MovieChat Forums > Duel in the Sun (1947) Discussion > Is it just me, or is Lewt actually a bri...

Is it just me, or is Lewt actually a brilliant character?


He really epitomizes the "bad boy," who does and says despicable things to many people, yet still keeps getting the girl. She claims to despise him, and is treated horribly over and over, but she keeps coming back. Sound like some people in real life? Perhaps how abusive relationships work? Or how ***holes always end up winning (until a certain point)?

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I agree, he's a brilliant bad boy. He also epitomises, perhaps even more than 'bad boy always wins' is that people forgive you and forget the bad things you do if you're good looking. He treats Pearl unbelievably bad and if someone who looked like Jesse (actually he's pretty cute too, okay someone more like Peter Lorre :L) treated her like an inferior being and forcibly kissed her, she would have not come back for more. But she can't help but lust after Newt, though she's not happy really with him.

And *beep* don't always win, and people whining about them winning don't win either (not accusing you, but just pointing it out)


"Of course it's me, who were you expecting?"

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But the more you got to know Lewt, the less attractive he became to me. An abusive lover and a woman with no self esteem. I agree with your comments about winning and losing in life.

If we can save humanity, we become the caretakers of the world

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Lewt is really good-looking and Jesse is just average. Pearl's choice is between passionate sex with a hot, irresponsible guy who mistreats her and takes her for granted, and a stable life with a good, responsible, upstanding guy of unremarkable appearance whom she likes and respects.

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I find Joseph Cotten to be quite attractive, check him out as the charming sociopath in Shadow of a Doubt.

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The only women who abusive bad boys get are ones with serious self-esteem issues. These types of people attract each other: the abuser, and the person who feels she deserves to be abused. Dysfunction attracts dysfunction.

It's annoying and dangerous for certain guys to pretend that attraction to an abuser is a natural part of being a woman. No, it's part of being a dysfunctional person.

In the movie, Pearl has a history of being abused by the townsfolk, who marginalize her and view her as a savage unable to be a lady, to be educated, and unfit to marry due to her mixed heritage. She internalizes their view of her as trash. That's what makes her vulnerable to a man who treats her like trash. In real life, women who are attracted to or keep going back to abusers have an unresolved history of being sexually, verbally, or physically abused, socially ostracized or outcast, or have daddy issues.

It doesn't say much for those who admire abusers and their sick interactions with dysfunctional women. "Good guys" they are NOT. Women sense their insincerity and stay away.

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Gregory Peck's portrayal of the evil, abusive Lewt is probably the greatest asset of the film. He's cruel, sadistic, blood thirsty, yet he dominates the film and Peck gleefully embracing such a vile character (who would probably get along just fine Peck's "Cape Fear" nemesis Max Cady, played by Robert Mitchum) gives the film a twisted spark, even as you root for someone to bring the son of a bitch down.

The only women who abusive bad boys get are ones with serious self-esteem issues. These types of people attract each other: the abuser, and the person who feels she deserves to be abused. Dysfunction attracts dysfunction.

It's annoying and dangerous for certain guys to pretend that attraction to an abuser is a natural part of being a woman. No, it's part of being a dysfunctional person.

In the movie, Pearl has a history of being abused by the townsfolk, who marginalize her and view her as a savage unable to be a lady, to be educated, and unfit to marry due to her mixed heritage. She internalizes their view of her as trash. That's what makes her vulnerable to a man who treats her like trash. In real life, women who are attracted to or keep going back to abusers have an unresolved history of being sexually, verbally, or physically abused, socially ostracized or outcast, or have daddy issues.

It doesn't say much for those who admire abusers and their sick interactions with dysfunctional women. "Good guys" they are NOT. Women sense their insincerity and stay away.


Bulls-eye.

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bollocks, most women just love the bad guy plain and simple







so many movies, so little time

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In my experience, the only people who believe that are straight men who think of themselves as "nice guys".

Of course many of them aren't actually nice, they just don't have the nerve to be openly bad and resent the men who are and get away with it.

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