"I've pissed my pants" guy?
Any good theories on why it is that he shot himself? That was pretty surreal stuff right there.
there's some good theories here:
https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/1413/what-was-the-deal-with-the-crazy-major-at-fort-hays
I think he was suffering from form of PTSD.
shareI'm pretty sure he had PTSD
shareThe movie did a poor job with this part imo. But the General's suicide was supposed to establish the effect of the horror. The General killed himself because the war traumatized him and made him insane.
shareI think the point was to emphasize that Dunbar was leaving the madness of this time and place the war created.
I often wondered if that man was taking something, morphine perhaps which was all too readily available and over used being over-the-counter. This would only make a volatile situation worse.
The emphasis is lost as the scene almost comes across a comical.
"The emphasis is lost as the scene almost comes across a comical." It really did, huh? Guy just states that he pissed his pants...and then its some kind of power move? Yeah couldn't agree more with your last sentence, was really a surreal moment.
And I bet you're on to something there with the drug use...maybe that was something that was rampant and a problem for many back then.
Helluva flex
shareMy opinion since I saw that movie for the first time in the 90s was always that the officer found the frontier very depressing and wasn't there by choice. Learning that Dunbar volunteered to be there pushed him over the edge.
shareThat's a unique and interesting take...will have to think on that awhile. Because yeah, the timing was absolutely crazy, right? I mean RIGHT after Dunbar leaves, he shoots himself.
Yeah you'd think there has to be some kind of connection...how interesting.
There's a very subtle bit of acting in that scene by Maury Chaykin, the late Canadian actor who plays the officer. It's when Costner explains that he asked to be transferred there because he wanted to see the frontier, or words to that effect. The crazy officer pauses and gives him this odd little sympathetic look and smile.
I think the officer had that exact same wish to see the frontier at some point in the past, but the reality of life on the plains was quite different from what he imagined, and the harsh reality, plus the knowledge that he asked to be sent there, drove him insane.
It's right after this that the officer launches into that crazy quest-granting bit.
I'll resist trying to pin it with a theory. The guy was crazy. He'd been in command a long time, perhaps he was making room for the new Lt. to stay behind.
share