MovieChat Forums > Presumed Innocent (1990) Discussion > It's a BRILLIANT film, and who did it is...

It's a BRILLIANT film, and who did it is OBVIOUS if you pay attention...

posted 10 years ago by al666940-3
6 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER

It’s obvious either him or his wife did it.

Makes a lot of sense if he knew or at least suspected it (in the film it’s heavily implied he suspected it since he doesn’t really look THAT surprised, but rather saddened that his fear came true). If you watch the movie CAREFULLY it’s all there really pointing to the wife and to him realizing it:
She never ONCE doubts his innocence, to the point of him even asking her about it. Kinda odd for a cheated wife to be 100% sure his obsessed hubbie didn’t do that with semen and fingerprints and fiber pointing straight at him.
The first time we see them having sex is AFTER the news of Caroline being killed. I mean, she’s in almost celebrating mood.
She’s NOT surprised nor shocked about her death.
She only freaks out when his hubbie is accused. She never wonders whether he may be in danger (what if the attacker wants revenge on him also for whatever case he worked alongside Caroline, which was one of the theories they were investigating).
She had clear motive

So it’s clearly telling due to her reactions what really happened.
Now, as to Rusty suspecting/knowing she did it:
Caroline was bludgened to death, which screams personal grievance (as opposed to a say foiled robbery attempt or murder for hire).
The attacker was let inside, so it was someone she knew.
If he’s innocent, how could possibly have his semen be found there? And a glass we later realize came from HIS kitchen set (he MUST have recognized it at some point) with his prints. No matter how badly Molto and Nico would want to frame him for whatever, there’s simply no way they could get his semen. Maybe one of his glasses, but his semen?
The evidence at trial showing that semen actually came from a diafragm (not that somebody just jerked off and placed his goo in her to match Rusty’s A antibodies) that Caroline had no reason whatsoever to use, and that Rusty knows she never wore with him. Unlike his wife. I’m sure at 49 years old he knows if/when his wife wears a diafragm.

See? It all adds up eventually. So he MUST have suspected her at the end. His clear lack of reaction at discovering the bloddy axe proves it.

Now why frame her hubby if she didn’t intent him to be charged?
Clearly she’s not a career criminal, so she was stupid enough to think such a move would not have severe consequences regardless of who was in charge of the investigation (like people say, any cop stumbling into that would suspect Rusty).
Maybe she on a subconscious level wanted to hurt him, as payback for the affair.
She is already disturbed due to the affair, as her behaviour suggests in the movie and the way she confesses at the end, so no wonder she did such a thing.

And if anyone wonders why would Rusty cover her crime, isn’t it obvious?
He’s feeling guilty as sin for he considers responsible for all of it (his affair set off this chain of events). So if anyone should suffer for his wife’s crime it should be him.
He feels he owes it to her since she forgave him for the affair. Which makes total sense since it’s common knowledge that Caroline was an opportunistic slut who targeted whomever she felt could advance her carreer. Since everybody knows she targeted Rusty (even local cops state they knew she was inquiring about him before they ever met), clearly his wife knows it too, and since Rusty is not a womanizer as stated in the film (it really was THAT one time), it’s a lot easier for a wife to forgive knowing she needs not to worry about a repeat.

[–] nutsberryfarm 10 years ago

i thought it was horgan.

The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.-James Madison

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

I agree that it's a fine film, with a great cast and intriguing story line.

But I disagree that Rusty suspects his wife of being directly involved. I think he has no idea and is shocked speechless when he finds out.

Your mistaken with some of your contentions above.

The semen was never proven to be Rusty's. (I don't think they were doing DNA tests back then). All it proved was that "the rapist" had the same blood group as Rusty.

And if anyone wonders why would Rusty cover her crime, isn’t it obvious?

Why should any one wonder, when he explains it himself in the voiceover at the end?

[–] Topher88 9 years ago

In the film Rusty is clearly shocked when he finds out the truth.

However, in the original novel Rusty - an experience investigator - slowly pieces things together over the course of the book. By the end he is aware who actually killed Caroline.

This is one of the serious differences between the film and the novel. In the film, Rusty comes across as thunderstruck that this is happening to him and doesn't know what to do. In the novel he is a little more cynical and hard edged and works to piece together what happened.

In the novel, the scene between Rusty and Lip, when Lip brings the glass back, is much longer and more detailed. Rusty tells Lip, who is his best friend, what exactly happened and how he figured it all out. He also admits to Lip that he thinks it's possible his lawyer Sandy Stern might have figured it all out at the very end shortly before the case is dismissed.

The first clue about the truth Rusty gets are the phone records that indicate a call was made from his house to Carolyn's that night. In the movie he says he can't remember if he did one of his "call and hang up" routines that night, but in the novel he knows he didn't call and knows it could only have been his wife - although at first he wonders if the PAs diddled to phone records.

The second clue, is when he realizes all of Carolyn's beer glasses are present in her apartment and the glass with his fingerprints would make a set of 13. This point is never explored in the film, but is a major point in the novel. Rusty admits to Lip it was at that point he realized what had happened.

The book is written from Rusty's perspective and there is no way to discern the motivations of his wife for the murder (beyond revenge on the woman that was screwing her husband). Rusty tells Lip he believes Barbara left the evidence at the scene implicating him as a "look what I did" message to Rusty and she never intended for him to be charged. The idea being, Rusty would investigate the crime, realize all the clues pointed to him and find a way for it to be an unsolved murder. Lip, however, tells Rusty he thinks that's wrong and Barbara wanted Carolyn dead and Rusty in prison for killing her.

[–] K_Ace 8 years ago

It's quite beautiful how two people can interpret the same scene differently. Knowing the end, I understand why she never asked him about his innocence, but throughout the film I was convinced she was in denial.

From what we know, she was very attached to her husband - she was married to him for many years, she had a child with him, she depended on him financially, she decided not to leave after she had found out about her husband's affair. She obviously wanted to support him in the court. I thought that her unwillingness to ask a direct question was the result of her unability to cope with the potential truth. It was easier to deal with the uncertainty because she was able to convince herself that her husband would never be capable of such a thing.

I saw her as a woman who tried to do everything to save her marriage. And ironically I was right. Just in a very different way than I thought. :)

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sage2112 8 years ago

You do realize that this was a fictional story, written by a person, and that person could have decided to have *anyone* be the murderer in the end?