MovieChat Forums > Before and After (1996) Discussion > Major Goof ?

Major Goof ?

posted 17 years ago by mikeday-3
17 replies | jump to latest

The girl dies following an argument with her boyfriend. They've been making love in his car having pulled off the main highway onto a dirt sideroad. Its winter and the roads are covered in snow. He tries to drive away and the car gets stuck. The more he revs up the engine the deeper the car sinks. They both get out and he tries to free the car. She berates him for being puny and unable to jack the car up. He hits her, she falls on the carjack and dies. So there he his, having killed his girlfriend, she's lying in a pool of blood and his car is up to its axles in snow.
Next thing we know is that the car is back home in his Father's garage.
So how did it get there ?

[–] lostn 17 years ago

An astute observation. I'm surprised no one thought of this.

What I was wondering is whether 16 year olds are allowed to drive without supervision where he is from. Where i'm from you can only get a learner permit at 16. Can't drive unsupervised.

During the fire scene, it was strange also that they'd leave the fire burning when they got called away. That would have spread and burnt down the entire house.

[–] azncutie147 17 years ago

dude the film was in 1996...course he can drive w/o supervision...the rule is parents permit for the first 6 months...so yea

if you never lie, then you dont have to remember anything- Mark Twain

[–] lostn 17 years ago

What does that mean exactly? He's permitted to drive on his own as long as his parents give him permission to?

[–] Bizarro_Saints 17 years ago

dude the film was in 1996...course he can drive w/o supervision...the rule is parents permit for the first 6 months...so yea

Each state is allowed to come up with their own laws about driving. In some states you can drive by yourself wherever you want when you are 16 in some states you can't. It just depends on the state, it's that simple.

[–] bababear 17 years ago

Back in the day (1960) in Texas you could get your learner's permit at 13 and your actual driver's license on your 14th birthday, which I did. Almost the entire eighth grade took driver's education the summer before we entered high school- the class was so big it met in the high school auditorium.

[–] Molly-31 10 years ago

Where I'm from, learner's permit at 15, have to have someone with a full driver's license with you, doesn't have to be a parent. Full driver's license at 16. Check laws for the state this takes place in.

You've got me?! Who's got you?!

[–] strat516 17 years ago

Throughout the movie I had the same question as to how the car got back in dad's garage. I figured there would be some explanation forthcoming.
I guess we're left to assume that after Jake accidently killed his girlfriend, he was miraculously able to get the car unstuck, drive home and then split.

Lame.

[–] LostSoulX 16 years ago

Maybe all the blood improved his traction...

[–] WackMoonStar 16 years ago

I would like to know why he had all that blood in the back of his car (like it looked like a womans shirt etc.) if he just left her there ....

[–] enbilal 16 years ago

The blood was from the car jack and the gloves. No woman's shirt. Seems like he moved the body and then without her annoying interruptions managed to free the car alone. Not everything has to be shown. Use your imagination.

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[–] mptnla 16 years ago

True enkibilal. If I had just been involved in someone's death, I be diggin like a mofo to try to free the car and get away from there ASAP.

"I'm not ugly. People tell me I look a lot like Sandra Bernhard."

[–] MerylStreeplove4 15 years ago

He was probably able to dig it out. or got a friend.

[–] seven071977 14 years ago

Definitely the adrenaline rush from the fear would have helped him as well.

[–] fireseeker4him 14 years ago

I noticed this when watching the film - and it really bothered me. But what bothered me even more was that the car was found back at the house. Why could have possessed him to go back to the house, park the car, and runaway from there? Why not just drive away from the scene of the crime?
So, I think that makes two major goofs.

Twenty pounds of brown sugar!

[–] bergfeld 14 years ago

Jake explained not driving away, sort of, when he said he thought hitchhiking would be smarted than driving off in the car. Maybe he thought leaving it in the garage would some how slow things down. The goof I found, though it's a small one, is the postcards. It was a small town....Any rural route mail person reads everyone's postcards as he delivers them. He would have reported the very first one to the cops.

[–] done_holding_back 13 years ago

Sounds like somebody has a creepy rural route mail person.

[–] vincentlynch-moonoi 10 years ago

What I think you guys missed is his mother saying -- when the police first arrived -- that he was upstairs in his room (though he was not). So it appears to me he returned home, probably picked up a few essentials, then ran.