MovieChat Forums > Help! (1965) Discussion > An act of courage

An act of courage

posted 9 years ago by [email protected]
3 replies | jump to latest

Somehow this escaped me completely, but a review of this movie says that all that was needed for Ringo to lose the ring was to display courage - at movies' end of course he tries to warn the others of an ambush and the ring flies off his finger. He then tells his mates about the courage thing, but that's the first I'd heard of it - or so I thought.

Earlier on, at the end of Part One, Ahme, preparing to inject Ringo with a shrinking drug, turns to us and says "Alas - if he were brave, this would not be necessary!" I always thought that was a cryptic comment suggesting he should have bucked up and been a sacrifice, but apparently not.

Ages ago my sibs had the novelization of the film in our possession (a good long time before I saw the movie) - can't recall it now, but I wonder if there was a more direct reference to it there?

[–] chet19 9 years ago

I've seen Help dozens of times, and never noticed the final scene when the "act of courage" makes the ring fall off until recently I re-watched it. Now that you mention the earlier Ahme scene, I want to go watch it yet again, to see if there are other "bravery" references we missed all these years.

[–] kenny-164 8 years ago

Interesting theory.

[–] [email protected] 7 years ago

I finally decided to answer my own question and bought an old copy of the book of the movie (it reads as well as you'd expect for a book version of a movie all about visual humor and music).

It follows the movie's narrative pretty directly and includes scenes not in the final cut (the Sam Ahab acting school, an attempted abduction or two...). Sure enough, early on at the Fabs' flat, Ahme asks Ringo "Have you ever been blessed with Courage? Even Kaili has to bow before Courage."

Further on, in the Bahamas, when the guys vow to "go back and get'em", Ringo offers to cut off his own finger rather than have everyone risking peril. The famous Scotland Yard superintendent (whose name is apparently Gluck) offers to help, and, taking Ringo's hand, the ring slips right off. Ringo is ecstatic and shows how easily it came off by putting it back on and...it's stuck again; the brave moment passed.