MovieChat Forums > Presumed Innocent (1990) Discussion > Well made, with a cheap twist ending!

Well made, with a cheap twist ending!

posted 8 years ago by kodakManiac
5 replies | jump to latest

I found the film to be interesting and well made, but I’m left with a lot of questions that seems strange, and some I would outright call plot holes. And if you’re gonna pull a twist in the end, it better be believable, not like this. BTW I could see the twist coming a mile away, probably 30 minutes inn.

SPOILERS!

Carolyn was found dead in her bedroom, on a bloodstained carpet. Since the twist wants us to believe Barbara killed her, why where they in Carolyn’s bedroom? She couldn’t have killed her anywhere else, because there where no signs of blood anywhere except the carpet in her bedroom. This seems very strange.

And Barbara kept the bloodstained hammer in the house, all this time? Come on, what where the screenwriters thinking?

[–] chiluvr1228 8 years ago

SPOILER

I was thinking the same thing as I just watched this movie. If Harrison Ford's character was the suspected murderer wouldn't the police have investigated his house looking for a murder weapon? The whole hammer thing made no sense to me. I also suspected her about halfway through.

[–] Zalon 8 years ago

They mention this in the movie, Barbara asks if they are going to look for a murder weapon. Rusty says, no. He also gives a reason for why they aren't looking for a murder weapon.

They expect him to be too smart to bring it back home with him, and if they start looking for a murder weapon, they have to admit in court that they didn't find any.

[–] kodakManiac 7 years ago

Yeah, that completely clarifies why the murderer kept the bloody murder-weapon in her house! She couldn’t have washed the hammer? Or maybe they mentioned in the film that she didn’t have any soap! Come on, this is stupid. A bad screenwriter desperately trying to fill the huge plot-holes.

[–] TeraisaWrites 7 years ago

And yet... it's completely plausible. Stupid maybe (which is not the reply poster's fault).

This movie was from over a decade back and the book even further back in time. Different rules in the police investigations, court, evidence, even in what's believable and what's not were in place. There wasn't as much information easily available for the audience to know as much or be able to learn as these days.

The twist, lol. The second I saw the wife on the bed, my thought was I bet she did it. But in all honesty, only because I learned from Paul Winfield in his true crime work.

[–] DracTarashV 7 years ago

About leaving the hammer in the house, Barbara did say something to the effect that she'd deliberately left enough evidence so Rusty could suspect she was responsible. I'm not sure if she meant in the house or the crime scene itself (seems like a silly thing to do from a writing and character standpoint either way), but that could explain it. The whole twist has its flaws, yet I don't mind it too much since I kinda expected it.

... the niña, the pinta, the santa maria