Unraveling Richard Marx's Hazard

[Majora Fi]

So... Did he kill Mary or not? 🕵‍

 

[kbcinharoxa kbcinharoxa]

maybe.

 

[Majora Fi]

maybe.

Lay your cards on the table and say what you think about it.

 

[Boofytan]

 

[SpcDaicon SpcDaicon]

TL;DR: The sheriff did it to get rid of an sexually free woman in a small, conservative town and pin the crime on a man he wanted to get rid of.


The longer version:
I don't think Marx did although he had a plausible motive.

Marx character is shown to be a unreliable narrator and is also implied he discovered his mother's infidelity and burnt his house after his father left them when he was a child. It isn't clear if he told his father about the affair or if he found out by himself.

We can assume Marx had very complicated feelings about women and seeing Mary with another man could drive him to commit a crime as it was implyied he did when he was a kid.

The Sheriff seems very suspicious but I the only motive I think for him to murder Mary is to have a way to pin the crime on Marx to jail him or drive him out of town. People say the sheriff was jelous of Marx and Mary's relationship but aside from acting creepy towards Mary, he seems much more preocupied in destryoing Marx life.

It is stated that Marx was always unwanted on town and after his night on jail, the locals burn his trailer, forcing him to skip town. Thats why the sheriff felt so confortable murdering Mary, Marx was a social pariah and nobody would believe or defend him.
I also thing the sheriff didn't want Mary in town. She was kinda of a free spirit, associating with unwanted people in town and, from what is shown, very sexually confident and free, something that wouldn't be welcomed in a small, conservative, town like Harzard.
Murdering Mary and pinning it on Marx would kill to birds with one stone.

 

[Majora Fi]

We can assume Marx had very complicated feelings about women and seeing Mary with another man could drive him to commit a crime as it was implyied he did when he was a kid.

Do you think Mary betrayed Marx of her own free will (or was she forced to take part in a Sheriff trap)?

 

[SpcDaicon SpcDaicon]

Do you think Mary betrayed Marx of her own free will (or was she forced to take part in a Sheriff trap)?

I don't think it was a setup nor do I think Mary and Marx shared romantic feelings towards eachother.

Their relationship always seemed platonic to me, not a romantic one much less a sexual one.

Like he says on the lyrics "no one understand what I felt for May". When he sees Mary with another man he seems much more wounded emotionally rather than angry. Maybe he felt emotionally abandoned by Mary like he felt abanoned by his mother when he was a child.

Mary was with another man in a car, Marx saw them but the sheriff arrived (someone probably had called the police after seeing a man and a woman in a car parked in the middle of the woods). Marx ran away but his scarf gets stuck on some twigs, the sheriff confronts Mary and her lover, after the confrontation the man gets his car and leaves, leaving Mary to go home alone by foot. The sheriff takes Marx scarf and murders Mary, dumping the body on the river. She is latter found and people pin the crime on Marx as a lover's quarrel gone wrong after Marx found mary with another man.

 

[Majora Fi]

I don't think it was a setup nor do I think Mary and Marx shared romantic feelings towards eachother.

Their relationship always seemed platonic to me, not a romantic one much less a sexual one.

I had never imagined that this love could be one-sided
Any reason for Mary to look sad and tearful upon being caught in the act?