MovieChat Forums > True Believer (1989) Discussion > One thing I can't buy (spoilers)

One thing I can't buy (spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by pninson
10 replies | jump to latest

It's been a long time since I saw this movie, but I've never forgotten the bit about "Art's Supplies." It's too contrived. Some guy mumbles, "art supplies" as a clue, and Woods and Downey go off to look at art supply stores. Then it turns out it's "Art's Supplies: Everything for the Plumber."

Yeah. Right.

I don't care if you're name is Art, you're going to put something in the store's name that says what you sell. Art's Plumbing Supply, or Art's Fish and Game Shoppe, and or Art's Guns & Ammo, or Art's Beauty Salon. Nobody is going to just call their business "Art's Supplies."

The screenwriter just thought this up as a red herring, and it's silly.

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[–] filmbuff1974 15 years ago

Now that you mention it, it was ridiculous to assume he even went to an art supply house. A girlfriend's mascara could have been used. It was a weak link in the story, but the rest of the film was so engaging that I quickly gave it a pass and stayed with the film.

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[–] transmentalist 14 years ago

Minor defense, but remember that plumbing wasn't all Art "supplied." He was a drug "supplier" to addicts and an information "supplier" to the police. You're right, the store front name is suspiciously awkward and vague, but it could at least arguably have been that way on purpose.

[–] Bugfinder 14 years ago

Maybe that store didn't always supplied plumbing (legally speaking). I know of some stores that changed from construction material to wooden furniture then kitchen devices, and the name stayed the same. The owner just changed his business according to demand. It can happen.

[–] DocumentaryAddict 13 years ago

<<Maybe that store didn't always supplied plumbing (legally speaking). I know of some stores that changed from construction material to wooden furniture then kitchen devices, and the name stayed the same. The owner just changed his business according to demand. It can happen.>>>

I think we're arguing this point a bit too much. It is a movie.

Besides- the entire thing coming down to Art's wife banging some guy from Chinatown was much more out there than "Art's Supplies."

[–] DocumentaryAddict 13 years ago

<<<Some guy mumbles, "art supplies" as a clue, and Woods and Downey go off to look at art supply stores. Then it turns out it's "Art's Supplies: Everything for the Plumber."
Yeah. Right.
I don't care if you're name is Art, you're going to put something in the store's name that says what you sell. >>>>>>

But he did put it in the store's name, it's "Art's Supplies: Everything for the Plumber."

And it would seem kind of funny for the white power guy to say, "Art's Supplies: Everything for the plumber" while he's holding a gun the size of a boat.

And they were more concerned with the "great day of the rope" anyway.

The funniest "not-meant-to-be-funny" part was Shu looking like an evil killer who would bite your face off the entire time he was in jail, with his hair slicked back and a menacing look. Then he comes out of prison looking like a choir boy with his hair blow-dried and fluffed.

[–] mcfly-31 12 years ago

Nazi guy only says, "Art supplies, right?" to the other Aryan dude. Doesn't add "Everything for the plumber." Neither here nor there.

The bigger script bug for me was the thing with the morgue. Even before Downey mentions that the morgue's proximity to Chinatown is close, what city ANYWHERE in the United States has the county morgue an hour's drive away? The body must be delivered in the jurisdiction in which it was picked up. Never would that be more than probably a half hour's drive. Sure enough at the end the cop says, "It took eight years for people to figure out it took me an hour to drive seven blocks."

But Woods performance is what carries this, anyway. Minus all the only-in-the-movies theatrics (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!)

(esp. with the DA character being in on everything).

"If I had ya where I wanted ya, they'd be pumpin your ass full of formaldehyde!"

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] transmentalist 7 years ago

Sure enough at the end the cop says, "It took eight years for people to figure out it took me an hour to drive seven blocks."

I think Dodd was onto it, but didn't pursue it when Dennehy started hacking his lungs out

[–] gelliss 8 years ago

The whole movie rests on Wood's performance. Everything about the plot is contrived. Things just fall in to their lap. It's like watching a TV cop show where the bad guys end up breaking under a heavy stare and detail the whole plot. When we all know if they had just lawyered and/or kept their mouths shut, there was no evidence against them.

The courtroom scenes are mostly silly. I laughed out loud when Kurtwood Smith had the cuban prisoner on the stand and threatens him by saying "I can sentence you to more years
than you've already served". LOL I guess he was a prosecutor and judge all rolled in to one.

[–] HurdyGurdyMan (20) 2 years ago

I laughed out loud when Kurtwood Smith had the cuban prisoner on the stand and threatens him by saying "I can sentence you to more years than you've already served".

I understand how you can think that. It is indeed not very clear who says that line. However, I just watched the film and understood that it was the judge who says the line. His lips are not shown moving but neither are Kurtwood Smith's. And it is in the voice of the actor who plays the judge, not Smith.