MovieChat Forums > Midnight Run (1988) Discussion > Who is Helen Nelson?

Who is Helen Nelson?

posted 11 years ago by yelowdawg
4 replies | jump to latest

And why did the Duke call her when he was arrested? They never bring her up again after DeNiro records her phone call.

[–] McQueen1980 11 years ago

i presume it is the duke's wife..???

Don't think so Fergal because when Helen rings the Duke to warn him about the FBI a woman who I assume to be John's wife answers the phone.

I think Helen was probably a close friend and John maybe wanted her to make sure his wife was ok. I definitely don't think she was his lawyer.

Or maybe she was a co-worker in the accountancy firm who helped John scam the money of Serano.

[–] McQueen1980 11 years ago

jeez dude u are everywhere LOL

[–] bote 10 years ago

Walsh got Helen's number off the booking slip in L.A. since that is whom The Duke called from jail. This was Jack's clue to locating him since The Duke wouldn't have wasted his phone call on just anybody. I just assumed Helen was his sister-in-law or close friend.

When he called Helen from the coin phone he figured that asking her to come down to the FBI office would alarm her and prod her to call somebody close to The Duke. It turns out that she called him directly, so JACKPOT!

Since Walsh recorded the TouchTones that she dialed via his little radio tap, he was able to decode them to get The Duke's phone number and use that to get his address through one of his many police contacts.

The movie obviously skips a lot of details that don't move the story along, but that's the background of it.