When Did Ze Jackal figure out they were trying to con her and turned the tables?
or was she conning them the whole time?
I think she was conning them the whole time. Showing up at the hotel as the fumbling naive "soap queen" she was playing the role of bait in order to scam Michael Kane. Steve Martin just happened to be there so she used him to further her scam on Kane. At least that's my guess.
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As answered in another post...
Lawrence: "From the beginning, Freddy. She was on to us from the very beginning. She was perfect."
/J
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I always wondered this myself. Laurence's line 'from the beginning' is still a bit ambiguous:
a) she intentionally went there to con Laurence (and perhaps Freddie) and/or size them up to see how good they were, OR
b) she went there to con others, but right after meeting Laurence and Freddie figured them for cons and stuck around to see where their game would take her
I always assumed it was 'b' until I read good arguments for 'a'.
I guess the viewer has to draw their own conclusion! Either way, great movie.
"Her lips said 'no', but her eyes said 'read my lips'" - Niles Crane
She went looking for a willing mark.
Lawrence told Freddie "my marks are screened. They are wealthy and corruptible." In an early scam, Lawrence leaves the roulette table after baiting a woman who chases after him, like a fly, right into the spider's web.
So, at the roulette table, Janet Colgate looks at the guy who gets up and leaves, but there was "nothing there." Then Lawrence sits down and she sees him trying to connect with her...then Freddie shows up and she tunes in to him (he's less polished and she's got the skills to sniff him out).
Later, when she meets Dr. Emile Schauffhausen and recognizes him from the roulette table, she's sharp enough to know it's no coincidence. And when she puts it together that Freddie's fee and the doctor's fee both match - that magical $50,000 - she knows she was in play...but then, so are they.
And, thus, the hunters become the hunted, for she is, indeed, the Jackal.
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I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.
"And when she puts it together that Freddie's fee and the doctor's fee both match - that magical $50,000 - she knows she was in play...but then, so are they."
Of course the "fees" match, because there was only ever one fee to begin with: the doctor's fee. Freddy's story was that he needed $50,000 to pay the [fictional] doctor, and Lawrence, after his partner overheard Freddy's story, simply assumed the role of the doctor to get that $50,000 for himself to win the bet.
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