Garland 'The Marietta Mangler' Greene
Why did this maniac get an happy ending?
shareMaybe carrying on a Steve Buscemi tradition thing?
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MovieChat Forums > Con Air (1997) Discussion > Garland 'The Marietta Mangler' Greene
It's a tongue-in-cheek ending, it's subtle sarcasm...
He's the worst-of-the-worst, under complete lock-down, transported very cautiously, and yet he makes his escape quietly and goes about his business in public again.
Wiki (if you choose to rely on this medium 100% or so) states that he had "apparently changed his ways". We're supposed to pick up on this after his leaving the doll behind which he took after playing dolls with the little girl and singing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands".
Like Libra said, he's the worst of the worst yet at the same time, he appears to be completely reformed.
He never kills or does anything to anyone the entire course of the movie, not even the little girl that he could have killed at any time.
He is completely calm, rational, and intelligent to the point where he can spot exactly what's wrong with the other inmates as shown by his description of Billy Bedlam. Granted, this alone does not mean he's a good person or anything, but it does show us that he's not crazy anymore.
Finally, the fact that he himself recognizes that there's something wrong with him and even states it in such a way to show that he feels it's a negative trait can easily be seen as an indication that he doesn't want to be that way.
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Saw something different! There is an extended version of this movie that I watched just last night, 1/4/10. in this extended version there is a scene where just after the plane crash lands at Lerner airfield in the desert, Cyrus walks by Garland who is still sitting in a seat on the plane. Cyrus makes the comment, "feel better now?" and Garland responds with "Yup." The camera then shows that a prison guard handcuffed to the wall in front of Garland has been strangled to death with a length of chain. To be honest I don't think that Garland is reformed, I think his philosophical attitudes when describing people and situations to Poe is simply just an indigenous personality trait of his, and may be one of the sources of his evil. He is on the plane which means he has been convicted of some, most, or all of his crimes; which in turn means he is probably on death row, [depends on what state he was convicted in I guess...]so rehabilitation may not even be a factor. While sitting with the little girl he does however make the curious statement: 'I am sick... there is no medicine for what I have.' Which leads one to question his self awareness of his crimes. It also provokes the question of any attempts at reformation and wether or not they were succesful. Point is, he did not kill the little girl, which suggests he is not a compulsive killer, he just simply does do it for fun. This makes him a far scarier individual to me. He may not even see what he does as a bad thing, he may see himself as one that truly appreciates life and has no interest in legal or religious views of what right and wrong is supposed to encompass. This assumption is made clear to mee via his speech about: "insane is sitting in an office for 50 hours a week...etc." As for the ending, I see no change in his behavior or personality and will assume that the Marietta Mangler is very much alive and killing. But is he truly a bad guy? What does the word evil truly mean? After reading this post think about what you consider to be evil, right or wrong, ask yourself what you drw your morales from, and to what ends you apply them. In an otherwise empty action flick, Garland Greene is probably one of the most intriguing characters I've ever seen.
shareDidn't Hannibal Lecter get away in the end, bwaha?! Same thing here, except that because of that film's darker tone, Hannibal just sort of strays off-camera. After Con Air's zaniness, Garland saddles up to the craps table with a pina colada or whatever the hell that drink was to the tune of Lynard Skynard.
Reformed or not, he was the "Dahmer" of the flight, and didn't deserve a reprieve. The dumber thing is that, in real life, if this guy's exploits were national news, he wouldn't be able to just start throwing dice w/o being recognized. Imagine Jeffery Dahmer casually playing Pai Gow in some casino years ago unrecognized.
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I thought it was pretty obvious he was supposed to have been reformed. Even with the extended cut, I don't think it changes anything.
shareBeing in public is the best way to hide. When you're standing in line at the bank or in an elevator, do you study the people around you? Do you know what the evil people in this world look like? You could be standing next to the unibomber, John Wayne Gacy, Dahmer, or even the Boston Marathon bombers and not even recognize them.
"Six trips? Sounds to me like somebody doing a Big Year."
"Maybe I just love to watch birds."