A Fugitive from a Chain Gang - Book vs. Memoir

 As shown by the analysis below, the movie makes the memoir more dramatic, violent, and sexy. Further, Burns is whitewashed and turned into a heroic "everyman", while his wife is made into a villainess. The dramatic ending " I steal" is complete invention. 

Fugitive from a Chain Gang  – The Film	The Memoir by Robert E. Burns
November 1918.  We join a bunch of “Doughboys” discussing what they’ll do when they get home.  James Allen (Muni) states he’ll put Army Engineering knowledge to work and start a successful career. Later. we see Muni reunite with his Mother and Brother, and go back to his old job as a shipping clerk.	The book is more or less the same. But there’s no evidence that Burns was a “war hero” or ever in combat. Burns says his primary reason for drifting was his recurrent “shell shock” but gives no details.
A dissatisfied Muni quits his job and tells his family the Army has changed him.  The movies shows Muni traveling the country, becoming destitute,  and pawning his Army medals for money.	Again, almost the same. The Pawning of the medals is the screenwriter’s invention. Burns received no medals for Combat heroism.
Muni meets a man, actually a criminal, who promises him a good paying job, and takes him to a local diner for lunch.  Once there, the armed robber forces Muni – at gunpoint – to empty the cash register. The Robber is then killed by police. Scared, Muni makes a break for it, and is arrested as an accomplice. A Judge sentences to him to a chain-gang for 6-10 years	Wrong. Burns was guilty. He voluntarily went with 2 other men and robbed a store owner. Burns only says he did so reluctantly. Also, nobody was killed and there was no gunplay. And while he got 6-10 years, Convicts could “buy their way out” after 1 year.
Muni arrive at the Chain Gang. He’s put in chains, and forced to break rocks in the hot sun. His dinner is so horrible, it makes him nauseous. Later, he is accused of “slacking off” and beaten with a leather strap.	Right out of the memoir, although Burns was never whipped. Burns doesn’t emphasize that convicts could receive $2/week (equal to $100 today) to buy outside food.  Or that the work/diet of the chain gang wasn’t much worse than that of many Georgia sharecroppers.
Realizing he can’t make it six years, Muni gets his friend “bomber” to loan him six dollars and a black convict to loosen his shackles with a sledgehammer.  Muni makes a break for it, and escapes by hiding in the swamp and breathing through a straw.	Burns escape was more mundane. The $6 came from his family. And he escaped by simply running into the woods. The Guards and dogs never found his trail.
Buying a new set of clothes, Muni arrives at a speakeasy run by an ex-convict.  After a meal, and some female companionship, Muni goes to Chicago, and works as a manual laborer.  He meets a local landlady, the beautiful, blond, Glenda Farrell. She makes it clear she wants him be more than a tenant, and gives him a special monthly rate.	Burns did end up at a speakeasy, and he befriended one of the “working girls” who assisted him. But there was no sex. And while Burns did become involved with a Chicago Land-lady, she was a short, plain, 40 year old divorcee.
Time passes. Before long Muni is a well-paid Construction executive. However, Farrell is upset that Muni doesn’t love her, and has lost interest.  When she opens a letter reveling Muni is an escaped convict, she blackmails him into marriage.	Burns was never in Construction. He helped his wife-to-be invest in real estate, and they soon owned a string of Apartment buildings.  Using the real estate proceeds Burns started a successful Chicago news magazine. She did blackmail him into marriage – after 3 years of living together.
Farrell cheats on him and spends Muni’s money like water. When Muni objects, Farrell threatens him with jail. After falling in love with someone he met at  a party, Muni asks for a divorce. Farrell calls the police and Muni is arrested.	Wrong. Burn’s wife was faithful, had her own money, and was deeply in love with Burns. However, Burns had fallen for his young secretary and demanded a divorce. After Burns refused to provide enough alimony, the wife wrote a letter to the Chicago police
Muni works out a deal with State Lawyers. After paying a large “fee” Muni will return to the Southern Chain gang, serve 90 days and then be released. Once back in the Chain Gang, Muni is double-crossed and must serve his entire time.	The Memoir and the film agree.
Muni  is put on the worst chain-gang, and serves some hard time. Finally, Muni escapes by stealing a dump truck.  In a thrilling  car chase, Bomber is killed and Muni dynamites a bridge to lose the pursuing police.	The truth is much duller. Burns escaped by bribing a local man to pick him up and drive him to a bus station 50 miles away.
Muni’s escape generates headlines.  Time Passes. Muni’s girlfriend is accosted by Muni who comes out of the shadows. Haggard and destitute, he’s a hunted criminal. How do you live, she asks? “I Steal” The END.	Burns made his way back to New Jersey where his family was. He lived on their money and after a year, wrote his best-selling memoir. The NJ Governor refused to extricate him back to GA and Burns had no trouble making a living for the rest of his life.