MovieChat Forums > The Sadist (1963) Discussion > How can characters be so dumb?

How can characters be so dumb?

posted 11 years ago by vestdennis
5 replies | jump to latest

I won't get into all the various ways the characters (good guys) behaved but once the face scrunching bad guy, with the bushy eyebrows, was doused in the face with gasoline the girl ran away but stopped no more than 20 yards away. She just stopped and meekly hid in a shed. Once he was hit in the face & eyes with the gas she could have ran away for good. Please ladies, tell me you are not this dumb in real life!

Then after he shoots the guy in the tank top she is running away and is right along the roadside as he is driving away. Of course she's spotted and he chases her. Luckily a rattlesnake ends things and saves her.

[–] RichN36 11 years ago

All I have to say what a strange film. But yea not the brighest lights on the whole christmas tree all around. Was like a bad Criminal Minds episode.

[–] mojo2004 11 years ago

I just saw it on TCM. I tried my best not to judge the film but the couple being held hostage ,after the killer shot their friend, were in a gas station/junkyard. Cars and parts were everywhere. They had so many chances to run off or hide before the guy ended up with more guns after he shot 2 motorcycle cops. The worse was after "The Sadist" had gasoline thrown into his face and eyes. While he's blinded he shoots his girlfriend thinking she's one of the hostages. He then cradles her. Meantime, do the couple jump in the car & pull off? No. Do they run off & hide among the many, many cars? No. Do they run in plain site where the guy can pick them off if he could shoot straight? Yes. Do they wait and the start running every time he can see them? Yes. The man finally charges the killer when he thinks he's out of bullets. Not only does he still have bullets , he has a full clip it seems. He shoots the guy about 6 times! Meanwhile the woman ran off about 15 mins before. Is she running in plain site? Yes. The killer jumps in the car and surprise! He catches up to her because she running in plain site! Lucky for her he falls through rotten wood nto a well full of snakes and gets bitten to death. The last scenes went on so long it was painful. Apparently after gasoline gets into your eyes it clears up in seconds.

Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon".

[–] vestdennis 11 years ago

I watched a good bit of it again too. The snarl on the guy's face was priceless (in a hilarious way!). His girlfriend was a ditz who ends up getting shot. Yeah, as soon as the guy got gasoline in his eyes both should have ran far, far away! Not just 30 feet hiding behind an obvious wall. Your comments were spot on on what everyone is thinking.
The guy in the tank top could have grabbed the car & drove off (after picking up the other lady). Really strange movie...

[–] pesto4077 11 years ago

I saw this recently on Macabre Theatre (well, most of it, missed the beginning). It sure had me scratching my head at all the missed opportunities the hostages had to get away. At one point, the woman stood right beside the girlfriend as she held the gun on the two men, it seemed like it wouldn't have been difficult to get it away from her. When the guy was working on the car and the villain kept leaning in under the hood, why not slam the hood down on him and make a grab for the gun? Or after the gas squirting? When the bad couple was listening to the radio and 'dancing,' why didn't the man and woman simply take off? I guess since it needed to be a movie, they needed to stick around for the drama, the no matter how not-so-bright they looked.

[–] BecJ5 11 years ago

I just watched this for the first time tonight and said that exact thing: This foot chase is killing me already. If The Sadist hadn't fallen in the snake pit, I believe Miss Page would have ended up chasing him!

But that snake pit !! made up for the interminable chase scene.