The Macomber Affair
Margaret "Margot" Macomber (Joan Bennett) is unhappily married to Francis Macomber (Robert Preston). As their plane lands in Nairobi, Kenya, accompanied by Robert Wilson (Gregory Peck), a big-game hunter, Francis is dead from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
What happened was this: Francis, a wealthy man, has alienated his wife Margot with his physical cowardice while on safari. She is attracted to Robert so, to prove his masculinity, Francis sets out to kill a lion. He succeeds only in wounding it. Robert insists the animal must be tracked and killed so it will not to suffer. When the wounded lion charges, Francis runs and Robert must shoot it. A furious Margot humiliates her husband by kissing Robert on the lips.
As the couple's animosity grows, Francis is cruel to a servant. The next morning, Macomber wounds a cape buffalo with a courageous shot, comes to terms with his weaknesses, reconciles with Wilson (to whom he also expresses forgiveness for his wife), and thereby becomes a man. When the wounded cape buffalo charges and is not immediately dropped by shots from Macomber and Wilson, Margot takes aim and shoots; but her bullet strikes Francis and he falls dead. Robert tries to get her to admit that the shot was accidental as Margot prepares to go on trial. It is left unclear whether she intentionally shot her husband or merely feels guilt that the accident validated what was in her heart.
murder