MovieChat Forums > The Hit (1985) Discussion > Willies decisions thoughout the film

Willies decisions thoughout the film

posted 15 years ago by a1_andy_11
6 replies | jump to latest

*SPOILERS BELOW*

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, I thought John Hurt and Terrance Stamp gave superb performances - especially John Hurt.

I wanted to bring up a few things that struck me about Willies character:

At first I couldn't really understand why Willie didn't escape when he had the chance. His calm and cocky behavoir seemed to lead the audience in thinking that he was playing it cool but had an ace up his sleeve. I thought that he might have been shocked at the end because he was always intending to get away at the last minute. I also thought perhaps he just wanted to meet his boss and show him he wasn't scared. Or maybe when actually confronted with death he was terrified.

The other thing that puzzled me was why didn't he try and help the innocent girl? He had a number of chances to do so, and in doing so he probably would have been rescued by the police.

I suppose the two points I have brought up about Willies decisions illustrate that he wasn't a very nice man at all. He was completely selfish, didn't care about his friends when he sold them out, and didn't care about his fellow hostage (or the austrailian guy for that matter).

In any event 'The Hit' is an engrossing film that really gets you thinking.

Thoughts?

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jj-patton 15 years ago

[Spoilers] Willie is completely selfish. But the main thing about Willie is he has a plan. The plan is to make Braddock and Myron kill everyone they run into in order to leave a trail for the cops to catch up to them.

In answer to the second posts' question, why they don't just off Willie in his (or the Madrid) apartment - because the job is to bring Willie to Paris for a face to face with the guy he ratted on and THEN kill him. This is why Willie freaks out when they decide to kill him in Spain, Willie's composure comes from figuring his ace in the hole is the cops will be waiting for them at the border. But Braddock trumps that ace.

[–] Writ_in_Water 12 years ago

No. Willie had no intention of escaping. (For instance: he told Braddock to go back up to the penthouse and kill the Australian, who was just about to call the police and save Willie's life). He didn't value the Australian's life (or the girl's) because he believed all the crap he'd been reading about how death was just a door to another life (maybe). Willie's too simple a person to use subterfuge: he means everything he says. He wanted the hit to go off without a hitch, so that his life would end on a note of perfection. At the moment of truth, however, he panics. (Partly because the hit wasn't being done "properly": they hadn't brought him to Paris; but mainly because he doesn't really have the strength of his convictions). This is the only way the story (and Willie's character) makes any sense. Willie had read a lot of "deep" books in Spain, but he hadn't really changed much. Once an idiot, always an idiot.

[–] aplantage 11 years ago

I agree that Parker doesn't have a plan, and he certainly still thinks like a criminal almost like a reflex, but I don't think that he's completely selfish or unfeeling. For example, he doesn't help Myron and Maggie attack Braddock, as she proposes (perhaps simply because he doesn't regard that as very likely to succeed), but then he leaves the car to have a conversation with Braddock. And he ends this conversation with, "Are you going to kill the girl? I don't think she's ready!" (meaning: to die). This even seems to have some affect on Braddock (he looks down, as if with some shame or remorse), together with his own, deeper feelings for the girl.

What I find more interesting is the fact that in contrast to the other men Parker seems to have little sexual response to the girl (when he shows some feeling towards her, eg trying to console her, he treats her more like a little sister). Together with some other incidents, eg his flashy suit in the beginning, or how he teases Braddock with spreading his legs while being searched, I wondered if he was supposed to be gay.

[–] andrewsk8s 11 years ago

I read it more as false bravado, like a gentleman gangster going out unruffled with a stiff upper lip and all that. He could "get to" the Tim Roth character that way, and he could show the similar John Hurt character that he may have finally got him, but he was going out standing up (like to a firing squad execution).

Personally, I thought he had ample opportunity to escape, and should have. So I too thought there must have been some plan, like he wanted to stop hiding and meet up with his nemesis to settle it finally.

I guess, as I have mentioned before in other threads, I have a hard time feeling the intimidation from these English gangsters with small underpowered handguns and knives. I keep thinking of Monty Python sketches.

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"

[–] thelastfaceyouwillsee 11 years ago

Willie is on a nihilistic mission to die on his feet in front of his former boss. He is not supposed to be a nice guy or the hero. However, in the end he does help save the girl - but not by directly intervening. He manipulates both Myron and, at the end, Braddock into sparing her. The Australian guy is another matter - Willie unnecessarily introducing himself virtually condemns him to death. The astonished looks the hitmen give him are priceless - like saying "You bastard, now we're going to have to kill him." Of course, Willie wants to disrupt their plans or at least complicate things. We are not supposed to know for certain Willie's plans.

"Remember, you have to make it home to get paid" (The Dogs of War)