Robin is Joe Sarno daughter! - The Way of the Gun (2000) Discussion

[–] aGuiltySoul 15 years ago

Yeah, and you just figured this out?!?

To add to the confusion, Juliette Lewis, who plays Robin, in real life is Abner's, Geoffrey Lewis', daughter.

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] deltajvliet 15 years ago

It's not exactly supposed to be a hidden plot point...

Let's do some gratuitous violence.

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[–] bciesil-1 14 years ago

In the scene where Sarno takes Longbaugh for coffee. At the end of the scene Sarno is talking about how his daughter is trying to put something together for him. He SHOWS his wallet to Longbaugh. Obviously showing a picture of his daughter. Longbaugh now KNOWS she is Sarno's daughter.

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[–] aGuiltySoul 14 years ago

Of all the debates about this film, the one scene that seems to be the most debated is what exactly Sarno shows Longbaugh in his wallet. We simply do not know. Yes, it could have been her picture. But it could have been a lot of things. Some people think it was some large bills.

But I do think that the dialogue leads Longbaugh to understand, and us, that Sarno is her father. "My daughter is putting together a deal."

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

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[–] ceejay-cj 13 years ago

How or why people debate the obvious is beyond me. The director is delivering the connection between father and daughter with subtlety. Sure you keep money in your wallet but he's not showing him money, he flicks open the part of the wallet that holds pictures, and what do you naturally have a picture of in your wallet? It's a figurative punctuation to his statement about his "daughter putting together a deal" and how it's "not working out". People simply have to bring some powers of deduction to a movie other than expecting to be spoon fed every time.

You can't debate something that obvious especially after they later confirm it with more statements about how Sarno is conflicted becasue he has an "emotional investment" in this deal or later when he bursts in the room during the C-Section and Robin silently mouths the words "I Love You" to him, or as he is holding her hand and looking at her and the baby while Parker states "You know people are family just by looking at them!"

After all that, people will debate whether or not Sarno is showing Longbaugh some dollar bills in his wallet or a picture of his daughter?

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[–] aGuiltySoul 13 years ago

In the end, it doesn't matter WHAT he showed him. As to the flipping open of the part of his wallet that contains pictures, so, he couldn't have clipped some bills there? But as I said, it doesn't really matter. I think it wouldn't change the viewers' experience much if they didn't catch the connection between Sarno and Robin.

But I rejoice that there are people invested enough in this largely ignored gem of a film to debate such matters.

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

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[–] talkradio-643-283022 13 years ago

Your spot on with everything there mate and well done for it, but she mouths hi dad not i love you, i sound like a dick knowing that, but i wrote about this film and had to know back to front to do so.

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[–] Tyler_Durden76 10 years ago

it makes me think of the it's always sunny in philadelphia episode 'the gang makes lethal weapon 6' where mac keeps painfully overexplaining things lol

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[–] koffeenkreame41-1 9 years ago

How or why people debate the obvious is beyond me. The director is delivering the connection between father and daughter with subtlety. Sure you keep money in your wallet but he's not showing him money, he flicks open the part of the wallet that holds pictures, and what do you naturally have a picture of in your wallet? It's a figurative punctuation to his statement about his "daughter putting together a deal" and how it's "not working out". People simply have to bring some powers of deduction to a movie other than expecting to be spoon fed every time.

You can't debate something that obvious especially after they later confirm it with more statements about how Sarno is conflicted becasue he has an "emotional investment" in this deal or later when he bursts in the room during the C-Section and Robin silently mouths the words "I Love You" to him, or as he is holding her hand and looking at her and the baby while Parker states "You know people are family just by looking at them!"

After all that, people will debate whether or not Sarno is showing Longbaugh some dollar bills in his wallet or a picture of his daughter?

This. Robin was definetely his daughter, there are more than a few hints but in they show you flat out with saying alot.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

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[–] eoval 14 years ago

Seriously? This is a joke, right? lol lol lol

Only demons should fear me...
You're not a demon, are you?

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[–] SufyanV 13 years ago

I don't mean to resurrect an old thread for no reason, but I believe I have something to add.

If you watch the DVD commentary it becomes clear that the film makers' idea was that Sarno shows Longbaugh a picture of Robin. To even further cement the idea, a musical cue is played, one that is used repeatedly throughout the film when dealing the with topics of "The baby" and "Motherhood".

Later when Sarno barges in on the C-section, Robin (who is drugged) dreamily and inaudibly mouths "hi dad".

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[–] snikt_snakt 13 years ago

I thought it was obvious he was showing a picture of his daughter, but I'm going to need someone to explain WTF a few "large bills" in his wallet was supposed to do?

By large bills I assume you mean hundreds? I know there are larger denominations floating around out there but they are pretty rare and I doubt Joe Sarno had a stack of $10,000 bills in his wallet.

So what does a handful of hundreds get him?

"I don't have 15 million dollars, but I have six hundred. Can I take the girl now and mail you the rest?"

If you give me a couple of hours I can put 5 or 6 hundred dollar bills in my wallet. That does not mean I am good for $15 mill.

So what possible reason would he even have to show him money?

"What the f-ck is the internet?" -Jay, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

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[–] aGuiltySoul 13 years ago

So what you're saying is that Sarno was trying to get them to back away from the ransom money through pure sentiment? "Hey! She's my daughter, see I have her picture, you can trust me, so back off." As for the commentary remark above, I think I've watched the commentary almost as often as I've watched this film and the director never, ever gives a clear cut interpretation...just a suggestion. McQuarrie is just as happy with one fan idea as another. If he wanted it to be clear he would have done so. So I say it could have been a few thousand dollar bills clipped in his wallet to say, "Here's earnest money in your hand to let her go instead of pie in the sky."

I agree that a picture is much more likely. Either way, neither scenerio makes much sense. Lots of things don't make a lot of sense in this film. But that doesn't detract from this film's excellence. It kinda add to it. This film breaks the rules thus proving the exception.

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

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[–] snikt_snakt 13 years ago

Showing whatever was in his wallet was not an attempt to get them to walk away from the money altogether. It was an attempt to get Longbaugh to come with him to get $1,000,000 dollars instead of waiting around for the $15 million.

So showing him a picture of his daughter might be like, "Come on man. We just had coffee and shot the sh-t for a while. We like each other as much as two guys in this situation can. This is my daughter we're talking about here. Can you help me out?"

At which Longbaugh said, "Sorry. I can't trust you 'cause you're a bagman."

If Sarno did want Longbaugh to come with him to get the $1 million (which is exactly what Sarno said in that scene) what good would showing him a couple thousand dollars do?

"What the f-ck is the internet?" -Jay, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

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[–] aGuiltySoul 13 years ago

Hey snikt snakt, you might be right or I might be right. Who cares? I'm just happy to talk to people who appreciate this film as much as I do.

"I'd never ask you to trust me. It's the cry of a guilty soul."

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[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 12 years ago

The two bodyguards confirmed this during conversation before they left for Mexico...

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[–] samuraixsithlord2 12 years ago

When he flipped open the wallet to show him the picture of Robin he was showing just how sincere he was about not wanting their deal to end in violence. He wanted everything to go smoothly and Robin not to get hurt, so he tried to make a deal with them before the two bodyguards got involved.

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gaiderdraco 11 years ago

Yeah. How did no one notice that Robin says "hi dad" when looking at Sarno as he enters the room? I noticed it the first time that I'd watched the film, back when it came out to theatres, and on subsequent viewings, as well.

D.

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[–] JudgeNotLestYeBeJudgeReinhold 7 years ago

He showed him the picture in a desperate plea: "Hey, don't kill my daughter. If you have to proceed and get the ransom, don't harm my daughter."

Super old thread, but seriously, there's no debate to be had. You really think Sarno was dumb enough to think if he flashed some "large bills" (maybe $1,000, 2 at the most?) that they'd just walk away? That makes no sense. Especially since Sarno had already offered them a 6 figure amount to settle.

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[–] aGuiltySoul 7 years ago

Yes, super old debate over a worthy film. I am a huge Christopher McQuarrie fan because of this film, not, ironically The Usual Suspects because I saw this one first. He's been involved in a couple of stinkers but Edge of Tomorrow makes up for them. EofT is of the most cleverly, tightly scripted, totally entertaining films ever. I only regret that McQuarrie seems to have become permanently tied to Tom Cruise, but it works for both of them.

Anyway, back to the debate, thinking Sarno was pinning any hope of success on the sentiment of Longbaugh is a reach. Perhaps after their rather agreeable discussion he saw an opening. Maybe. Maybe not. Hey! Maybe it was a few thousand dollar bills clipped to is daughter's picture.

It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.
RIP Roger Ebert

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[–] AfroGeek 11 years ago

The first strong cue you get is when the 2 body guards are trying to figure out why their boss has taken James Caan off the job for having a conflict of interests. They're rolling scenarios around in their head, and just bfore they say it, they say "the girl" before they're interrupted.

Amy: I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!

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[–] Eclaircissement 10 years ago

I agree that it is pleasant to see intelligent and articulate people, most of whom have seen this film a number of times, discuss it with respect for one another. Such posts are very informative, and I enjoy them.

We can agree to disagree about things that are not absolutely clear in this film--two easy examples are what is shown in the wallet (I think it is a picture of Robin) and what happened in Baltimore (I think the young resident made a mistake that lost at least one life).

In thinking about these unresolvable questions I am reminded of what Bart Freundlich had to say about his first film as writer/director: "The Myth of Fingerprints." He said he deliberately cut well written and acted scenes that would have given the audience information they would have wanted; however, HE wanted them to ponder his film and fill in not just small details, but important things that may or may not have happened (in the untold backstory or in the present-day of the film) or why some people relate to others in strange and even extreme ways.

He said in an interview that he thought it was best not to spoon-feed an audience. His debut in this film (with future wife Julianne Moore and a very good cast) was generally panned, but it is a film I have always enjoyed. Nevertheless, I have never gotten anybody to agree with me that it is an interesting and well made film. That is not the case nearly so much with "The Way of the Gun."

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