SPOILERS
-The sol1218 review missed the point. Duvall is in fact GUILTY of the charge. It's just that this being 1962, you couldn't depict that particular crime with the kind of explicitness that you could two decades later or come out and say so directly. Duvall isn't being arrested at the end for stealing $4.23, he's being arrested because he has committed horrific deed of child molestation. The scene of the girl's indifferent parents is 1962 code for showing us just *how* she became prey to this. And listen to Duvall's explanation of what "child molestation" means to the girl. He isn't saying, "They're accusing me of something horrible that I didn't commit" he's saying, "That's something said by people who don't understand what you and I have." If you came away thinking Duvall is innocent, you weren't paying attention.
-The sol1218 review missed the point. Duvall is in fact GUILTY of the charge. It's just that this being 1962, you couldn't depict that particular crime with the kind of explicitness that you could two decades later or come out and say so directly. Duvall isn't being arrested at the end for stealing $4.23, he's being arrested because he has committed horrific deed of child molestation. The scene of the girl's indifferent parents is 1962 code for showing us just *how* she became prey to this. And listen to Duvall's explanation of what "child molestation" means to the girl. He isn't saying, "They're accusing me of something horrible that I didn't commit" he's saying, "That's something said by people who don't understand what you and I have." If you came away thinking Duvall is innocent, you weren't paying attention.