MovieChat Forums > The Spanish Prisoner (1998) Discussion > !!!!!!Spoilers!!!!! !! Question about th...

!!!!!!Spoilers!!!!! !! Question about the end

posted 18 years ago by ddc2
4 replies | jump to latest

sorry for my bad english

wow, good movie, left me thinking about it a long time.
But as i saw the movie i wasn´t too surprised that the FBI thing was fake, because after Ross saw the 85-year old "sister" of Steve Martin, i knew that Steve Martin must have planned it (that Ross sees the 85-year old lady and thinks Martin is criminal); because it would be very stupid of Steve Martin to take the risk, if he would have it not planned. And after that i also was not too surprised that the secretary was involved too, because she was the one who brought Ross´s attention to the FBI agent. But ok, i was never sure, in which direction the movie goes. That was really great about it.

But now my question. Maybe i missed something.
I know that it is not clear at the end if the US Marshals are real or fake. But how did the japanese-looking "US Marshall" knew the password of the Switzer bank account of Ross (the name of the dog of his mother)? I mean, ok if he was involved into the crime, he could have known it from Steve Martin. But then why would he tell it Ross? And if he really was a US Marshall, how could he have known it?

Thanks for reply

[–] capmovies 18 years ago

Maybe the Marshals had bugged Jimmy's office and overhead his conversation with Joe about the bank account. That's the easy part. The harder question is why movies don't ever display computers the way we all know they operate? No secure system (and particularly not at a Swiss bank) would display the password on the screen in huge letters.

[–] neil_mc 18 years ago

I was convinced at that point that he couldn't possibly be opening him a Swiss account - with that big daft lettering - but it turns out he was in the end.

"We're making a film here, not a movie."

[–] HeyLover73 18 years ago

The agent asked him if his mother had a dog named Patty - he did not say he knew his account password

[–] katiewon 18 years ago

Isn't it obvious? Joe Ross has been a victim of "Gaslight" the entire time by his boss. Geniuses are touchy individuls, but they also have blindspots. He needed to get in touch with his inner gratitude for the comfortable position his job has afforded him that allowed him to come up with this formula, and keep it within the company. Since the harder the boss pushed, the more difficult Joe became, the boss had to comeup with something a little more "creative" to make him happy to be home again and keep the process from going to a competitor. Also, keep the boss from bidding against his own employee.

So the entire scenario was staged, including that whole U.S. Marshall b.s. (think back to the shuttle at the airport, the japanese tourists getting off the bus at the airport in Boston are also the "U.S. Marshall's" on the boat). This is how the agent also knew the name of the dog was "Paddy". This entire operation probably cost the company $100,000 (compared to the millions to be made on the process), Joe is just happy to be back in the fold, and the process was never really in jeopardy.

The movie was a fun mystery to unravel.