Reason I ask is that Higgins was surprised when the clean-up crew reported 6 bodies instead of 7. So Higgins knew that Heidegger was staying home. Had Condor been in the original slaughter, there would have been no surprise. No?
shareYes . . . okay . . . that's a possibility . . . I've had my suspicions about Higgins for some time . . . not clear what role he has . . . he's a good company man, defend anything that's going on . . . hard to tell . . . but, yes, you do have a point about Heidegger . . . he was suppose to be on duty that morning . . . he wasn't . . .
shareHiggins wasn't part of Atwood's plan. He didn't even know Atwoos was behind everything till halfway through the film.
However; at the end he sees the logic of the plan and that's why he tries to make sure the story is never printed.
--------
The movie has a plot hole?!?
EVERY FRIGGIN' MOVIE HAS A FRIGGIN' PLOT HOLE!!!!!
The fact is, we never know for sure, and if Higgins is involved, then by how much and at what point and when?
His kneejerk company need to cover it up is assumed.
It's a CIA problem, then and now: contractors gone wild. Just ask Michael Hastings -- if you have a ouija board.
--
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m127/tubesteak69/Divas_Who_Drink-1.jpg
All right, I'm taking Higgins off the hook, at least for the moment . . . even though I still think he may be involved in some way . . . Turner calls in . . . so Higgins knows that Turner, of course, is alive . . . there are, however, only six bodies . . . that's why those men were coming up the stairs to Heidegger's apartment (Higgins must've sent them) . . . so, no, he couldn't have known beforehand . . .only when they determined that Heidegger's body wasn't among the victims, Higgins sent those men over to Heidegger's apartment to find out where the guy was (he also ordered men over to Turner's apartment) . . .
One has to go over this film carefully . . .
One has to go over this film carefully . . .
I believe you are correct. After seeing the movie numerous times over the years I finally bought the DVD.Higgins thought there should have been 7 bodies, excluding Condor. And he knew Condor escaped the killings when he first called in to HQ. He also found out about Heidegger's fate through his agents.
What a great movie. Forty plus years later and still trying to tie up "loose ends".
Yes, I must agree, this film's resiliency is incredible . . . it keeps on giving . . .
shareThis is a fascinating thread. You all are awesome.
shareThornspike:
Thank you, your words are inspiring . . . however, there is one glitch someplace . . . Why did Joubert, el al (or whoever it was who liquidated Heidegger), go to Heidegger's apartment? Why not wait for him to show up at his usual place of employment? Did they know he called in sick? How? Regardless, they must've gone over to where he lived and had him eliminated, and perhaps the first victim? . . .
Heidegger was obviously the "inside man" at the Institute to give the wet-work contractors (Max's "Joubert" team)their situational awareness. This was NOT a sanctioned Langley Op. It was black-ops by Atwood. So Atwood's team was like the nefarious TEAM-B at C.I.A. They did not have full access to all records and other pertinent details at the Institute only Heidegger could know as he worked there too. He was told to call in sick and stay home that day so he would not get hit. But of course the plan was to give him his golden BB at home anyway to clean up loose ends just in case he grew a conscious and ran to the CIA-I.G.
Higgins was not in on it. He was just the NYC field section chief in Building-7 at WTC. Yes they really did have a field office there before 9/11. So Higgins was tasked with DAMAGE CONTROL since it happened on his turf and on his watch. I'm sure when he was read into the op by Wickes (Turner's boss at Langley) he became somewhat aware of what was going on. And then when they all met the Director at the export company in that underground office, it was pretty much a done deal that whatever cluster-phuq was going on somebody needed to clean it up before the I.G. got wind of it and Congress started poking around for answers.
So Higgins was just trying to get a grip on the situation. Then in the end Higgins turned Joubert into his contractor and terminated Atwood at his mansion. Wickes was on the schedule too and Joubert got him in the hospital. Higgins never wanted Turner dead. He told Joubert to help him in the end. Higgins had NYT covered so Turner going to the news media (NYT) was pointless.
It's funny that the oil war games Higgins was talking about planned for SW Asia was around the same time the DCI in 1976 actually did it in later years. Was it life imitating art or vice versa? Who knows?
...Higgins knew that Heidegger was staying home. Had Condor been in the original slaughter, there would have been no surprise. No?
I disagree with the statement that Higgins didn't want Turner dead and told Joubert to help him. Joubert made it clear that he had no arrangements with the company concerning Turner and the company didn't know Turner would be at Atwoods. Then Joubert gave Turner advice on how to avoid being hit by the company.
Turner bought himself a bit of protection by going to the NY Times. Even if not published a subsequent hit on Turner would provide some validation for what he said perhaps resulting in publication and opening a can of worms for the company.
Concerning the question of if the Times published the Turner story, given the standards followed by news organizations at that time, not without corroboration. Turner knew his co-workers well and the newspaper could easily confirm a number of people who worked at the literary Society disappeared. It is hard to imagine the newspaper being able to confirm much more than that although that is enough to create a serious PR problem for the company