MovieChat Forums > The River Wild (1994) Discussion > Why would Gail fire the gun?

Why would Gail fire the gun?


When Wade said those things to Gail about not knowing whether she'd have had to kill him, why on earth did she fire the gun towards the sky when they both knew that there was only one bullet left? Firing that last bullet at noone when a guy has a knife to your husband's throat is pure insanity!

Love the film but didn't understand this.

~ No matter what I just said, I generally do not mean to hurt anyone ~

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[deleted]

How could she know it wouldn't go off?

~ No matter what I just said, I generally do not mean to hurt anyone ~

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[deleted]

Had I had the opportunity to buy or watch the movie again then I would of course have done so. In my country it's not available on dvd.

I get it now, but I still think it seems weird. There was no way she could know how the conversation would run, or that she would have the time to open the cylinder one more time before firing a shot would be neccessary. Supposed Wade had jumped at her when she first pointed the gun at him, like he did the second time, what good would her little trick have done her then?

~ No matter what I just said, I generally do not mean to hurt anyone ~

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[deleted]

That pacific moment was caused by it being filmed on the west coast... if it had been filmed in the Carolinas it would have been an Atlantic moment.

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I did not notice any of that when I watched it. Do you not think that that is too much thinking going on when she was in a situation like that. Surely she opened the barrel to check the bullets but would not have been in the state of mind or qualified enough to plan firing a blank. How did she know that Wade wouldn't come and attack her straight away. I mean he was fighting for his life and money so he could do anything.

I find it all rather odd.

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If you had been paying attention you would have seen her open the cylinder and check the shells when she first pulled the gun out of the water. She then rotated he cylinder backwards so the first time she pulled the trigger the gun wouldn't fire. The gun was then primed to fire on the last remaining bullet which went into Baconman's chest, thereby rendering him null and void! Also about 20 minutes earlier in the flick she looked at Bacon and said "Wade I'm gonna kill you!" So she did!!

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Did it occur to you that she might not have known exactly how a double-action revolver with just one round works? I believe she clearly thought she had the round in the proper location, let Wade talk her out of shooting him and was going to waste the bullet by firing in the air. Then, after Wade did the obvious and double-crossed her, she opened the gun, repositioned the cylinder to the proper location and squeezed the trigger. The evidence for that is as she aims seemingly at the camera, you can see the bullet revolve to the firing chamber.

BANG!

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I too thought it was a little odd. I have to wonder why she wouldn't kill him right away. By that point, it was clear what kind of people these guys were. They had killed 3-4 people already and obviously wouldn't let the family go and risk getting turned in. If it were me (and I think anyone else really) I would have fired ASAP and ended this whole nightmare.

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Yeah, I found it quite contrived, too, and didn't understand it til I read this thread. I would have killed the guy first chance. I wanted him dead since he took the kid off in the boat!

He's obviously a bad guy by the time she gets the gun, and there's no way he'd let them live if he had the choice. They would ID him.

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>>> She had a dream the night before, and therefore believed that a divine intervention would come down and make the round not go off at that pacific moment.

Very cute :) someone is going to take you seriously on this one ...

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You are dumb.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

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