Rusk's problem?


Was he actually unable to perform (as it were) with women or did he rape and then murder them? Also what is he looking for with the matchmaking agency that Mrs Blaney seems uncomfortable with?

reply

I think the police inspector said the victims had been raped, so I'm assuming Rusk was able to "perform" at least to a certain degree. Whether or not he was able to "complete" his performance is up for debate on some other threads here, speculating that may be why he killed them. The specifics of his weird matchmaking preferences weren't revealed in the scene with Mrs. Blaney, but later in the film when the inspector interviewed her secretary about "Mr. Robinson" (or whatever his alias was), he asked her if Robinson was looking for women who wanted to be beaten or roughed up or something along those lines, and she said yes. So apparently Rusk must have said he was looking for women who were into S&M.

reply

Ok thanks for that...it's been some years since I saw this movie!

reply

In Shaffer's script it has the following scene:


SCENE 30 (cont)

RUSK: (more and more harsh) Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely.

His mad eyes are urgent, his face inflamed, but no relief comes.
He is suddenly still. Brenda opens her eyes.

RUSK: (little boy) Please don't deny me.
BRENDA: (a whisper) Deny you?
RUSK: (furious) You bitch women...you're all the same. But I'll show you


Also, the doctor and laywer at the bar where Blaney has a drink reading his newspaper, discuss 'the pleasure principle' (no, not Gary Numan's album!) Meaning the killer basicaly 'gets off' by doing the murder rather than the rape.


The Life & Work Of Anthony Shaffer
www.anthonyshaffer.co.uk

reply

Confusing. The women were said to have been raped but the profile given by a detective is of an impotent psychopath. Barry Foster doesn't even seem to get his zipper down.

reply

We don't see him unzip, but this might have been a censorship issue. Female nudity has always been more tolerable in movies than male (frontal) nudity. However, after he has "finished" with his victim, there is a sound like he pulls up his pants.

reply

People may find this theory incredibly far-fetched, but it occurred to me that Rusk's problem may have been that he was a homosexual who could not deal with his feelings. I'm not one of those (who you find writing about every film) who sees secret gay relationships everywhere, but I noticed some interesting details that point towards it. Okay, Rusk is unable to perform and then becomes furious and kills his victim, and the killing gives him satisfaction. Perhaps that is fury at the fact that he simply cannot get aroused with the woman even though he really wants to be able to. Further important aspect: Blaney gets caught up in all this because Rusk knows him and then goes ahead and kills two of Blaney's lovers, both times emphatically stating they were his type. I thought that perhaps it was Blaney who was his type and, rather than consciously acknowledge that, he wants to share a sexual experience with him vicariously by having sex with Blaney's women, women who are Blaney's type. Perhaps an absurd notion, but testing those out are one of the reasons these discussion boards are here.

reply

Good point. In their first scene together, Rusk seems to be attracted to Blaney when he offers help, saying 'it'll be a pleasure.' He also says that "Babs is prettier than you.." but that might be another masking of his attraction to "Dicko".

reply