Question: Why do the guards in the mental asylum wear cages over their heads?
Question: At the end of the movie right before Rudy's gang kills him, they ask the Asian guy if he was coming out and he said he was staying in. Did he not come out because he feared they were going to kill him, or did he know they were going to kill Rudy and he wanted no part of it?
Chosen answer: He did not want to take part in the murder. That's why one of the attackers asked him "You sure you know what you're doing homes?"
Question: At the end of the movie, did Bobby really fly off in the Radio Flyer plane or did Mike make that story up?
Answer: The script's ending was ultimately changed by director Richard Donner from what writer David Evans had originally written. In the original ending, it was made clear that the Radio Flyer had actually worked and it was seen hanging (actually floating) next to the Wright Brother's plane in the Smithsonian. Donner instead wanted the ending to be a "Rorschach Test", meaning the viewer sees the ending as he or she wants. So if you perceive it as working and Bobby being free or you see it as Bobby committing suicide, etc, it's meant as a reflection on you. However, Evans has said that he never intended the ending to be, or allude to, suicide, but because of the script changes, he understands how people could make that conclusion.
I have watched this movie 3x in the last 2 days. It has emotionally exhausting and I have done more research on this film, the actors, the original intent for the films direction by David, I mean you would think I'm nuts! But after paying close attention, 28min into the movie, the boys discuss exploring the hill where Fisher jumped off one day. The look and sound of Bobby's voice when he said "he died, no-one can make that jump" is what leads me to believe he was telling us the viewers.
His fate. I think Mike tried to help him, and describes the idea as a "dangerous" one. In their attempt to fly, things of course go wrong and Bobby dies during the crash. However mike in his young mind, created the story of Bobby actually getting away. A grown up mike seems sad, depressed and a little off. He still struggles with his trauma.
Answer: He flew off alright - straight to heaven!
Answer: Yes. He actually did fly off. Adult Mike even tells his two sons that sometime after Bobby flew off, he began receiving postcards from Bobby from every place he traveled to and still keeps sending postcards to him.
... and you don't think that the mother would have moved heaven and earth to track her son if he actually sent postcards saying he was doing fine? He was a little boy - it would be naive to believe that he just flew off and lived his best life on his own and continued flying from place to place.
Answer: According to Elijah Wood, in an even older script, Bobby did in fact die.
Question: In the locker room before the fights begin, Gillon uses the phrase, "blind as Tidwell's goat." What is the reference here? I've looked online and can't find anything about it.
Answer: Maybe it's just a local reference known only to the local residents of Diggstown. Then again, I can't find any info on the town of Diggstown either.
Diggstown, GA is a fictional town.
Question: Why did Catherine change her mind about killing Nick at the end? Obviously she was planning on killing him anyway, but she changed her mind only hours after ending their relationship when her book was finished and was of no further use. So why did she spare him? Was it because she fell in "love" with him?
Answer: There's no definitive answer to this and the ending is deliberately ambiguous and open to interpretation. The audience is left to speculate whether or not Catherine kills Nick, or if she intended to kill him but changes her mind because she loves him, or intends to kill him at a much later time, and so on.
Question: How did Malcolm, Shorty, Sophia, and Peg get caught for their crimes? Also, was the water turned off because of the police arresting Malcolm and Shorty? And where's Rudy? I didn't see him arrested.
Answer: It was Rudy who called the police. He was double crossing his partners and making off with the loot from their crime spree.
Question: Is it true that, out of all actors who appeared in this movie, only Carlos Gallardo had experience in acting before starring in this film?
Question: I've been wanting to finally watch the TV series, but I've never understood one thing... I know the movie is technically not 100% canonical with the series, but I've heard they later tried to connect it with the series with a comic-book adaptation. So should I watch the movie before the series? Or should I just go ahead and watch the series on its own, and treat the movie as an entirely separate "thing"? Or can it be done either way?
Answer: I'd say you treat them as 2 separate things. My personal opinion is that you should just watch the series and forget about the movie.
Question: Does anyone know why Belle's 'The Love Is Gone' song was deleted from the UK release of this movie? (It may be in some versions, but isn't in others).
Answer: The song was originally deleted from the theatrical release, but included on the VHS and widescreen version of the LaserDisc. On the early DVDs, it's included in only the full screen versions. It is not included on the original Blu Ray release because the original master and negative were lost. However they were found and Disney has said the song will be included on future 4K releases.
Answer: I have the UK version on video and the song is on mine but I watched it when it was shown on TV and the song wasn't on it, maybe it's something to do with the length of the film? I dunno but it's definitely on the UK release that I've got.
Question: Does anyone remember the initial theatrical release or perhaps a Director's Cut version of Unforgiven having Little Bill's (Gene Hackman) final word being "F**k?" It was Little Bill's last word when he realised William Munny was definitely going to kill him? That's the only memory I had of the movie. I just watched it last week and Little Bill didn't say it. Am I crazy for having that memory?
Answer: Not crazy, but maybe there's a bit of the Mandela Effect at play. There's no such line in any draft of the script, and it's not in any version of the film I've seen (including theatrical). In any case, Little Bill already knows that Munny is going to kill him, hence his line, "I'll see you in hell." If there was ever any doubt in his mind what was going to happen-as he lay there staring down the barrel of a shotgun, wielded by a man who'd just murdered a roomful of people-it's certainly gone by that point.
Will was pointing a Spencer at Bill, not a shotgun.
Question: This film was called California man in the UK, I'm guessing the reason it was changed was because the UK wouldn't know what Encino man meant, which (in my case) is true. What does Encino man mean?
Chosen answer: Encino is a city near L.A. in California.
Question: At the bank, near the beginning, what was the security guard watching on the TV?
Answer: The film is Touch of Evil (1958), directed by Orson Welles. *SPOILER* Within the specific scene that the guard is watching, Quinlan (played by Welles) is holding a box with dynamite sticks inside, with Vargas (played by Charlton Heston) contending, "I looked in that box, just now, there wasn't anything there" (the box had been empty when Vargas was in the bathroom). This scene in Touch of Evil is foreshadowing the end with Cosmo in Sneakers (1992).
Question: When Mrs. Clackett tells Flavia that the bed hasn't been aired, Flavia says, "I'll get a hot water bottle." What is the hot water bottle for?
Chosen answer: Hot water bottles were used to warm the sheets and take the "staleness" out of sheets that have not been used in a while.
Question: I'm no expert on figure skating, so could someone explain why Kate couldn't just become a single skater when she had trouble finding a partner to work with? (Her father says that they should have made her a single skater). To the untrained eye, the fundamentals of single and pair skating seem the same.
Chosen answer: One reason is that singles skating focuses on jumps. Pair skaters usually do side-by-side jumps like double axles and the easier triple jumps. Single skaters now do up to three triple jumps in a row - a skill that pair skaters do not work so hard to master and may set her back in competitions.
Question: How could the girls not see that Martha was a boy? In the movie his voice is deep well until Kim came to visit him.
Answer: Maybe they just thought he had a deep voice for a girl. I also thought about that, like when the girls hug Martha he's a guy - no boobs - but it's just a fun movie.
Answer: Cross-dressing is a time honored tradition in comedy and it requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief to enjoy. A character who is obviously a boy to the audience but none of the characters noticing is a big part of what makes these films funny.
Answer: For protection from the inmates.
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