searching for the lost lighter - Blood Simple (1985) Discussion

[–] LangleyA-1 14 years ago

The lighter was an important piece of evidence in the story that can and would implicate the PI as having been involved in the murders.

reply

[–] avgfilmfan 14 years ago

the meaning behind the lighter is left to your imagination. like what's in the black briefcase in pulp fiction.

maybe it's a memento from his first kill. maybe his mommy or daddy gave it to him. or he stole it. who knows? sure, maybe he's worried about fingerprints.

clearly it cost him something he's willing to kill for.

reply

[–] KingMann 14 years ago

Dude, the lighter was engraved with his name and stuff.

Or you can call me KingMannerino, if you're not into that whole brevity thing.

reply

[–] avgfilmfan 14 years ago

does the lighter being etched with "loren" discount the possibility that the lighter has personal value to visser?

maybe visser sees the lighter as evidence that will pin him to marty's death and worth finding.
maybe visser sees the lighter as something in his pathetic life that's personally valuable and worth finding.

maybe both.

reply

[–] KingMann 14 years ago

I kind of saw it as evidence.

Or you can call me KingMannerino, if you're not into that whole brevity thing.

reply

[–] miamifan07 14 years ago

Same here.

reply

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] my_friend_dont_b_a_jerk 13 years ago

After watching the film again tonight, for the first time I asked myself; "Did it really take Visser that long before noticing his lighter was MIA? The guy smoked like a chimney."

It did give us a chance to see the hilarious dark room with random photos of his VW bug in the background.

Is your house on fire, Clark?

reply

[–] voided-1 13 years ago

I suppose they had to get the 'Strangers on a train' reference in there somehow.

"This sounds like a dialogue from our script!"

reply

[–] Robbmonster 12 years ago

"Did it really take Visser that long before noticing his lighter was MIA? The guy smoked like a chimney."

Well spake!

To me this was one of th few serious flaws with this film, the fact it took him so long to notice the lighter was missing.

Heck, he noticed it was missing AFTER burning the photos. 1) Why didn't he grab whatever he used to burn the photos and use that to spark up his gasper? 2) Why didn't he use the lighter to burn the photos? 3) Yes, why did it take him so long to notice it was gone?

Must be a ritualistic thing. It's only used for lighting smokes, and he only smokes at specific times. That's all I can think of, but it's a reach...

Never defend crap with "It's just a movie"
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds

reply

[–] TragicBloom 11 years ago

LoL .. Thought i had missed something; I don't understand all the confusion with the lighter

reply

[–] rzajac 7 years ago

Maybe he didn't want to face up to how sloppy he'd been and hoped he'd have left the lighter in a more innocuous place. I have a tendency to leave a place and neglect to pick up something I'd dropped on a counter (my keys) or the floor (my backpack). If I have trouble recalling the situation where I'd last seen the object, I'll start looking in the most convenient (to me) place.

Someone else in this thread ponders why it took him so long to realize it was missing. I don't think it did: I'm pretty sure he undertook to burn the photos first thing in the morning.

--
And I'd like that. But that 5h1t ain't the truth. --Jules Winnfield

reply

[–] AllyWheels 13 years ago

It's a very good observation. I too found it unrealstic that he would not have noticed that the lighter was missing until the next day.

It's the only part of the movie were the Coens forced a charactor in a unrealistic direction. There motive was to have the lighter left at the murder scene. This lighter had the killers name engraved on it and would have told Ray that Abby didn't kill Marty. It would also have solved the ensueing murder investigation.

Ray didn't see it and the events unfolded as shown.

Visser did look for the lighter at the bar. He was trying to find the lighter AND the photograph.

reply

[–] dyahrmarkt 13 years ago

To anyone here -

Loren looked for the lighter in the morning, after departing the previous night from the bar. Since the murder occurred at night, we can safely assume he went home and in the morning whilst in the dark room he noticed it was missing. We think it was 24 hours because he was in the dark room, but it wasn't - it was in the morning he burned the photographs.

"There is no inner peace. There is only nervousness and death." - Fran Lebowitz

reply

[–] j2gorgeous 13 years ago

The lighter also says "Elks Man of the Year" on it.....

Something I found interesting after hearing his opening monologue...

reply

[–] nutsberryfarm 11 years ago

it's hard to get 'elks man of the year'!

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

reply

[–] beregishahtu 13 years ago

You are missing the point. The chronology of events is following:

Night - Loren goes to Ray's apartment, steals the gun and makes photos.
Day - Loren makes an appointment with Marty (how many cigarettes did he light up that day).
Night - Loren shots Marty.
Morning - in the dark room Loren realizes that the lighter is gone and goes back to Rays apartment.

reply

[–] saluk64007 13 years ago

The movie had a few chronology breaks. The most noticable, was when the morning after the first transgression, Ray gets a call from Marty. Immediately after, when we switch to Marty's POV, is before that phone call. When we switch to Loren's POV in the darkroom, it's probably the morning after, yeah.

reply

[–] eYeDEF 13 years ago

No no. It wasn't the lighter he was primarily after although he was after it. It was the faked photo of him shooting Abby and Ray dead that he knew was missing when he saw the mens room sign instead of one of the photos that he expected to burn. That's why the entire office was searched and turned over, he was looking for the photo!

Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard

reply

[–] Dan_Dryer 12 years ago

No no. It wasn't the lighter he was primarily after although he was after it. It was the faked photo of him shooting Abby and Ray dead that he knew was missing when he saw the mens room sign instead of one of the photos that he expected to burn. That's why the entire office was searched and turned over, he was looking for the photo!

That's how I understood it too. I think others in this thread have missed the point entirely.

reply

[–] Duke_K 13 years ago

The lighter is a probably an homage to Hitchcock and Strangers On A Train and in that sense it only exists to propel the plot; don't waste time on it. If you recall, Bruno tries to plant Guy's lighter at the scene of the murder and that's his downfall. Strangers On A Train was about murders getting swapped and blamed on the wrong person just like Blood Simple. Similarly, looking for his lighter sends Visser to is ignoble end.

"Dogs bark . . . when the elephant passes." - - Sir David Lean

reply

[–] TragicBloom 11 years ago

I would relate it to Bruce Willis going back for his watch on the little kangaroo (pulp. fiction.) It's a delicious device: suddenly it becomes clear that a plan that was executed like clockwork isn't so neatly tied up .. and things are going to get a little messy.

Willis' motivation was his unflinching sentimental attachment to that watch.

The whole thing with the lighter was that it was the one thing that would directly connect him with the murder, the sort of evidence investigators dream of - had his initials on it. And anyone who knew the guy in this small town was very used to him constantly taking it out.

I loved that setup, with the lighter just sitting there, under a bunch of rotten fish, probably ensuring it'd be the the first thing removed by crime scene investigators (except for maybe the body itself ... ha).

reply

[–] Duke_K 11 years ago

@ TB . . . both Tarantino and the Coens love quoting great film makers and you are correct, in addition to homage, these little absent minded details connect the killers to the audience, like Billy Crystal searching for his keys in the title of his book. The more I think about Hitch and his influence on modern movies, the more the elegant banality of his genius is revealed.

"Dogs bark . . . when the elephant passes." - - Sir David Lean

reply

[–] Mr_Mirage 13 years ago

McGuffin (MacGuffin?)
Red herring

Remember when we said there'd be no future? Well, this is it. -- BLANK, Reg

reply

[–] eYeDEF 13 years ago

While he was after the lighter, I don't believe that was the primary reason for him going rambo on Ray and Abby. It was because of the missing photo that he went to burn in the darkroom but saw the men's room sign instead.

That's why the office was turned over and all the papers dumped everywhere. He was searching for the photo that could have explained everything.

Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard

reply

[–] Syl_Cooper 12 years ago

I'm wondering what he used to burn the pictures with honestly. He only realises he's lost his lighter after he burns the pictures...riiiiiiight.

Dale Cooper: How's Annie? How's Annie?

reply

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gcassidy2 9 years ago

What this thread has is three pages discussing him looking for his lighter, and not one mention of.... Why would Abby leave one of her purses at Ray's when she has her own place now?

reply

[–] Drooch (5333) 3 years ago

What’s lying atop the lighter? Herrings.

What colour is the string they’re hooked onto? Red.

Come on guys.

reply