It's been a long time since I saw the movie, but I definitely remember that Burt Lancaster's character, Rettig fell all the way to his death while riding the "Cape." But then after Rettig's death, one of the other sky divers pulled Rettig's rip cord and the chute opened. Any theories what was up with that?
share**MORE SPOILERS**
I guess it was a check to see if the 'chute had malfunctioned, but of course, it hadn't...
“Instant gratification takes too long.”
Uh, but I don't know why Rettig didn't open his chute.
shareWell, he wanted to die. A quick, certain and easy way out.
“Instant gratification takes too long.”
There is a dialogue in the movie between Malcolm and Browdy over why Rettig is the way he is. Malcolm asks why Browdy doesn't do "the Cape" jump. Browdy talks about the adreneline rush and how he felt he wouldn't have the courage to pull. The sub plot to this story is about asking yourself, what would make you not pull your rip cord. It's a hard thing to understand unless you were faced with the same situation. That's what separated these "Gypsy Moths" from this mid-america life.
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Spoilers here too...
Here's my take on why Rettig decided to "go in".
Early on in the film he had spoke of skydiving as a "way to live and a way to die". Meaning that he could make the choice to stop living at any time. The morning of the airshow he asks Elizabeth to come away with him afterward. When he sees Allen and Annie show up at the field without Elizabeth, he takes that as a "no" from her. So he decides to stop living at that point.
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(Spoilers continue in this post)
Yes, that was exactly my conclusion.
Still, as a plot device, it seems very weak. A man like Rettig deciding to end it all just because he's been rejected by a woman he only met once (albeit intimately)? Doesn't seem likely to me.
Yeah just like her way of living is a way of dying.
shareMy take is that Rettig was clinically depressed and just tired of living. Lancaster's acting showed the character as really subdued and withdrawn and kind of just going thru the motions of life.
shareIn the DVD commentary, Frankenheimer says that it was suicide, but doesn't elaborate on the reason.
shareRettig definitely looked like he'd peaked: mid-life burn out, bored, sick and tired of the same old sh!t, and so on. What better way to end it all than go out in a blaze of glory? It reminds me of the scene in "Catch-22" where McWatt crashes his plane into the side of a mountain, killing himself.
“Take Major Danby out and shoot him.” — Catch-22
Maybe it's more subtle than just out-right suicide. Later Hackman says other good aerialists have died with the cape, adding it feels like you can stay up forever. And earlier Lancaster talked about the weather conditions after a rain -- like the hang-time was longer & rate of descent slower. I'm reading into Hackman's comment, but evidently the cape causes deceptive changes in the rate of descent, & an experienced jumper can get into trouble & misjudge the time.
When Rettig realized he waited too long, he still had the decision to pull the ripcord anyway. He'd face a bad injury, worse than a mere broken leg. Rather than face paralysis or severe crippling, he just rode it to the ground.
The comments in this thread are still true-- he was ready to go at any time. He was taking bigger risks to fight the boredom. Still I don't believe he started that jump intending to die. But when he saw it would be an epic fail anyway, he'd rather die than suffer.
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