Great movie with great acting.
And just for clarification purposes, because it seems there is some confusion here as to whether or not Katie was killed by accident, if it were an accident the mute brother would not have had his father’s gun with him. I think Katie was murdered to either avenge the Just Ray’s death or to stop the brother from going to Vegas.
Btw, if anyone knows of similar crime movies with twists as such please feel free to make some suggestions 
To me, the film should have ended when it became so obvious that Penn was doing a Robert DeNiro imitation throughout the whole movie.
I didn’t read the book, but to me this speech near the ending of the movie was far more insidious than what is shown. The “prank” which killed the girl seemed rather lame, right?
Let me review a few plot points.
First, Annabeth is Jimmy’s second wife, yes? His first wife died of cancer and Katie is the only daughter from this marriage. Annabeth is a Savage and her gangster brothers view Katie as a niece but they are not blood relatives.
Second, Jimmy seems to favor Katie among his daughters. And for her, he quit
the action to be a lowly store clerk. However, the Savages proudly continue to work the neighborhood.
Third, in a very unexpected speech, Annabeth tells her daughters that their daddy is a king, and a king knows what to do and does it. This directly plays into the Lady MacBeth idea.
It is this speech which got me thinking. What if Annabeth is secretly jealous of the former wife and by relation, the surviving daughter Katie whom is favored? What if Annabeth wants her husband to return to the action and join the Savages on the street? She says directly in that speech everyone is weak but us. She says you could rule this town.
But, so long as Katie is alive, Jimmy is a lion with no claws. He is no king.
What if Annabeth orchestrated this murder? What if she overheard a phone conversation or something about Katie running away to Las Vegas with Brendan? And what if she knew Brendan’s mute brother would be abandoned to a mother who didn’t seem to care much for him? What if she was the one who duped the mute into killing Katie to stop Brendan from going to Vegas?
Think about that plot twist. I think it is far better and makes a lot more sense than some lame prank gone wrong. It is far more fitting of Lady MacBeth. And the complete coincidence of Dave killing a pedophile on the same night could have unraveled this insidious plot if only Jimmy were patient enough (or Sean fast enough) to dig a little deeper. Those are their character flaws. Jimmy is shown to exact swift revenge and Sean is slow and plodding with both an apology to his wife and picking up on Dave as a possible murder suspect.
However, there is big one problem. The boys confessed to the crime but did not implicate Annabeth. Why not? It’s too bad the mute was not choked to death in that scene with his brother who demanded he speak Katie’s name. It would have been awesome if he garbled Annabeth’s name but the brother did not understand. The friend who picked up the gun could have been helping the mute without ever knowing who orchestrated the murder.
An ending like this would be far more Shakespearean!
Dear Whiskjohn!
First of all, I’m french so please apologize my poor english! I’ve seen this movie yesterday, and I was SURE it was Sean Penn’s wife! Indeed, the speech at the end is so suspicious; why Eastwood had chosen Annabeth for the very last monologue? As some internauts said in previous posts, the movie should have ended when Jimmy says “The last time I’ve seen Dave it was in a car……” Indeed, it should be a great end, BUT it’s not the end, and this monologue isn’t superficial, because it’s the very proof of the Annabeth’s guilt! Moreover, while the band is playing in the street, we can see the Dave’s wife who is looking at Annabeth in a very strange way; Like if she was understanding something. Women have a huge (but “minor”) importance in this movie; quickly, the Sean’s wife who creates a plot by her own, without any words, Dave’s wife who “condemn” her husband, and Katie who’s killed and which creates a red string in the all movie; The only one who isn’t brought to light, it’s Annabeth, so she’s a mystery, and she doesn’t appear as a potential guilty! So all this for thank you, because everybody thought I was mad when I told them it was Annabeth, and at last I’ve found someone who think the same, so MERCI!
In fact she places some of the blame on Dave’s wife referring to the fact that she wouldn’t even stick up for her own husband. What kind of a wife does that unless even she thought her husband did it?
Isn’t it interesting that when the boy entered the car, the man in he passenger seat resembled a priest and had a large cross on his ring? Isn’t it interesting that Penn had a a huge cross tattooed down the back of his neck? Isn’t it interesting that the loss of Katie’s life was broken to Penn and family almost simultaneously with the religious communion of another family member? How about the $500 paid every month by Penn to a family for which was hurt by Penn? The speech made by Penn’s wife was a justification for the dirty deeds committed.
Penn represents evil, the church, the abuse of children
Bacon represents good, the police, the protector of truth
And yet no truth has been protected here, it only comes as close as an air gun cocked and pointed at evil. But nothing will ever amass from this.
Take it how you want but this looks like a clear representation of the cover-ups, injustices, and the church’s lazy efforts to fix what they have done. But hey, everyone’s happy in the end, except for the innocent, who are left either lonely, sad, or dead.