MovieChat Forums > Pressure Point (1963) Discussion > Makes no sense to me **SPOILERS**

Makes no sense to me SPOILERS

posted 12 years ago by MudgeMalog
3 replies | jump to latest

Poitier didn't "cure" Darin. After all, we find out Darin later killed a stranger and was hanged for it. So how would Poitier's story help Peter Falk with his problem with his patient?? If Poitier cured Darin, it's the perfect reason for Falk not to give up. But all of Poitier's efforts didn't help, so maybe they never should have went in that direction in the first place. Maybe a white Dr would have had better success with Darin. Couldn't have done much worse, other than the nightmares, I guess.

[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

Or perhaps one of the less-efficient white staffers would have agreed with the patient or at least not confronted the Nazi-ism. Perhaps he would have been released and killed thousands immediately if he didn't get the limited help the black staffer provided instead of just killing a random old man 10 years later. How can you tell?

The point was if the case is too tough due to race relations suck it up because I did. That's all. You can't argue he didn't "cure" him because he was probably a hopeless case to begin with.

[–] cross-9 12 years ago

Good answer. It should also be noted that it was The Patient's fault he wasn't cured, not Poitier's. Therefore Falk should not blame himself for his inability to make progress. Rather, he should do his best without beating himself up over a failure not necessarily his fault.

[–] rondine 11 years ago

1) It was to help him with persistence. After all, it wasn't the Doctor's (Poiter's) fault this guy was released. He wanted him kept in and had offered to continue to work with him too. 2) Some of his efforts DID help as far as curing his insomnia. This does show that some progress was and perhaps more could have been made. After all, as the patient, he was willing to open up sufficiently to fix something that was ailing him physically.

The idea that the color of the doctor had something to do with the success is inherently racist. He DID make progress and with time and more effort probably would have had a more resounding success because of the bond that a psychiatrist and patient develop - and that the person helping him was someone that previously he didn't understand due to ignorance and hate.