Frady (Beaty) goes on the Yacht, they're out to sea, the tale is told and somewhere in the briny blue a bomb goes off blowing up, apparantly the whole shebang, and Frady survives, not only that, it is never mentioned and he isn't even wet. Hmmm. Did I miss something? Or was this a gaping hole in an otherwise decent and well photographed movie.
shareWhen Frady goes back to his office his boss is on the couch asleep, Frady is reading the paper where one of the stories is about the explosion on the yacht. It is mentioned he is staying at a hotel so i presume he got himself dry there.
shareStill, he's got to be more than just wet after all that. Shouldn't he be, possibly, dead?
shareNot really, he's out on deck and just blown into the water.
Why didn't we see his reaction to the 'Brainwashing'? all we saw is him getting up from the seat and walking away, what reaction did he get?
Wasn't brainwashing. From what I could see, it looked like the boxes he had his hands on were there to measure his pulse and see how he reacted to the various images, to see if he was sociopathic enough.
sharethey tried to fake there deaths with the yacht explosion.
"this is it" "chew some gum your breath smells like my grandmothers feet" THE CHASE
They may have used this to take his fingerprints as well, then put them on the gun we see in the final sequence. They were very specific and thorough with their instructions as to how Frady should lay his fingers on the sensitive pads. How devious can you get, and it shows you how early the Parallax people picked up on Frady. Maybe even before he took this test, which was foolhardy as his reactions must have been non-sociopathic. You would have thought the written psychometric test would have been conclusive.
shareYou can clearly see that the explosion takes place in the rear of the boat right where the two men are sitting. Frady is on the front of the boat away from the explosion and is knocked (or jumps) into the water.
shareI cant believe the confusion on this one..of COURSE some time has elapsed between the explosion and Frady showing up at his boss's office...that's how movies work boys and girls, you DONT have to show every damned thing that happens to a character (going back to his apartment, getting dried off, etc)
..and yes, the Organization is on to Frady very early (the visual test would definitely give him away)..they even give him a clue when they mention he will be more valuable to them than any retired former FBI agent (a reference to his friend, played by Kenneth Mars)..Joe should've split at that point, but of course he wants to follow this thing through to its conclusion (and his own end)
Frady was on the foredeck of the sloop when the explosion ripped apart the cabin and cockpit at the stern, and is clearly seen leaping into the water. The ship was not under sail at the time, so presumably the engines stopped and Frady swam to the floating wreckage and used the dinghy (seen hanging of the bow) to make his escape. Later, the boat sank, possibly but we can't know. He may have also left his clothes or ID, wanting to be presumed dead. The press knew there were three people on board because all three were seen in the marina by bystander witnesses boarding the boat (unseen on camera) and leaving the harbor (depicted). His editor knew he was seeking to meet Austin, and may have been the one put the confidante of Austin in contact with Beatty/Frady.
Sadly, this is also potentially the earliest and easiest point to assume that Parallax begins to know Frady's true identity. If they were following Austin, this is where they met Frady. If they were seeking Austin, Frady's inquiries are what put them onto Austin's whereabouts. The simply shadowed Frady until Austin contacted him. Austin presumably sailed "1200 miles" to meet Frady in his pacific northwest hometown, which is the distance from San Diego to Seattle, Washington.
The story is about paranoia, and so is constructed in a way to never give us a full picture of "what they know and when they know it," which is of course the same point of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, Pakula's later film about the Watergate investigation.
Frady's being away from the seat of the explosion and being thrown or jumping into the water has been dealt with.
As for being wet...
We don't know how long he was in the water, but between the explosion and the scene in the newspaper office enough time has elapsed for the explosion to have been discovered, rescuers to get there, the boat to be identified, the fact that there were 3 men aboard to be established, for the press to have been informed about this, for a story to be written and for it to be printed, for the newsroom staff to have gone home and for the editor to go to sleep - for how long we don't know. Certainly enough time has elapsed for it to go from broad daylight to - given the emptiness of the newsroom - at least the early hours of the morning.
OK, we don't know how long he was in the water but it's reasonable to assume that he wasn't in there too long as, short of being a very accomplished swimmer, he is likely to have drowned otherwise. There seems to me to have been plenty of time to superficially at least dry out, even without making any effort to do so, especially as it is certainly not winter.
What I don't get is, if all the other deaths were staged to look accidental or natural or somehow innocent, why did they go ahead and plant a conspicuous bomb all of a sudden?
sharewas on the foredeck of the sloop
used the dinghy (seen hanging of[f] the bow)
How did the bombers(presumably Parallax) know Frady arranged the meeting or was it just a coincidence he was on the boat when it exploded.
shareWho's to say that Austin's bodyguard wasn't a deep-seeded agent of Parallax who would also have been a suicide bomber? (Speculation is part of the game that is the film) Or it may have been the guy who was painting the underbelly of a neighboring boat shown when Austin first revealed himself to Frady. Just sayin'.
share