MovieChat Forums > A River Runs Through It (1992) Discussion > Does anyone think that the parents knew....

Does anyone think that the parents knew......Spoilers!!! !

posted 13 years ago by sun78
5 replies | jump to latest

About Paul's gambling problem?? When Norman bailed Paul out of jail in that one scene, he kept it from his parents. When Norman and Paul went to Lolo and Paul decided to stay, despite the fact that he nearly got beat by those guys, Normal still didn't tell his parents. I know that there must have been some stuff that the parents knew about, by the way they spoke of Paul when Norman returned to Montana after college, but it appeared like they were left in the dark as to the full extent of Paul's problems.

[–] rubblebubblecake 13 years ago

I'm not sure if they knew what specifically he was involved in, but it seemed they knew he was involved in something dangerous. When Paul comes to dinner the day he and Norman went fishing with Neil, you can see Paul's mom about say something like "I worry about you, Paul" and then he cuts her off to say that he's going out for the night. You can see a look of worry in both the dad and mom when he leaves, so I think they knew something wasn't right.

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"My daughter's out with the spawn of Norman Bates and Sea Biscuit!"

[–] sun78 13 years ago

I agree with you beaglemommy....it appeared like the parents knew something, just not everything. You could see the looks of worry in thier faces, especially the mom. And that scene where you described, where the family is eating dinner and Paul leaves, saying he's going out, you could see the worry in both of his parents faces. And also by the way they talk about him too is a clue that they knew that Paul was in some sort of trouble. They just probably didn't know the full extend until after he was killed.

[–] pturman-929-979676 13 years ago

I agree with you both. And the scene you both point out sums up what this movie is about: the mom finally tries to communicate to Paul her feelings but inexplicably isn't able to. If she had, maybe Paul would've stayed home & not gone out gambling. What a sad, beautiful movie.

[–] mfiskey55 13 years ago

I agree w/ the other posters that the parents were aware of "something". They knew Paul was doing something he shouldn't be doing & had suspicions as to what this was, but I also think it is much worse for the parents because they didn't KNOW what he was up to. In their minds, I'm sure they were thinking the worst possible scenarios, but were unable to confront Paul because they didn't KNOW the specifics of his problems.

In reality, even if they did know & had confronted Paul, he would have simply given them an off the cuff, silver tongued response to ease the tension. He would have then gone right ahead with what he wanted to do. He was to the Mcleans what Neal was to the Burns family.

I almost numchucked you, you don't even realize!

[–] EMME30 8 years ago

Yes....they knew....when Norman came home from college he was talking to his father in the study. His father tells Norman his congregation was telling him things about Paul. He comments something to the effect of "far be it for my congregation to keep me in the dark."

His Mother attempts to talk to Paul after dinner & Paul tells her he's going out. I'm sure she was hearing things either from her husband or people in the congrgation just like her husband was.