MovieChat Forums > The Parallax View (1974) Discussion > A Logic Loophole That's Always Bothered ...

A Logic Loophole That's Always Bothered Me

posted 16 years ago by jacksommersby
9 replies | jump to latest

I certainly like the film, but I do have one major gripe with it: When Beatty's onboard the airplane and sees the senator in first-class and thus deduces that an explosion has been brought on the plane, he doesn't immediately inform the crew. Yes, I know he doesn't want to blow his cover, but he had no idea when the bomb was set to go off, so if it were a choice between calling a lot of attention to himself and coming out alive, or waiting calmly and taking a chance that the plane will be diverted and landed and unboarded before the bomb goes off, I'd have chosen the former.

Thoughts?

[–] jwalsh67 16 years ago

Yours is a good question! The way I viewed it, Frady put two and two together and then immediately tried to alert the crew without causing a panic or being accused of planting the bomb himself. Think about it; if you're on a plane and you decide to tell the nearest crew member that you believe a bomb is on board, you will NOT be met with a simple "thank you for your concern, we'll land the plane accordingly". If there turns out to be no bomb, you'll go to jail. If there is, indeed, a bomb, you'll be interrogated as the main suspect. I'm sure Parallax, Inc. had their tracks covered such that the bomb could never be traced back to them, even if Frady tried to pin it on them. Still, I think that whole plane sequence could have been much shorter.

[–] jacksommersby 16 years ago

I wouldn't have given a damn about the consequences and quickly told the crew that a bomb was on the plane.

[–] gnolti 16 years ago

"I wouldn't have given a damn about the consequences and quickly told the crew that a bomb was on the plane."

That's why they don't make thrillers about people like you, jack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2BU8-7kQLI

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] snazzyjer 15 years ago

The reason he didn't just stand up and announce "Hey, there's a bomb onboard!" is beacuse it would have blown his cover. He didn't know for sure whether or not there really was a bomb. He was being manipulated. If he announced, even just to the crew that there was a bomb, as someone mentioned before, he'd suddenly be in the spotlight whether or not there ever was a bomb and his entire investigation would be over. He might even have become the target for these people since it would have become obvious that he was attempting to stop them.

You are correct in saying that he would notify someone immediately as soon as he had the bomb hunch, but this is exactly what he does: He just tries to find a way to alert them, without anyone knowing it was him who did the alerting.

[–] erikriveros 13 years ago

SPOILER AT THE END

NO WAY...i'm with the OP....frady saw the parallax agent leave a suitcase on the plane and he saw that he was NOT on the plane...he may not have seen the actual bomb, but he KNOWS it's there, ESPECIALLY after seeing the bomb

on one hand he doesn't want to blow his cover, finee...on the other hand, every second that he hasn't exploded in the air is a gift to him b/c hes absolutely no idea when or how that bomb is going to going off..

if he's dead, he can't continue to unravel this mystery, right? not wanting to blow his cover or spend some time in jail is second to death, no?

and let's not forget that he was correct....

that scene made me laugh, but otherwise an outstanding film.

it is better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it

[–] Son_of_Elvis 12 years ago

My take was that he knew he was a dead man if he came straight out with it. The bad guys would have been monitoring the flight and would have been drawn straight to him. At the very least he would have been arrested and then the bad guys would have got to him easily.

Dude, that is one gay looking signature.

[–] KutWrite 11 years ago

My major grip is, why'd he get ON the plane, knowing there's a bomb? Plus, how'd he know they'd take cash... and he signed his real/fake name on the manifest!

But... the movie pretty much had me, so I left wiggle room for them.

He was really rolling the dice that the bomb was timed to go off in mid-flight, rather than a pressure-sensitive bomb set to detonate on descent from cruise.

Remember, too, the main Parallax assassin (who I guess retired on the Deliverance River) was watching Frady get onto the plane. His cover was blown by then, so his motive was more to save lives than to get Parallax.

[–] tom-1674 10 years ago

My major grip[e] is, why'd he get ON the plane, knowing there's a bomb?

He didn't think there was a bomb on the plane until he noticed his prey was not on the plane, yet had checked luggage which went on the plane.