SPOILER - When Sidney... - Deathtrap (1982) Discussion

[–] Ulex 12 years ago

Unless you deal with guns on a daily basis (policeman, soldiers, etc.) then I doubt you'd be able to tell. Bruhl is used to dealing with stage guns as well so he wouldn't be familiar with what an actual loaded gun feels like.

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[–] MissMargoChanning (6630) 6 years ago

Ulex, Sorry that we can't argue about this, but I think that the fact that he does deal in stage guns and other weapons, not to mention murder mysterys, he would have known what his boyfriend was up to......
Of course, we can't all be perfect...... especially under stress.

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[–] r_freeman 9 years ago

I have the same problem with the Hans meets McClane scene in Die Hard, haha.

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[–] puirt-a-beul 8 years ago

Except in that scene in Die Hard, the gun was loaded with blanks, rather than empty.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

This movie has many similar 'but why didn't he..'-things.

The ending is just silly and the 'psychic character' is unnecessary.

There's so much promise in this movie, but it becomes flawed so quickly and then goes deeper and deeper into ridiculousness that your suspense of disbelief can't hold on for long after the first big twist is revealed.

That scene in particular raised many questions in my mind - someone shown to be so meticulous, someone that's told to use three aftershaves and four deodorants (or whatever it was), would DEFINITELY check the gun for bullets before hiding it, and know exactly how well sound travels IN HIS OWN HOUSE, to know whether Reeve's character can hear him sneaking back and forth downstairs or not, etc.

Reeve's character also leaves a lot to chance. Why would he put real bullets for a gun RIGHT next to the other gun, and just TRUST that Cain's character doesn't notice it? What if Sidney takes both guns, or changes his mind as to which gun to use, etc.?

What if Sidney takes two seconds to check both guns, or even just his own gun just to be sure? Someone like him would surely check the gun -multiple- times.

What if Sidney checks the guns, then realizes what's going on, and simply takes the bullets, pretends to shoot Reeve's char and when Reeve char starts his monolog, Caine's char just shoots him?

(Reeve's gun doesn't even need to have bullets, as he never even intends to kill Caine's char)

That whole scene leaves too much to chance. Not to mention the whole 'let's scare the wife and just HOPE she dies' (they have NO way of knowing she'll die from that).

Involving the wife with burying the body is also very dangerous, what if the wife accidentally suffocates Reeve's char or something else goes wrong? So many useless chances there.

The first half of the movie, before the big reveal, is pretty good, and very well done. I wish the moviemakers would've strayed off the play a bit more and concocted a better plot.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

A better plot with more ACTUAL LOCATIONS, which a play can't provide very well (but a movie can).

The most ridiculous thing about this movie is the constant relying on 'twists'. Too many twists, too many 'is he dead or not'-type of things.

Spoilers!

Let's see the twists I can remember so far:

- The playwright is joking about murder, but seems to ACTUALLY try to do it after all
- It wasn't a REAL murder, it was a ploy to scare the wife literally to death
- The two schemers are gay lovers
- The younger schemer actually wants to reveal what happened, in form of a play, instead of writing about some social welfare book
- Helga is actually a real psychic, as goofy as she's shown to be
- The older schemer starts planning the murder of the younger one, and seemingly starts succeeding
- But the younger schemer realized what was going on, and took the bullets
- But the handcuffs Sidney were locked in, were houdini's trick cuffs, so Sidney is able to free himself
- But instead of taking this opportunity to utilize his element of surprise properly, he spoils it by yelling at Reeve's char
- The older schemer is finally able to shoot the younger one in the back (literally) with a crossbow and arrow
- But the lights go out and helga breaks in
- But the younger schemer is STILL ALIVE and grabs Helga's foot
- Helga drops her gun and the younger schemer takes the axe and..

Yeah.. too many twists. I didn't even mention the old "oh, she left me THIS much money", "the money was a very small amount after all", "but it was actually a big amount"-stuff.

It would've been a better movie with fewer twists, more coherent plot, and if it had focused more on how to drive the wife crazy or something, it could've been a more psychological thriller.

In any case, the 'murder attempt' (fake or not) could've happened much later, and the juicy 'fake out each other' bit (Reeve in handcuffs) should've been the focus.

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