an innocent man (Cary Grant) who becomes entangled with a murderous family. According to the Internet Movie Database, the star of Murder, He Says was originally intended be comedian Bob Hope, but Hope eventually declined. The role went to MacMurray, who was a contract player at Paramount. MacMurray had appeared as a killer named Walter Neff in the classic film noir drama Double Indemnity (1944), which was released the year before Murder, He Says. In the latter, MacMurray was reunited with Double Indemnity castmate Jean Heather.

MacMurray’s role in Murder, He Says was that of a good-natured pollster who comes to Arkansas in order to find a co-worker who recently vanished there without a trace. The movie does not portray Arkansas in a particularly favorable light. MacMurray’s character, named Pete Marshall, stumbles upon a backwoods farmhouse and its frightening inhabitants, the Fleagle family, who immediately try to kill him. The name Fleagle was familiar to readers of L’il Abner, in which there was a character named Evil Eye Fleagle.

Thinking he might be of use to them, the Fleagles take Marshall captive, foiling all his attempts to escape. The uncouth, whip-cracking matriarch is played by actress Marjorie Main, who later went on to portray a similar type of crusty backwoods woman in the popular “Ma and Pa Kettle” series during the 1940s and 1950s. One of those films, The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956), which co-starred Arthur Hunnicutt, follows the Kettle family’s activities in the fictional town of Mournful Hollow, Arkansas.

Murder, He Says opens with MacMurray’s character of Pete Marshall stopping to get information from the locals at the Plainville general store, a scene in which Hunnicutt appears. The opening dialogue sets the tone for the movie, with Marshall saying, “I’m with the Trotter Poll. We’re like the Gallup Poll but not as fast.” It is followed by lines from the locals such as “Whut yuh think we are—hicks?”

Although it appears to be a low-budget movie, one significant characteristic of Murder, He Says is an early use of special effects in the portrayal of twins, which is surprisingly effective in depicting the sadistic bullies, Mert and Bert Fleagle. There is also a character named Bonnie Fleagle, a bank robber modeled on Bonnie Parker, the notorious female outlaw of the 1930s.

Upon its release, Murder, He Says received mixed reviews but was often listed along with Arsenic and Old Lace as prime examples of Hollywood spoofs treating murder as slapstick. Although Paramount did not make such figures public, Murder, He Says was not listed among the top-earning films of 1945. However, some consider it a minor cult classic.

For additional information:
Bordwell, David. Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Higham, Charles, and Joel Greenberg. Hollywood in the Forties. New York: Paperback Library, 1970.

“Murder, He Says (1945).” AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The First 100 Years 1893–1993, American Film Institute. https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/24507 (accessed September 18, 2026).

“Murder, He Says.” Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037931/ (accessed September 18, 2026).

“‘Murder, He Says’ is Morbidly Funny.” Peterson Reviews, March 18, 2021. https://petersonreviews.com/2021/03/18/murder-he-says-is-morbidly-funny/ (accessed September 18, 2026).

“Murder, He Says (1945) Original Trailer.” YouTube, September 27, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyR2uCwL-HE (accessed September 18, 2026). [see Related Web Video in sidebar]

Steffen, James. “Murder, He Says.” Turner Classic Movies, July 7, 2010. https://www.tcm.com/articles/339958/murder-he-says (accessed September 18, 2026).

Variety Staff. “Murder, He Says.” Variety, December 31, 1944. https://variety.com/1944/film/reviews/murder-he-says-1200414493/ (accessed September 18, 2026).

Nancy Hendricks
Garland County Historical Society