Marlene the Bigot


Was anyone uncomfortable with the way Marlene initially treated Charlie? First she treated him like so much dirt under her feet and then treated him like a slave. I remember thinking the first time I saw it if Marlene had talked to me the way she initially talked to Charlie, I would have backhanded her.

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You have to remember the time set. No political correctness in this era. Marlene was what poor Southern white trash were then (and some still are, alas: ignorant and hateful.

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Of course Marlene is a bigot. That's what the whole story is about. The audience is supposed to feel uncomfortable.

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[deleted]

You're missing the entire point of the movie.

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I first saw it when I was younger and it was re-broadcast on one of our independent channels as a Saturday afternoon matinee movie (way before we had a gazillion cable channels, but long after the original broadcast). I remember being shocked hearing the N-word on regular TV. But I was blown away with both actors' performances. Years later, I bought it on video...and just a few years after that, I happened to move to Galveston Island, near Bolivar where the movie was filmed.

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