Why did Doc have Matelli rubbed out at the end of the film?
To give his job to Pope? Because he didn't pay his gambling debts?
You kill a cop and you've got hell to pay. I can't think of a good reason for why they'd go through the effort.
...and the capital of Nebraska is Lincoln!
Doc didn't have Matelli killed, Shevvy (Gilbert Lewis) did it on his own outta vengeance for the way Matelli Kicked his azz in front of Doc when he (Shevvy) tried to trip Matelli as he walked out of the office. I think that made the perfect ending.
'back at the saloon my tears mixed in mildew with my drink'
I think Shevvy killed him as payback for the beatdown that Matelli gave him in Doc Johnson's office. If you recall, as Matelli was walking out the door, Shevvy deliberately stuck his foot out to trip Matelli. Matelli, already feeling humiliated at the dissing he just got from Johnson, went off on Shevvy and beat the crap out of him.
share"Why did Doc have Matelli rubbed out at the end of the film?
To give his job to Pope? Because he didn't pay his gambling debts?"
Did Matelli have a gambling problem? I don't remember that. I just thought he was on the take with Doc.
He told Pope he was on the take because he had a "gambling problem". Whether or not it´s true, we´ve got no way of telling.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Because shevvy got beat up by matelli and that was Shevvys way of exacting revenge
shareYou definitely get the feeling that Doc *knew* that Chevy (sp?) was going to take his revenge...doesn't Doc say, before the final scenes unfold, something like "save your dime, I know how it's gonna end"?
(Now, I'm not sure that Chevy could hit Mattelli in the head, from that far away, with a short-barreled handgun, without risking hitting Pope or someone else, but that's an unimportant point.)
Also, FWIW, I don't believe the dialogue is that Mattelli says he "has a gambling problem"; I believe the line is that "[it] is gambling *money*", meaning, that he is "only" taking payoffs from Johnson that come out of the Harlem syndicate's gambling take -- not from drugs, not from prostitution, etc. It's a desperate attempt to convince Pope that it's "not that bad" that's he's on the take, once Johnson says it during the meeting in the office.
Doc 'fired him' in his office just before he beat him down. I don't think doc was gonna kill quinn - the end was just a chance at personal revenge.
You Suck...now deal with it.