She wasn't in the novel, so giving her a larger role would've probably ended up changing the progression of the story a lot more than they wanted to. But they wanted a good-looking woman. But how to include one without needing to substantially change the third act? Especially if they were going to kill the male lead? Easy. Kill her off halfway through.
That way they could have her in the movie without affecting the story. Their other options were changing the third act to include a love interest (more work nobody wanted to do when the basic outline was already provided by the book), or getting rid of her midway through (which required less work and would be a shocking twist). They took Option B.
"I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?"
I'm just trying to figure out why she didn't throw her lot in with the prisoners. She was in it to survive yet she threw it all away. Didn't make sense to me.
That's a good question. Maybe she really did have feelings for von Klemment? Although she could've done him more good by at least pretending to side with the prisoners, and it could've been her who killed Orde (and it still very well could've been, interestingly, since although von Klemment is the one with the gun later, we don't actually witness Orde's death). As it is, she was clumsily written in and it shows.
I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?
Absolutely she was hot. Frank's character had a lot more self control than I would have had. After spending weeks or possibly months without a woman, and then a doll like her says "close the door" as she's pulling on sheer stockings, well... call me crazy but I'd have been hard pressed to not take her up on her offer.
But she was also a collaborator. Using "it's war" and "I'm just trying to survive" as an excuse wasn't valid back then, nor should it be now. Had she just stayed on the train and not tried to escape she would probably have been fine, but in the end she pretty much got what she deserved.
But you're right, that skirt... she very much rocked it.
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