I just put this movie on for something to watch. It's a great film.
To answer your second question, he took Jack Sommersby's place for a number of reasons:
1. He was a man looking to start his life over. Horace Townsend (Richard Gere) had been a dishonest man. The things the witness in court (the one who got into it with the judge) said about him were true. But the war and prison camp had changed him. While in prison, he met the real Jack Sommersby, and he and Townsend looked exactly alike (towards the end, before he is hanged, he says "we could have been brothers... we probably were." Drawn together by the prison experience, Townsend learns everything about Sommersby, a disagreeable, violent man with quite a temper. This is why he and his wife were sleeping in separate rooms before he went off to war, and ultimately why he killed a man over a card game. Townsend was with him at the time, and the real Sommersby, wounded in the fight, died. Townsend buries him under a pile of rocks, the opening scene of the movie. At this moment, Townsend (Richard Gere) becomes Jack Sommersby. In his mind, he wanted to bury his past and take on a new identity.
2. He took Sommersby's place on the gallows because he wanted to be a better man, even if it meant he had to die. Either he be the disgraced Horace Townsend, who has now added to his list of sins by impersonating someone else and sleeping with another man's wife, or he be Jack Sommersby, who must pay the price of murder with his own life. By being Sommersby, he can still be a hero in the eyes of a community he helped get back on their feet and he can give his daughter a legitimate name so she won't be seen as a bastard child. The lesson here is that when you take another man's identity, you also take his responsibilities, good and bad.
I hope this clears it all up for you. I think if the movie confused you on the man's real identity, it did its job!
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slrcks
17 years ago
Then what was the scene right in the end about? With the ring (I think it was a ring) he gave to Laurel (I think that's what JF's character was called)? Did SHE think that he WAS Sommersby?
"Blimey!"
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bryanac625
17 years ago
She said in court that he was not Jack Sommersby and that "I never loved him the way that I love you (the man played by Richard Gere)." But she came to accept him as Jack because it was who he wanted to be.
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profrabbit
17 years ago
Right. She suspected early on he wasn't her real husband. That's why there's that hint of menace in the scene where she's shaving him with a straight razor. She says "I'm thinking, who is this stranger in my kitchen" sort of playfully, and the razor in her hand says,"I have power over you cuz I know who you are, and at any moment can cut off this charade so don't play me." By the middle she's completely colluding with his imposterhood because she's HAPPY with him. And when he came onto the scene, her situation was pretty desperate, she needed to be saved.
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lishol7-1
13 years ago
I thought I had it all wrapped up also - but the ring does pose a question. She had to know her husband's wedding band - If it was Sommersby's wedding band (it would have been too big for Horace(?)) Also, if it held sentimental significance - it would have been from the wedding - not from the past year.
Hmmm. So, it was either a "goof" in the movie, or something really to consider. Anyone else have a comment about this?
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Forlorn_Rage
17 years ago
Bryanac625,
I find it hilarious that after reading about your discussion with SonicAndy about spoiler alerts in the other board, that you went and made another post with spoilers (this time without any warning at all)
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pululu81
16 years ago
you didn't realize it was going to be a spoiler???? The question sought a spoiler, and the first spoiler was in the second post.
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16 years ago
[deleted]
bryanac625
12 years ago
Thanks very much for your intelligent response. I appreciate the discussion. However, if your response is referencing my message from July 15, 2007, then I must say that my comment from that date DID say something about the fact that he had to die as Jack Sommersby to protect the reputation of his wife, Laurel and their child, Rachel. But thank you for pointing out that his identity as Jack Sommerby did also affect other people, such as the black man- and by the way, that man's name was Joseph.
Your post made me realize how Christlike the story of this film is. Reading your reply, it could have ended like this: "In order to protect the black man and his family, Laurel and the children,the townspeople who grew to love and respect him, he had no choice but to maintain his false identity as Jack Sommersby and go to the gallows, dying for their sins in order that they might have life."
BTW, if you are interedted in Civil War movies or other historical period films, you might want to check out the following program:
http://impedimentsofwar.org/singleshow.php?show=429
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rod-davies
11 years ago
Let's be clear here. Jack promised everyone in town a piece of land if they worked it and were able to buy it from him with their share of the tobacco profits, not just Joseph. Everyone, black and white. Joseph was the most prominent of the black folk (he was the one beaten by the KKK) but the deal Jack made was with everyone that was prepared to work and everyone would have suffered if he was proven not to be who he said he was because the contracts would have been worthless.
The very last scene of the movie (no words spoken) was after Jack's death, the people of the town are building a new spire on the church and repainting Laurel's home (in the obvious absence of her husband). This is Jack's legacy. He has brought prosperity to the town and everyone owes him a debt of gratitude and they know it. They will make sure that Laurel and the children are taken care of.
There is no mystery here. Jack chose the best option available to him. It meant his own death but it also meant honour for himself and his family and it meant prosperity for the entire town.
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hollycecilia
11 years ago
Illegitimate children were killed in the 19th century because they were just that...illegitimate? Seriously? Never heard of that one before and frankly, I'm having trouble believing it to be fact.
"Save your Dixie cups; the South shall rise again!"
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