MovieChat Forums > Lianna (1983) Discussion > The husband

The husband

posted 11 years ago by jmsocool
2 replies | jump to latest

It seemed kinda conspicuous that Lianna repeatedly refered to him as Dick, rather than Richard, or Rich. Was it intended as a putdown - I'm not going to call him Richard, he's a DICK! And was it a clumsy double entrende - She's leaving Dick for a woman; she doesn't want anymore Dick in her life?

And although the husband was a jerk, I did like the fact that he didn't put her down when he was talking to the kids. They could have made him a comic book villian "Your mother is a rugmuncher!", but he did make the effort to stand up for her, at least for the kids' sake.

"My girlfriend sucked 37 d*cks!"
"In a row?"

[–] MoeHartman 11 years ago

I think it's just that it's an older movie. Dick used to be a more common nickname than today, and it probably didn't have a strong an association with male genitalia.

I agree about the portrayal of the character being more balanced than it initially appeared. I think probably you can also chalk his initial anger and violence up to him being shocked. It's no excuse, of course, but when we see him with Lianna later in the movie, he seems more rational and understanding, if still kind of a jerk. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it was really his place to out her to their kids, however gently he did it. If I were her, I would prefer to do that myself.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]