MovieChat Forums > Sommersby (1993) Discussion > His original intention... (Spoiler)

His original intention... (Spoiler)

posted 14 years ago by princess_poux
3 replies | jump to latest

...was to rip everyone off right? We learn in the court scene that Horace had previously conned people in his old town to give him money for investment and then ran off with the lot. So I'm presuming Horace/Jack planned to impersonate Sommersby in order to come up with the tabacco scheme and then run off with everyone's valuables - that's presumably why he took so long when he went to Virginia; he was having a crisis of conscience. But in the end he'd started to fall in love with Laurel, so he decided to buy the tabbaco and make an honest go of it.

This makes sense, as initially it wasn't really clear to me exactly *why* Horace wanted to impersonate Sommersby.

[–] mardypeking 14 years ago

Yeah, thought about that too. Makes sense to me.

[–] sweetalker 14 years ago

He pretty much gives that exact speech to Laurel when they're sitting in the jail cell together.

I kind of wish they'd included a scene where Jack is at the market, or at a crossroads, making the silent decision to either run with the goods or do what he'd promised.

P.S., you need to edit your title to include (SPOILER), as you just gave away the ending. Knowing the ending ruins the whole movie, the first time you see it.

[–] bluestocking-7 14 years ago

I kind of wish they'd included a scene where Jack is at the market, or at a crossroads, making the silent decision to either run with the goods or do what he'd promised.

I think that's a good wish.

But this scene has to be shown in flashback close to the time of his execution, which will make this scene the only one shown in flashback.

And it's the last piece of the puzzle to his identity. The audience gets to "see" not just "hear" that he is Horace Townsend.

Billy Wilder Page, Play the Movie Smiley Game
www.screenwritingdialogue.com