MovieChat Forums > Lethal Weapon (1987) Discussion > Why blow up [SPOILERS] house?

Why blow up [SPOILERS] house?

posted 8 years ago by Lunchbox-3
5 replies | jump to latest

I just put the tag in there in case anyone hasn't seen it.

The villains take such care to make Amanda's death look like an overdose, an accident. Yet when they kill Dixie to keep her from talking to the cops, they blow up her house? Why not just kidnap her and make it look like she left town, which would be believable? Bury her out in the desert somewhere. Instead they nuke the house and the cops find the device. Even if they didn't know it was a Special Forces doodad, they would have known it was murder, and reopened Amanda's case.

[–] Ultrashiver 7 years ago

Regardless if it looked like an accident or not, they found out it was murder because they found drain cleaner in Amanda's system which prompted them to go and question Dixie. Also, Mr. Hunsacker came forward and was going to blow the whistle on the whole operation, hence the reason they had Amanda killed.

Blowing up Dixie's house or not, they knew Amanda was murdered.

[–] MrAnonymous (109) 4 months ago

"Also, Mr. Hunsacker came forward and was going to blow the whistle on the whole operation, hence the reason they had Amanda killed"

I never understood that. he is threatening to approach the police so they kill his daughter? It seems that would make him even more of a threat. Why not just kill him and make it look like an accident or a robbery gone bad?

[–] Darren (1113) 4 months ago

He tells Roger exactly why: they still need his bank as a front to launder their drug money, and he has another daughter. He tells Roger straight out that he doesn't believe the police can protect her from Shadow Company. That's why he knuckles under, despite how angry he is -- and he is angry enough to want revenge, because he asks Roger to promise to kill all of them.

But after he talks to Roger, that seals his fate. General McAllister decides that after that, the need to tie up a loose end exceeds their need for Hunsaker's bank to be their front.

[–] MrAnonymous (109) 4 months ago

Oh right, I forgot that detail. Still, wouldn't it make more sense to threaten her than to kill her? Killing her might drive him over the edge.

[–] Darren (1113) 4 months ago

Apart from the fact that the murder of Hunsaker's older daughter is necessary to get the the plot going, her murder is meant to show that these mercenaries are utterly merciless, and when Hunsaker reached out to Murtaugh to confess (presumably out of guilt) his daughter's murder was meant to simultaneously punish him for his betrayal, and make him understand that the rest of his family would be executed as well if he didn't get back to work and keep his mouth shut.