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Spoilers: why did they take the wounded/dead guy on the train with them?

posted 10 years ago by chipe
1 reply | jump to latest

The movie was truly good and bad. As everyone says, the main plot/twist was great, but most of the in-between was boring and cleshayed (sp?). They could have cut the movie time in half and had a better movie, maybe for TV. Also, while maybe needed for the plot, as one reviewer said, that the riderless released horses would lead the posse on a long chase is ridiculous.

Anyway, a sort of spoiler question: why take the wounded/dead-looking guy with them on the train?

Obviously, there would be no movie if they left the dead or wounded real sheriff behind on the street. (The crux of the movie is that the real sheriff is knocked out, dragged out of sight, has amnesia and thinks he killed the sheriff -- while one of the bad guys has his head blown off and is mistaken for the sheriff.) But there was no believable reason, in my mind, to drag him onto the train when they escaped after the crime. One of the bad guys asked his partner why they were dragging him onto the train, and the silly reply was that they released three horses for the posse to chase and three men were in on the crime, so they wanted it to appear that three men escaped. But why? How could they know so quickly that the third bad man with his head shot apart would be taken for the sheriff? And why would they care? The girl could have spilled the beans. .... .... Most important, what if three horses were released but the rider for one was dead on the street? Big deal! ... ..... One far-fetched explanation (and I don't think they could think that fast, and I don't know if it would help them anyway) is that they feared if they left two bodies behind on the street, one might be identified as their friend, which would implicate the other two crooks! But, actually, the whole thing is ridiculous for the sheriff's family would likely identify the body as not being the sheriff, even with the head shot off!.

Suggestion to the writers: I think it would have been much better if the three bad guys and the teacher had the money handed over to them on the train, and the sheriff jumps onto the train at the last moment. Then the fight erupts, one of the bad guys has his head blown off, the sheriff is hit on the head and is thrown off the train, later the two bad guys jump off the train, and the school teacher (witness) and third bad guy (head blown off, mistaken for sheriff) are left on the train.

[–] darkavenger77 9 years ago

I just watched this. As to your question, the only reason I can think of would be that they did not know he had amnesia, which if they thought he was dead was irrelevant.

You're right, the wife or his deputy would make a verification it was him. Nearly everyone has some type of identifying characteristic (scar, birthmark, etc.) aside from their face that a loved one would recognize.

I think another large plot hole was no one recognizing him after just 7 years, notably his own son. A 10 year old would be old enough to remember what his dad looked like, and I'm sure there would still be people in town that recognized their former Sheriff. Add to this that his appearance did not change. Think of your school reunions, people you were around regularly but have not seen in 10 years and you still recognize them.

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