MovieChat Forums > The Pallbearer (1996) Discussion > Good movie. Could someone please answer...

Good movie. Could someone please answer my question?

posted 19 years ago by sinceimetjc
3 replies | jump to latest

I thought this movie was pretty good. It has a good balance of humor and drama. I have to agree with one post and that is that it can be slow at times. Schwimmer's character Tom can seem like a jerk at times, but his cute boylike charm makes him likable at the same time. I really think that this movie should be getting more attention on IMDB than it is getting.

I do have one question though. I didn't see the first part of this movie and I don't know how Ruth's son dies and what a girl from Yale has to do with it. If someone can answer those questions I'd greatly appreciate it.

[–] too_tired 19 years ago

I just finished watching it on TV. I almost didn't because the name was unfamiliar and not very promising. I was pleasantly surprised. To answer your questions: In teh very beginning of the movie Ruth finds her son in the car (yes, that car) and you just see the back of his head and some fumes. It was suicide and at first I thought that he shot himself but since the car had no spots or anything then it must have been carbon monoxide. After Tom sleeps with Ruth she asks him about her son and girls so he tells her about Julie but as if her son was in love with her (since he knew nothing about the guy). He tells her that Julie went to Yale. Ruth thought that she might be the reason for her son's suicide but Tom convinces her that it wasn’t.

Hope this answers your questions :)

[–] evamadelon 18 years ago

Slight correction on the Yale thing. After Tom tells Ruth about Julie, whom he presents as if this were a girl her son Bill was interested in, Ruth asks whether Julie went to Yale. She explains that she found some Yale pamphlets or something (sorry, I didn't catch the word) in Bill's car after he died, so she thought maybe Bill's connection to Yale was with some girl, some unrequited love.

The Yale story proves relevent when Tom and Scott are reminiscing about former classmates and they remember a girl who had a crush on "the *other* Tom." Scott had heard that that girl was now in school at Yale -- leading Tom to hop in his car in hopes of solving the mistaken identity mystery.

We never do find out exactly why Bill kills himself, but one possible answer is that he was carrying a torch for this woman at Yale.

[–] lenore92131 18 years ago

Bill Abernathy was a suicide. Opening scene, before the credits, was very effective. Ruth is calling his name opens a door to the garage and we see his titled back head with car running and fumes all around. Makes the bequeathing of the car kind of gruesome.

The Yale connection was Ruth found some parking stubs or transit tickets (I've never lived back east) that indicated the car had been to Yale several times.