Fan Casting Lieutenant Elgart in Steven Spielberg's The Executioners

Lieutenant Elgart is the New Essex police lieutenant who delivers the film's bleakest wisdom. He's spent decades watching the system fail victims, and he's made a crooked peace with its limitations. When Sam asks for protection, Elgart explains, in his folksy, tobacco-chewing drawl, that the law cannot stop a man like Cady from thinking about committing a crime. His suggestion—that Sam stake out a few goats and hide in a tree—isn't cruelty. It's pragmatism from a man who's given up on justice and settled for survival.