i have a question about that moment when Tommy hits the mook across the face with the chair. it seemed uncharacteristic of Tommy, because he was very restrained and measured throughout the rest of the film. agree?
was it part of his larger plan? ...to initiate the beating he got, in return for the chair wallop?
otherwise, it seemed to be an incongruous moment.
care to comment about that scene? Tommy wielding the chair...?
He tried to protect himself, made one attempt, and it ultimately failed. It went along with the Bernie's comment about he and Tom not being, "muscle".
that's the straight-ahead interpretation, and it's what i thought too. but i was watching the film with a friend, and he couldn't buy that surface-level interpretation. he said the moment seemed out of place; Tom wasn't afraid to take a punch elsewhere; it was the one lingering question my friend had, in what was otherwise a perfect movie in his eyes. i'm wondering if there's anything to it. i'm doing my best to paraphrase my friend.
shareI think that it was put in there specifically so that we know that Tom isn't a gangster, he's not a tough-guy. He tries but it just isn't him.
Later when he rats out Bernie, that fits with his character. But when told that he'd be the one doing the shooting, he's in a bit of a panic - and like with the awkwardness of the chair, Tom's unable to complete the task.
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I think it demonstrates that although Tom isn't 'muscle' in the mob pecking order, he's no pussy either. He probably grew up a poor Irish immigrant who had to fight for scraps like everyone else. Just because he had the brains to rise up to be a consigiliere doesn't mean he cant fight when he has to.
I think just the opposite, (as written above).
Tom was a guy who got by on his cunning, not with his fists. Sh!t, he was a punching bag the whole movie. Did he ever even hit anyone?
He wasn't a tough-guy. As the Dane remarked, Tom would, "sooner join a ladies' league than gun a guy down".
The "mook" was one of the biggest guys in the movie, I think that was enough to motivate Tom. And the way he "deeked" the mook up showed that he had "some" street smarts...... Plus, it was used to illustrate that some of the gangsters weren't what they appeared to be. One gets smashed with a chair, and calls "quits", then the smaller man comes in and kicks ass. That idea of "things are what they appear to be" is "a" running them through the movie....
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