MovieChat Forums > On Dangerous Ground (1952) Discussion > ed begley

ed begley

posted 13 years ago by jeangabin1
12 replies | jump to latest

i was intrigued by a facet of ed begley's character as the police chief. in the restaurant scene, while begley is telling robert ryan not to go over the top when interrogating suspects, he displays a voracious appetite, rhapsodising over the quality of the vegetables. usually in films of this vintage where every frame means something, anything resembling gluttony is emblematic of a weakness of character. in this case it seemed to me that it was supposed to represent begley as having an untroubled conscience, as opposed to ryan's self loathing.
i don't know if anyone else has a take on this but i just thought it was an unusual device to use in this way.

[–] ceherman1 13 years ago

I too was curious about the emphasis on the quality (and quantity) of food consummed by Begley in this scene. I believe your analysis is right on. Good insight.

[–] NewtonFigg 13 years ago

I think if they wanted to portray gluttony, they would have had Begley eating pork chops with his hands, like Henry VIII. Eating a delicate vegetable like peas is not the same thing. (And where did they find delicious peas in the wintertime? Peas are like corn. They have to be eaten the same day they're picked or all the sugar turns to starch.)

[–] jeangabin1 12 years ago

just saw your reply. cheers!

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jeangabin1 12 years ago

yes, it's definitely there to point up a contrast between him and ryan.

[–] Bill-16 11 years ago

It sure is weird scene...Ryan is consumed with job and Bagley is just consuming. Guess it is the contrast thing, there is more than the job in life. Stop and enjoy the peas.

[–] jeangabin1 11 years ago

with your permission, i will adopt "stop and enjoy the peas" as my personal motto!

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] mike-848 9 years ago

Again, the contrasts of this film is what makes it so great. Begley is a man who can rhapsody over peas that are cooked a certain way.

He's the police chief so he has a tougher job than Ryan but he obviously gets out of life what he puts into it.

[–] jeangabin1 9 years ago

Absolutely. A similar point is made more explicit in a Sidney Lumet film called "The Offence" in which Sean Connery as a cop goes off the deep end and his chief (Trevor Howard) tells him every cop (including himself) sees the same horrors but they don't necessarily crack up.

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

It's a good scene that's also reflected in the really good scene in the alley where Wilson catches up to the perp and starts to wail on him until Pop Daly stops him. Pop lays in to him along the lines of "You're empty inside, for me it's just a job, I go home to people, you go home to nothing".

[–] swojtak 7 years ago

Captain not Chief.