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What are the explanations for .... ? [SPOILERS]

posted 13 years ago by padzok
10 replies | jump to latest

1. I assume it was true that Sheila and Stillwell had had a relationship that ended before he went to California. Is that right?

2. Was Sheila's connection to Crawford/The Major just a coincidence? Or was she already working for Crawford when she was seeing Crawford originally?

3. Was it just a coincidence that Sheila was walking down the stairs at the exact same moment that Stillwell entered the staircase? If not, what was the plan?

4. What was Sheila's connection to Crawford anyway? Apparently only his employees called him "Major", and it was a surprise to him that she called him "Major". So was she a friend, relative, lover, employee?

5. What did The Major hope to achieve by having Stillwell walking around free? Why not just pick him up and interrogate him? Presumably The Major had the resources to get some dodgy doctor to give medical advice about how to revive Stillwell's memory.

6. Why did Crawford run the massive risk that Stillwell would be picked up by the authorities, or else get injured or die, while he was wandering around. Any of those things could lead to Stillwell's knowledge either being lost forever, or (worse) falling into the hands of the govt or a commercial rival.

&, most mysteriously of all...

7. WTF was Willard doing in the boiler room (x2)? How on earth did he know that Stillwell (the first time) and then Stillwell and Caselle (the second time) were going to turn up there? And, for the first time, why did he get there before Stillwell and pretend to be an engineer?

8. Where did Sheila go in the first place? She went down below street level (without a torch). Why? Did she just go into the boiler room (without a torch) and hide? Why?

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

I'll take a crack at these, although I offer no warranties for the answers. I do think it's possible to overthink the backstory.

1. That seems logical.
2. Probably one of his employees.
3. Almost certainly a coincidence, although the strange thing was that they didn't encounter a lot of people using the stairs, especially as they got closer to the ground. Never strange enough to have bothered me during the many times I've seen this, though.
4. See No. 2 above.
5. He tried to kidnap him twice, using several different employees, but Stillwell eluded captivity.
6. Crawford apparently decided to use alternating sticks and carrots--when he wasn't trying to kidnap him, he had Sheila following him around keeping tabs on him (and wooing him).
7. Interesting question, but I always just assumed that Willard was actually one of the building's engineers/maintenance men. Willard WAS allowed to actually do work to earn his salary, not just chase people around NY.
8. Never made clear--she only evasively said, "I just ran." The only place for her to have gone was into the engineering room and, presumably, out of the building.

[–] padzok 13 years ago

Thanks for the answers.

I do think it's possible to overthink the backstory.

I'm happy not to overthink the amnesia. I'm happy not to overthink the fall out of the window. I'm happy not to overthink people could think it mattered who the scientific formula was first revealed to.

All those things, whether plausible or not, are simply part of the Macguffin.

I was just wondering if there were explanations that I'd missed for how the baddies' plot was supposed to work. It was a good movie on first viewing; but I'm not sure it would stand up to a second look.

5. He tried to kidnap him twice, using several different employees, but Stillwell eluded captivity.

Just grabbing him at his apartment at the first opportunity would have seemed like a good idea.

Having a thug tell him to go to the airport and that everyone would think he was on holiday, and then have Josephson (Kevin McCarthy) from the New York office pretend that (a) he did work there and (b) was supposed to be on holiday, doesnt really make sense when one knows that Josephson and the thug were on the same team, and neither of them had any realistic way of knowing that Stillwell believed (or still believed) that he worked in New York.

Stillwell was free to go to the police. There was no way of knowing that he would not sit there and file a formal report. Even if the villains assumed that the police would write him off as a bit of a nutter, why take the risk?

7. Interesting question, but I always just assumed that Willard was actually one of the building's engineers/maintenance men. Willard WAS allowed to actually do work to earn his salary, not just chase people around NY.

That Willard was just a maintenance man does explain why he was not much good as a goon. But I'm surprised that a guy calling himself the Major wouldnt use professionals.

Although if he was still spending so much time in the boiler room in the first day or two after Calvin's death, then that kind of implies that the Major was even more relaxed than I thought about tracking down/capturing David .

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

In response to both:

I don't think the Major was relaxed about it; I think the Major decided that Stillwell really had amnesia and was giving it some time. Sheila told him as much. As for Willard, he was in the building soon after the Major pulled the electricity and Calvin died, but that's not surprising. The Major made arrangements for him to be hijacked from his apartment, obviously not expecting him to show up in the basement. The second time, Willard was not working down there, he had followed Stillwell and Casselle there.

[–] lotsofwordz 13 years ago

I don't think these are McGuffins. I think it's simply a poorly thought-out script.
What I think happened, was that the writer set up a hugely complex riddle without knowing what the solution would be. Then he had to work out a solution, and found himself in a bit of a spot. That's why there are so many inconsistencies and absurd coincidences.
For example, take the Russian roulette scene. Stillwell could easily have been killed before cracking and revealing the formula. Not a very intelligent game plan, was it now?
The first two-thirds of the film are superb. Then, as the mystery begins to be unravelled, it all just falls to pieces in a very disappointing way. The dialogue is really silly in places, e.g. when Stillwell and CC discuss people as ants as dollars and cents.

[–] padzok 13 years ago

What I think happened, was that the writer set up a hugely complex riddle without knowing what the solution would be. Then he had to work out a solution, and found himself in a bit of a spot. That's why there are so many inconsistencies and absurd coincidences. ... The first two-thirds of the film are superb. Then, as the mystery begins to be unravelled, it all just falls to pieces in a very disappointing way.

This is pretty much my view too.

(Although, in fairness to the writer, maybe the script was better, and it was the director and his crew that mangled it.)

The cast list leads us to expect an A list movie. But what we actually get is a B movie, which can be watched once, and give a good ride (until the last 20 minutes or so, at least), but only works if you never try and make sense of the characters had really been up to earlier on, once the truth is revealed.

[–] rbwjazz 13 years ago

I've always had questions regarding the last scene of this movie, but I have a crackpot theory about the Willard question.

Early on when Stillwell is in the bar, we hear someone AT the bar (but don't see them) talking about throwing watermelons out of a 13th floor window. I swear that the voice is that of Willard (George Kennedy). So, based upon that, if they used his voice in that scene (hoping it wouldn't be recognized) is it not possible that they could've used him in the boiler room scene, thinking that by the time his regular scenes came along that the audience might've forgotten his first appearance? -- since it was sort of fleeting.

Then on a different thought, I've never understood why Sheila takes the responsibility of putting that little girl to bed, who briefly sheltered her & Stillwell from the cops in that scummy brownstone?

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

Are you the same guy who thinks that the flight announcement at the beginning of "Airport" is spoken by Elliot Gould?

[–] rbwjazz 13 years ago

No I'm not... Does the other person have the same author name as me?

Anyway, would you like to comment on my theory?

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

I was just joking.

No, I am very confident the watermelon remark was not uttered by Willard.

[–] greenleafie 9 years ago

#6- Crawford was at no risk if David were arrested. He probably owned the police dept. In fact, he tried to have David arrested by framing him for the murder of Joe Turtle. (I can see no other reason for killing Turtle.) If David were in jail, it would be easy for the Major to pull a few strings at City Hall to have him released into his custody, or else pay any bail that may be set. He knew, through Shela, that David was suffering a memory lapse and didn't know who he (the Major) was, so couldn't implicate him in any wrongdoing. Crawford was quite safe- at least for a while- due to his money-connections.

Regarding #7, Willard may have been an engineer for the building, as well as being a gunman for Crawford. Crawford owned the building. In any case, it was certainly Willard who physically pulled the switch to turn off the lights, at Crawford's order, then later turned them back on. This would have been done from the basement. It's why Willard was in the basement. At this point, Willard doesn't know who David is, so treats him just as some random guy who wandered in. The second time they meet, Willard is specifically following Stillwell, again at the Major's orders, but it's just coincidence that he finally catches up with David in the basement again.