Bauer: Presumed Innocent

The scene in the end of Presumed Innocent is very important to the plot. Rusty is outside fixing the fence and reaches for a hammer wen he finds the hammer has blood on it. He goes into the basement to clean it off and as he does so, he hears his wife say "I did it." She goes on to explain that she killed Carolyn because it was ruining their family.

This scene is important because it makes Rusty feel responsible for her murder on some level. If he had not been having an affair with her, his would have never killed her. It ties him to the murder and although he is not directly responsible for killing her, he feels as if he is. He already feels guilty for his sexual promiscuity with Carolyn and now that he realizes that is also what got her killed, he feels even more guilty. Rather than pin the fault on his wife, Rusty thinks that he is ultimately at fault for Carolyn's murder.

McCay K 19 Blog Prompt

K 19 represents a contrast between two types of patriarchy. Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) represents one type and Captain Alexi Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) represents another. Find a scene for each character that you think best illustrates the type of patriarchy each represents and show how the scene reveals the character's relationship with the crew.

Triay - Witness/Mosquito Coast

Peter Weir's films Witness and Mosquito Coast both deal with similar themes. Exile of the protagonist, and a sharp maturation of the children within the films (both in a sense becoming wiser than their elders).

Witness:

When the Amish child Samuel Lapp witnesses a policeman commit a murder in a train station bathroom, his life is instantly brought into the violent American/English world. This one incident for Samuel marks a transition in his life. Until this moment, all he had known was the world of his family, the Amish, on their farm. After John Book exiles himself to the family farm, he begins to have a great influence on the child. When Samuel's grandfather discovers him playing with Book's gun, the two have a discussion. Samuel reveals to his grandfather his thoughts on violence, which, now having directly experienced a great act of violence, greatly differ with his grandfather's. Samuel is shown to be sympathetic towards violence, which Grandfather Lapp and the Amish community greatly do not support. This scene is shot wonderfully, with the camera proxemics intimately keeping the two very close together, revealing their great affection for each other, regardless of their now different opinions. The gun lies on the table out of focus, showing how the violence will always be indirectly related to their personal history.


Mosquito Coast:

After Fox exiles his family to South America for his ideal Swiss Family Robinson-esque fantasy of living off the land while "helping the natives" begins to fall apart, Ford's son Charlie begins to break away from his support of his father. The scene in which Fox's machine begins to explode after Fox kills three men reveals this great diverge in trust and support. The flames within Fox's eye glasses show just how far off the deep end he has gone. The quick cut to Charlie backing slowly away and his disheveled appearance reveal his now fractured image of his father. He has surpassed his father in sanity and now he's stuck with him in South America.

Triay - Presumed Innocent

Ford in Presumed Innocent is a flawed anti-hero. The film deals with a great amount of guilt placed upon Ford's character, Rusty Sabich. Sabich is accused of murdering a young woman named Carolyn, with whom the audience knows he has been having an affair with. The audience does not know whether Sabich truly did murder Carolyn, and with building evidence including finding Sabich's sperm inside of her after the autopsy greatly affect the audience's ability to trust Ford as the hero, the good guy. The audience can feel the guilt that Sabich is dealing with throughout the whole picture.



The film's final scene involves the revelation that Sabich's wife was the one who murdered Carolyn. She discovered Sabich's affair and, led to insanity, murdered Carolyn. The couple must now continue to live together, with this fractured notion of trust between them. Guilt is manifested within this broken sense of threatened trust, a trust that is based upon an "I've killed before, I'll kill again" ideal. This unsettling idea of the couple sticking together brings about an immense feeling of guilt on Sabich's behalf, as if he had remained faithful to his wife, none of this would have ever happened.

HENRY, Devil's Own

The Devil's Own is actually a pretty good movie. This movies shows many elements of family, and some even relate back to Frankie's childhood. Frankie Devany is the bad boy in the movie that has had a rough childhood. Due to this fact, he is forced to find family outside of the natural realm. This is where the IRA comes in, of courses this turns out to be a horrible decision. However, before this decision goes completely wrong he depends on the kindness of strangers. This is where the lovely Tom O'Meara takes Frankie in and seems happy the he is there. I start to get the feeling that Frankie is the son that he has always wanted, but never had. When he shows Frankie where he will be living, Tom say's " Sure is nice to have someone in the house that stands up to pee." This is one of those signs of acceptance. Later that night, at dinner, the nuclear family scene comes into play. At this moment there is a soft side to Frankie, that is really only displays when he is with the O'Meara's. He looks at the Tom, as he gazes at Tom as he gazed at his father before he was killed. The scene that really welcomed Frankie is the celebration for Tom's daughter. In that scene there is a picture taken, with Tom, his partner, and Frankie. This scene tells a lot about how Tom feels about Frankie, it also gives insight on how Frankie loves them. If you notice, he turns away, then back again to take the photo. Tom knows that his family is essential to survival because he trys all that he could to combat Frankie into doing the right thing. Even when it means that he is going have to take Frankie into custody. Frankie is not even his family, throughout the movie we see their relationship evolve. At the end of the movie ande element of Frankie childhood returned to him. They are on the boat, both Frankie and Tom are shot, yet Frankie retreats back to childhood memories. Frankie's father was a fisherman, so it could be inferred that dying on water would be very peaceful for him. The movie opens and closes with a boat scene, which is the beginning of life and the ending of life for Frankie.

Triay - Leia as a Goddess/Temptress

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Princess Leia serves a duel role as both Joseph Campbell's Goddess and Temptress. One could argue that there are two heros in the Trilogy, Luke and Han; however, there is only one heroine, Leia. Leia as a Goddess has unconditional love from the hero. This is demonstrated in A New Hope by Luke's compelling desire to seek out Leia and help her after receiving her distress call. She becomes Luke's initial goal in Episode IV, to save the damsel in distress. This unconditional love for our hero changes over the next two films. It is revealed that Leia is Luke's sister. The Campbell idea of unconditional love shifts to an unconditional sibling love, binding the two together.


Leia is also seen as a temptress, particularly in regards to Han Solo. Leia understands the necessity of having Han Solo on the rebel's side. She engages in a cat and mouse, "playing hard to get" game with Han. As a temptress, she inspires Han to stick around and stay on the Rebel side. However, they begin to truly fall for each other, developing yet another Campbell sort of "unconditional love."

Madere - The Devil's Own

With its opening scene, The Devil's Own shows how family is a central theme of the plot. This scene opens with the Irish countryside, showing the possible and natural peacefulness and beauty of the country. Frankie Maquire is fishing with his father and returns home to have a family meal with his mother and little sister. The peacefulness of the scene does not last long, however, as Frankie's father is brutally murdered at point-blank range right in front of his eyes. In some ways, this scene shows how family ties can be someone's downfall. Not only does Frankie's father's supposed family ties to republican sympathizers prove to be the reason for his death, but as seen in Frankie's young, horrified eyes after his father's murder, his love and ties to his father has caused him to feel as if he's lost everything. On the other hand, however, this scene and its implications about family also end up being the way in which Frankie comes to believe he can regain all he lost with his father's murder. Frankie forms ties to the IRA and finds a family. Not only do these people fight with him in the cause, but they offer him protection and refuge, even leading him to America where he encounters the O'Meara family and once again finds refuge and forms family ties. His family with the IRA also gives him a cause to achieve--to exact revenge on the people who killed his father, which in turn gives him a purpose and reason for living.

Dennis Patriot Games

Family loyalty and legitimacy are an essential part in the Patriot Games. A traditional family that contributes to the plot of movie is the and the Ryans. They have that nuclear family idea going on, how there is a mom, dad and children with a pet. This is considered to be the standard idea of what a family is or should be. The fear of losing one's family and being loyal to your family whether it be organizational, nuclear or not so traditional. Loyalty to their family is what posses a person, to commit any act to keep their family together. lot.

Triay - Bladerunner

In the final scene of Bladerunner, Deckard has reached his final "retirement" target, Roy Batty. After a showdown on the roof of the skyscraper, Deckard is seemingly at the end of the road. He is dangling off the edge, and Batty has the upper hand. However, Batty, overcome by finally attaining what he believes to be is human emotion, saves Deckard from falling to his death. At this moment, the replicant gains the power of human compassion. Batty fulfills the Tyrell promise of their replicants being "more human than human" and allows this new emotion to overcome the inherent evil that was plaguing him.

A dove is then released. This dove is highly symbolic of Batty's position in the film. As the dove is the traditional symbol of peace, this dove is too. Batty has become a new man, a man of compassion and emotion. As the dove flies away, we are left with the question "what makes us human?" Emotion, compassion? Perhaps it is the recognition of life as a beautiful thing to be cherished. Batty seems to have achieved this idea.

Massiha Presumed Innocent

The scene when Rusty discovers the hammer sets up his wife’s confession. It begins to set the foundation for Rusty’s guilt. The whole movie we are lead to believe it really wasn’t Rusty who killed Carolyn Polhemus, but in a twist, it was his actions that prompted her murder. If, he had never had an affair with Carolyn, his wife wouldn’t have been feeling depressed and suicidal and well, basically crazy. She felt so down that had to “destroy the destroyer.” Step by step she executed her “perfectly” planned murder, knowing she wouldn’t get caught. She, however, didn’t think they would blame her husband for her actions by default. She claims she wouldn’t have let Rusty go to jail, that she would have come clean. Her thought process had her believing he would have just written the case as unsolved and it would have gotten dismissed. Guilt manifests in Rusty because he alone has to live with the truth: that his wife killed Carolyn. Not only will it haunt him everyday, but he doesn’t have the heart to punish his son by taking his mother away. Thus, leaving him to deal with the truth every single second of every day.

Triay - Last Crusade

In The Last Crusade, Indiana Jones goes through the three stages of the traditional Medieval Knight's Quest. They are as follows.


The Mercenary Knight: A greedy, self-obsessed quest that cares little for the well being of the people and places they encounter. They simply want monetary gain. The first act of the film, the Young Indiana flashback, is reminiscent of the Mercenary Knight. Indiana is tirelessly searching for the Cross of Coronado. He abandons his scout troop and endangers the life of his friend, all for the "fortune and glory," or in this case the approval of his father. He risks his life being chased by the robbers, eventually having the cross taken back from him at his father's home, without his father's approval.

The Indentured Knight: The indentured knight serves a single person other than himself. They are indentured, or indebted, to seeking the target they are presented for the betterment of their surrounding society. Walter Donovan tips Indiana Jones about the location of the Holy Grail and quite possibly the location of Indiana's father, Henry. Indiana Jones accepts this quest, knowing that he may finally achieve his father's approval, but also aiding Walter Donovan's museum.

The Aristocratic Knight: The Aristocratic Knight already has all the treasure he needs. For Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana assumes this identity as his relationship with his father continues to mend. They see within each other all the pain that has been brought out over the years, and Indiana realizes that he does not truly desire the Holy Grail. They let the Grail remain in the temple where they find it, and ride off into the sunset together bearing the real treasure, the paternal love.

Cutler: Frantic

    In the thriller Frantic, Dr. Richard Walker finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when his wife is kidnapped in Paris. There are many noir elements in this film including fear/anxiety, helplessness, and moral ambiguity. All of these elements create an intense feeling of psychological entrapment for Walker.
    When Walker's wife is kidnapped, he immediately begins the frantic search to find her. He is overcome by feelings of fear and anxiety because the worst case scenario has happened. He then feels helpless because he is in a foreign country and there's a language barrier, so it further hurts his chance of finding his wife. Also, no one believes him and the local people don't trust him because he's American. He is isolated in a foreign country. Walker realizes the moral ambiguity in the situation when he meets Michelle and learns of why his wife was kidnapped. On his search for his wife, he feels entrapped because of the bizarre circumstances. He meets Michelle who agrees to help him but she furthers adds to his fear and anxiety because she acts as a femme fatale and temptress.

In this picture, the framing places Walker as the central figure because he is in the foreground. He is more dominant than Michelle indicating that he has taken control of the situation. For most of the film, Michelle adds to Walker's entrapment because she is difficult. This scene at the end of the film shows that Walker is dominant and has taken control of the situation and no longer feels trapped by the femme fatale. She is one of the main sources of the moral ambiguity aspect of the film, so this scene shows that Walker has risen above that and will finally be reunited with his missing wife. 

Guerry- The Devil's Own

"It's good to have someone else in the house who has to stand when they pee." This quote by Tom shows the beginning of his acceptance of Rory into his home and family. Fresh from Ireland, Rory begins living in Tom's basement as a guest and soon finds himself thrust into the O'Meara family whether he wants to be or not. Having grown up without a father for the majority of his life, Rory embraces Tom's wisdom and loving attitude towards him.

Their bond grows so strong that even in the end of the film, on the boat, Rory hesitates when faced with the opportunity to fire at Tom. He surely has been in situations like this before, where killing ensures his survival, yet Rory doesnt kill O'Meara because he is considered family.

Guerry- Blade Runner

In the final scene, Roy throws us an emotional curveball as he saves Deckard in an unprecedented show of empathy. Previously known as the diabolical replicant leader, such an act is very contradictory to his normal attitudes. The movie is a fight between Roy and Deckard, with Roy struggling to find a way to extend his life past the given four years. Batty was upset that all his experiences and memories would be gone like tears in the rain.


The white dove that Roy releases at the end of the film is a symbol of peace. Roy saves Deckard's life to prove that replicants are good and not evil. It serves as a balance to weigh out the bad things he has done. The dove shows Roy's acceptance and content with his enumerated life span and that he has gained compassion, an emotion previously unidentified with replicants. By gaining compassion, Roy essentially becomes a human, as empathy for others is what makes us human in the first place.

Guerry- Last Crusade

Three movies, three stages of knighthood. Indiana Jones goes from being a mercenary knight in Temple of Doom to an indentured knight in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and finally graduates to a Grail Knight in The Last Crusade.

In Temple of Doom, we first see a young Indy stealing the cross of Coronado to take glory for the find and give it to a museum where he feels it belongs. He acts on whim, and as we flash later to the Portuguese coast, he still is after the same cross and is still insisting on its placement in a museum.

Indy transitions away from the deceptive, win at all costs mentality of the mercenary knight into the grail knight by The Last Crusade. When Indy's father is shot in the temple Indy realizes he must fulfill his duty and help his father. He is on a spiritual quest, as well as an earthly one, and his father's potential death spurs him to his eventual reclaiming of the grail. He helps deceive Donovan as he remains quiet when Donovan chooses his grail, and then picks the proper and modest grail to save his fathers life. Then he leaves the grail in the temple, listening to his father and realizing that it is not an object of this world, and not fit for a museum.

Ramon- The Devil's Own

Americans and Irish alike have a strong emphasis on their family. This is shown very much so in The Devil’s Own. The O’Meara family gains a new member when Frankie McGuire is placed into their family the local judge. Much like Patriot Games, we have the IRA family and the American family side by side. The dynamics of IRA family is not so much prevalent in The Devil’s Own. Therefore, a scene I would like to focus on is the post-confirmation party when Tom O’Meara fully recognizes Frankie as a member of their Irish-American family. O’Meara does two things which Pakula purposefully puts high emphasis on in this scene. First, Frankie is asked to be part of a photo with O’Meara and his partner, Edwin Diaz. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I agree. As a native New Orleanian, on numerous occasions we have had to evacuate for hurricanes. On our checklist of items to grab, the number one item is a photo album of the past 25 years starting with my parent’s wedding picture. If some day we lost out home to a natural disaster, we would still have our photos to look back upon and memories will never be forgotten. Second, Frankie is included in the traditional Irish dance by O’Meara. Frankie feels like he is back at home in Ireland, and buys into the O’Meara family lifestyle. By a simple dance, he is able to relax his mind of all the bad things he has done in his past and remember his heritage. 

Dennis Devil's Own

 
   Family is central and important for Rory Devany (Brad Pitt) and Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford), because it shows unity and completeness. In the beginning of the film Rory was so happy to be spending time with his father. When his father is killed at the dinner table with all his family surrounded by him, is devastating to Rory. Rory's father was a suspected supporter of the IRA, but the accusation wasn't inconclusive. His entire world came crumbling down and he becomes and IRA terrorist. When he goes to New York and lives with the O'Meara's, Rory feels what its like to be in a happy family again since the death of his father. He begins to bond with him on that father, son level.
      In the the case Tom O'Meara, Rory is sort of the son he never had, and he's glad to have another male in the house. He states "Its good to have someone else in the house that has to stand when they pee!" He becomes attached to him, until Rory put his family in danger and Tom does any and everything to protect his family. At the end of the movie after all the that's happen between Rory and Tom, Tom still tries to save his life but Rory tells him, life doesn't always have that happy ending and Tom holds his arm as he dies on his boat.

Ruffino-The Devil's Own

Frankie McGuire (or Rory) came to America to aid his organizational family, the IRA and was thrown into an entirely different kind family. The O'Meara's a family of Irish American's welcome Rory in with open arms. They include Rory in all family events he attends the conformation of Tom's daughter, parties, and even goes to the bar with Tom. Where they play pool together Irish vs. Italians. Tom becomes like a father figure to Rory. Their relationship strengthens progressively during the movie and by the end of the movie we realize how deep their bond runs. In the scene where Tom is trying to get Rory of off the boat to take him into police custody, he loses his gun. And even though Rory has the experience and opportunity to kill Tom, he doesn't because Tom has become a part of his family, this shows how the bonds of family aid the survival of O'Mear At the end of the movie Tom's driving of the boat serves as a final symbol of how he has become a father to Rory.

Butcher - The Devil's Own

When Frankie McGuire arrives in the U.S. he is sent to the O’Meara household. The Irish-American family immediately welcome Frankie in, and he soon becomes just like a member of their own. Tom especially takes to him, jovial at the thought of another male companion in the house of four women. Frankie, known to the O’Mearas as ‘Rory,’ is the son that Tom always wished to have. At his arrival, he meant to simply use the O’Mearas as a safe house, but by the end of The Devil’s Own, Rory develops a strong bond with his host family. As his situation with Burke complicates, he comes to the defense of the O’Mearas.

One afternoon, Tom and Sheila discover intruders in their home, all masked men looking for Rory’s stash of money. While they struggle to fight off the intruders, Rory intervenes to help the O’Mearas. Knowing that Burke was responsible, Rory takes action to make Burke pay for harming his surrogate family. Armed with a gun, Rory pays a visit to Burke to send a warning. Rory exhibits his love for his new American family in his persistence to protect them from further harm. It is pertinent for him to confront the party responsible in the only way he knows how: through violence. From the beginning of his life, violence was prevalent in Ireland. Fatherless at a young age, gunfights and struggle against those stifling the IRA became the norm.

“It’s not an American story; It’s an Irish one,” reiterates Rory to Tom. Rory’s initial plans to acquire weapons in the U.S. bring together these two Irishmen. One is a proud Irish-American cop, and the other, a true Irishman fighting with the IRA. Connected by heritage these men form a bond with each other like that of a father and son.

Bloo-The Devil's Own

In the opening scenes of The Devil’s Own, we see a young boy having dinner with his family when masked men burst into their cottage and in front of the boy’s eyes the father is gunned down. This is a devastating event since Frankie was close with his father. Twenty years later, Frankie McGuire is part of the IRA and the audience can tell that the death of his father is one of the reasons why he joined the IRA.

After a battle on the streets of Belfast, Frankie escapes to New York where he is placed in the home of honest cop Tom O’Meara, his wife and three daughters who have no idea of their guest’s true identity. The movie is mostly centered around the surrogate father and son relationship between Tom and Frankie. Tom and Frankie bond while playing pool against the Italians. Another scene which shows that Frankie is part of the O’Meara family is the confirmation party. Frankie dances with the daughters and Tom even pulls Frankie into the picture.

Through the O’Meara family, Frankie gets a taste of what it is like to have a family who loves and respects each other. This shows that Frankie is not a cold-blooded terrorist, but he has a softer side too. The scene in which Frankie comes to the aid when masked men intrude Tom’s house shows that Frankie feels he is part of the family and wants to protect the O’Meara.