MovieChat Forums > A Guy Named Joe (1944) Discussion > Pete's antipathy toward Ted's wealth

Pete's antipathy toward Ted's wealth


I was wondering why Tracy automatically didn't care for Johnson because he was rich. Then, when Van did something altruistic, Tracy comments that it's good he's doing something worthwhile with his money.

I noticed that Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay.

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I don't really know much about Dalton Trumbo, but I just kind of figured it was because Pete was more of a working class guy, who prejudged Ted as a spoiled rich kid. A lot of assumptions probably came with hearing about Ted's wealth. After he got to know Ted a little better, he realized that, even though Ted had some money, he wasn't one of those born with a silver spoon in his mouth types. He is actually a good guy. But maybe that's too simple? That's how I saw it.

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Thanks for your comments.

I must be getting more conservative in my old age, because Dalton Trumbo was one of the blacklisted writers, and he apparently had socialist tendencies, so I just assumed his political sympathies came out in the script.

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.......If Dalton Trumbbo had let his leftist effect the scrip of this movie Ben Johnson's character would never have turned out to be a good guy. One of the subplots of "A Guy Named Joe" was that the war was forcing people from all economic backgrounds to put their differences aside and work together in order to achieve victory. Also it's unlikely the Army Air Force, which supplied the planes and many of the extras, would be involved in a pro socialist movie.
I'm not Spartacus. The dude over there in the sandals who looks like Kirk Douglas is.

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