Question: After the robbery and once the dust settled (business was back-to-normal at the bank, etc.) why did the bank president not immediately go to open the safety deposit box and see what happened to its contents? He knew it was the target of the robbery. Reason would dictate that one of the first things he would have done would be to open the box and see what was there... Not leave it to the NYPD to open it and discover a mostly empty box except for the big ring, chewing gum and note.
Answer: Arthur Case did not want anyone to know about the safe deposit box or what was in it. In fact, the box's number had been left off the bank records. The police did not immediately know if anything had been stolen during the robbery. Case going to the bank to check on the box, would only have drawn attention to it. The contents, the diamonds, were a link to Case's criminal Nazi past that he wanted kept hidden. It was only by chance that Detective Frazier discovered the box and the clues that had been left inside it by Dalton Russell.
Question: In the scene where Hal, Rosemary, the cripled friend, and Nurse "Sourpuss" go out of town, Hal and his friend got to buy snacks leaving Rosemary and "Sourpuss" to talk. There is a scene where thy cut to the front of the car and Nurse "Sourpuss" is now good looking. So is that her real look and Hal only sees her as old and ugly?
Chosen answer: Yes. Just as Hal sees many unattractive and/or overweight women to be thin and beautiful due to their true personalities, he sees Nurse "Sourpuss" - who is a beautiful woman - to be old and ugly due to hers.
Answer: At that point Hal and his friend had already turned their backs and went to the store so Hal was not even looking at her.
Question: After they search Leary's hotel room, they find a piece of paper that says "SW SKELLUM LA." We learn that the SW stands for Southwest (a bank he was using) and SKELLUM is a phone number. What does the LA mean?
Chosen answer: LA is short for Los Angeles, which refers to the city Leary attempts to assassinate the president in.
Question: Are the characters in this movie based on actual people? Is it a true story or a fictional story that was entirely possible?
Answer: The movie was written by Tom Hanks and some what reflects the music industry during that time period. It is not about a real band, but shows how a lot of bands were treated at the time and how quickly you can rise and how you can fall even faster.
Question: Was the ghostwriter murdered? Why? The book had already been published, and he only discovered the truth about Ruth minutes before, so who would have wanted him dead?
Answer: Who would want him dead? Ruth, for one, as well as Professor Emmett (her CIA recruiter) and others involved in the conspiracy. Yes, the book had been published, but the secret message only comes across if one is in possession of all the knowledge that the writer had acquired, which the casual reader would not have. And minutes is plenty of time for Ruth, Emmett, or anyone else to make a phone call and arrange the hit.
The published book was a rewrite and would not have the secret message in the chapter beginnings.
The published book was a rewrite of the original manuscript. He gives her the original manuscript that he was working off, not a final draft.
We know the beginning of the book was rewritten as he didn't like it. Almost certainly, the clue is not in the published version of the book. Ruth was shocked to read the note and is delivering her speech so is unlikely to be complicit in the murder of the Ghostwriter. The ending suggests that Ruth, too, is little more than a pawn in the whole conspiracy.
Makes no sense, he was run down 2 minutes after she read it.
Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?
Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.
Question: When Georges is being deported back to France, why didn't Brontë go with him? They realised they were in love with each other plus there was nothing stopping her from going to France with him.
Answer: It's implied she will be coming with him when George says he will write to ask 'when are you coming cherie?' and the way they laugh and exchange rings. She just has to wrap up loose ends in NY then she'll be on her way to him.
Question: If the ship's artillery is only equipped with 5-inch starburst rounds (as stated more than once), how do they use the much larger guns to sink the submarine?
Answer: The smaller guns were only equipped with the Starburst rounds. The 16 Inch Cannons were still supplied with live ammo. None of the characters left to fight had experience with the 16 inch guns except for the Gunner's Mate, therefore none of them thought to use one of the 16 inch guns.
Question: When they are singing under a tree full of doves, it looks like they were tied to the tree branches. Is this true?
Answer: Yes it is true. They did this to prevent the birds from flying into the backdrops and becoming injured or killed.
Answer: In earlier versions of the "Annie" story, she is orphaned when her parents are killed in a car accident. In the musical, they died in a fire. In the 2014 re-imagining, Annie lives in foster care after being abandoned by her family. Early on, she hopes to one day be reunited with them. We, the audience, never learn their whereabouts, nor whether they are alive or dead.
Question: When Nikki came to see Terri, he laid his hat and coat in the chair - no package. Later, he went to the chair and got the package that contained the scarf. Was the package placed there at a later time?
Question: What has ended up with Max? Billy promised to go back and release him, but we never see that happen, and no explanation is given for that in the Epilogue. Is Max a real figure? If he is, what has happened to him? Did he manage to escape, or did he die in prison?
Answer: Max WAS a real character, and a Dutchman in real life, rather than an English one as portrayed in the movie. He eventually got paroled and later treatment for a severe drug addiction he had too.
Answer: It's never stated what happened to Max. The film was a heavily fictionalized version of Billy Hayes' book, and the Max character appears to be fictional as well or at least a composite of other real-life imprisoned Westerners that Hayes met while in a Turkish prison.
Question: In the scene where Vincent is just about to launch, the doctor testing him mentions his son. My brother seems to think that the doctor knows Vincent is not who he pretends to be because he is Jerome Morrow's father. Is there any evidence for this?
Answer: None whatsoever. The doctor seems to have worked out that Vincent is not who he seems to be from simple observational evidence. It's because of his son that he feels sympathy for Vincent and hasn't revealed that he's tricking the system.
Question: Wouldn't David & Jennifer's mom be worried about the sudden disappearance of her daughter, seeing as how Jennifer stayed behind in Pleasantville rather than returning to the "real world"?
Answer: We don't see much of the "real world" after David returns other than his conversation with his mother. I am sure in time she would have been worried but there seem to be many unanswered questions which might make it not so simple.
Considering that a couple of days in Pleasantville turned out to be just an hour in the real world, it's possible Jennifer could spend 3-4 years in uni and cone back with it being just a weekend in the real world. David could just make up something in that period she's gone.
Actually if a couple of days is just an hour than 3-4 years is more than 2 weeks.
Question: In the office scene where Mike and Olin are speaking of all the deaths that have occurred in room 1408 they say a specific number for each type of death. I added all the numbers up and got 43 but Olin said there had been 56 deaths total. Is my addition wrong or was is it a coincidence that there were 13 deaths they didn't speak of?
Answer: After they recite the types of deaths and the number attributed to each one Mr. Olin also says that there have also been natural causes of death as well which surprises Mike. The natural causes of death add up to the other 13 deaths.
First, I don't have a great memory - I had to re-watch the movie, writing down the numbers: 7 jumpers, 4 overdoses, 5 hangings, 3 mutilations, 2 strangulation's plus 22 natural deaths - I get 43 total, but later we hear of a man that drowned in his chicken soup... which fits none of the categories mentioned including natural. There is also mention of heart attacks, which I don't know if you would categorizes these as natural considering the circumstances. That is to say, they just didn't detail all 56 deaths. The book might, and mind you a book made into a movie is always too fast paced with so much detail crammed into 2 hours... there is really no time to digest all the material. I'm guessing this is a much better read. Also this movie PRE-supposes that a person understands a lot of things... I had to look the stuff up after the first viewing... then came to this site (as a means of looking some stuff up). Here's my low down - after the fast forward second viewing, literally taking notes: 1. The room is not haunted - something in the room is evil; this is stated when the hotel owner has conversations with writer just outside of the office on route to the elevator 2. The writer expresses this is : the seventh circle - the 7th circle is where those that committed the following violations are punished: a. Crimes against neighbours b. crimes against self >suicide c. Crimes against God, Art (grand daughter of God) and nature 3. The writer has pleaded Guilty as charged in the hotel managers office to charges of: believing in nothing (this would be God - and he states so later) and believing in no-one but himself 4. The writer opens the bible - and the page falls to Nathans Parable -2 Samuel 12 ==> had to look this one up - this is about being judged - mostly about a man who kills another and takes his wife - it's about judging yourself and paying for your sins. In this story the wife brings forth a child that god strikes down with sickness and the child dies... among other things. 5. It is generally believed that there are 3 things that allow for better mind control - or mind opening/bending experiences: a. Sugar b. Alcohol c. Drugs ==> he was given a bottle of alcohol which he consumes as well as chocolate squares on the bed - presumably the evil force has provided these to allow better mind control 6. All the pictures show some form of evil: the Schooner lost at sea, should we presume an act of evil in addition to potential future acts of cannibalism? The Hunt: which is where I believe the hotel owner originated from: escaping from a pore in the picture - he was the hunted (no glass covering on the picture) and he provided the alcohol - he also tries to stop the writer from taking the room, saying he doesn't have to do this (punish himself) and/or the manager senses the end of the room and potentially his existence Lastly the old women reading to the three children... I just can't make this one fit...which is actually when I started to review the relevance to evil there. The writer says the children are deranged...? 7. The demons all originate from the pictures - I think; the manager of the hotel, the knife wielding woman (schooner) . I'm unsure about the guy in the vent. That is to say, the pictures have brought the evil to the room; and the room has become a room where those who should be punished in the 7th circle are. 8. To prove the punishment room theory: in the file folder, as the writer approaches the room 408 - the notes indicate a man with the notation that: his brother was eaten by wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike - I'm guessing there was an act of cannibalism there. 9. Further to prove the punishment room theory - acts against art are really usury and charging interest (loan shark style - high rates to those that are desperate) - we see a business man jump - which later appears to be the man from the newspaper article that says: Dec. 06, 1938 Chicago factory owner leaps from bridge - stating Financial issues Ultimately this room is about judging yourself, deciding your own punishment and the evil forces dispensing the punishment. Think about the maid that only blinds herself with scissors, and the writer who has presumably already paid for most of his sins (daughter dies) but is still forced to suffer heat, cold, drowning, mental illness, isolation etc.
Answer: Olin simply did not list all of the causes/cases. He mentions the causes of 21 deaths before Mike cuts him off. He then mentions the 22 natural death cases. By no coincidence, the number of cases mentioned, 43, subtracted from the number of deaths Olin says actually occurred, 56, is 13. Afterwards, he reveals one more cause attributed to the unmentioned 13 deaths: drowning.
Question: The children in Teddy's hallucinations were bloody but they died by drowning. Is this just an inference to Andrew's guilt that his children's "blood is on his hands" because he didn't seek treatment for Dolores' mental illness? Or is it Scorsese being overly dramatic and adding a lot of blood where it doesn't belong? Also, how exactly did Andrew kill Dolores? Did he use his service revolver, even though we don't hear the shot?
Chosen answer: I think the recurring blood comes from the blood of his wife when he killed her. there was a lot of blood you see, in his psychosis that means a lot and has taken over a large part of his hallucinations, just like Dachau camp. Yes, he did shoot his wife Dolores, in the belly. You can see it in the end of the movie.
Question: In the scene in the girl's locker room, after Heather Chandler's death, why does Veronica get into a shower with her clothes on?
Answer: I think it's one of those "This can't be happening, I must be dreaming" moments. Same as when a character pinches themselves in order to wake up, or they tell someone to pinch them. Veronica can hardly believe what she and JD did.
Answer: The aforementioned answer fails to keep in mind he is the owner of the bank and could've have done this hours before the bank was opened and or hours after the bank was opened. Dalton spent 3 days behind the wall. Mr Case had a special fixer, and she had the mayor in her pocket. It is a reasonable assumption that a billionaire like Aruthur Case would be able to have the contents of his safety deposit box removed with little to no problem. One way is "yes Mr. Mayor I will be giving you a blank check for your reelection campaign." The issue is this was a major plot hole that almost ruined a otherwise great and well thought out movie.