Movies Thoughts on this scene in A Time to Kill.

[Takes Two To Tango]

When I first watched this years back in 1996, I thought this dude was the next Brando.

He looked like Brando son and his acting was remarkable in this film.

And then he ended up doing plenty of rom-coms and I thought he was wasting his talent.

But he came back with a vengeance with Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective and Interstellar.

Proving he still had the acting chops and wasn't finally wasting it.

Well this scene is perfect example of brilliant acting. He completely gets your attention.

What's your take on this scene?

 

[jeff7b9]

It's funny that you use the example "the next Brando" when I firmly believe Marlon Brando is the most overrated actor in history and in a class all his own in that regard.

I have read and watched several accounts of how much of a pompous self righteous asshole Brando was to work with from actors whom I resespect for their professionalism, most recently Christophoer Reeves (old video obviously)


I don't blame Matt one bit for his career choices.
Dude got the bag and the little trophy.
Good for him.

 

[method115]

I loved this movie but people always loved that scene way more than me. I just thought it was good nothing more or less.

I don't blame Matt for doing rom-coms and I actually like a well done rom-com but his were always just horrible.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

It's funny that you use the example "the next Brando" when I firmly believe Marlon Brando is the most overrated actor in history and in a class all his own in that regard.

I have read and watched several accounts of how much of a pompous self righteous asshole Brando was to work with from actors whom I resespect for their professionalism, most recently Christophoer Reeves (old video obviously)


I don't blame Matt one bit for his career choices.
Dude got the bag and the little trophy.
Good for him.

Yeah fair enough, I just going by acting ability. Not Brando outside personality / character.

 

[Fedorgasm]

I always liked Matthew Make Conor Gay

 

[jeff7b9]

Yeah fair enough, I just going by acting ability. Not Brando outside personality / character.

Yeah, sorry, I did not mean that as an attack on you, a lot of people hold Marlon Brando as the gold standard.

It's just I personally think he is a pompous jackass that sniffs his own farts.

I appreciate the discussions you start and the opportunity to discuss the art form of film.

 

[frankmorris1]

Great scene, underrated movie

 

[Sweater of AV]

9/10. A fine scene.

The unsurprising lack of responses indicates it's probably not a Sherfront favorite.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Curious to hear @fica's thoughts on this scene.

Spoiler

 

[Brother Numsi]

9/10. A fine scene.

The unsurprising lack of responses indicates it's probably not a Sherfront favorite.

Facts bro

 

[frankmorris1]

9/10. A fine scene.

The unsurprising lack of responses indicates it's probably not a Sherfront favorite.

I don't get it

 

[BoomStronk]

I don't get it

Hwell, the "Sherfront" part of the post brings to mind racism, so I'd assume he is implying that posters arent replying because they are white supremacists and this is a movie about a black guy getting off for murdering a white guy in the racialized south.

 

[frankmorris1]

Hwell, the "Sherfront" part of the post brings to mind racism, so I'd assume he is implying that posters arent replying because they are white supremacists and this is a movie about a black guy getting off for murdering a white guy in the racialized south.

Yea but MMA is so diverse with fighters from various backgrounds, not sure why he would get that impression

 

[jeff7b9]

Hwell, the "Sherfront" part of the post brings to mind racism, so I'd assume he is implying that posters arent replying because they are white supremacists and this is a movie about a black guy getting off for murdering a white guy in the racialized south.

I am not sure if I have ever seen the entire film, I think I probably have


Anyway, I watched the scene yesterday and he gets to the end

"Now imagine it was a white girl."




I was like... uhh... well shit, I was doing that all along.
I guess I need to pay attention better

 

[BoomStronk]

I am not sure if I have ever seen the entire film, I think I probably have


Anyway, I watched the scene yesterday and he gets to the end

"Now imagine it was a white girl."


I was like... uhh... well shit, I was doing that all along.
I guess I need to pay attention better

Why were you imagining it was a white girl? Had you not seen, or made the connection to the restof the movie? Racial tensions arent just a sideplot. Its kind of the whole movie.

Also, I think the end of the movie was a bit stupid. I think the dad was morally justified in nuking those two pricks but legally speaking he is absolutely guilty of murder. And he fucked up that other guys arm or whatever.

Its the same essential story as the Cain Velasquez situation, except in the movie there is more proof of guilt and the revenge killing by the father in the movie is more restrained than a prolonged vehicular shooting spree, as Cains was.

In both cases, I think its pretty clear that enacting your own justice outside of the legal system, particularly because of the danger posed to innocent passersby, is not okay.

 

[jeff7b9]

Why were you imagining it was a white girl? Had you not seen, or made the connection to the restof the movie? Racial tensions arent just a sideplot. Its kind of the whole movie.

Also, I think the end of the movie was a bit stupid. I think the dad was morally justified in nuking those two pricks but legally speaking he is absolutely guilty of murder. And he fucked up that other guys arm or whatever.

Its the same essential story as the Cain Velasquez situation, except in the movie there is more proof of guilt and the revenge killing by the father in the movie is more restrained than a prolonged vehicular shooting spree, as Cains was.

In both cases, I think its pretty clear that enacting your own justice outside of the legal system, particularly because of the danger posed to innocent passersby, is not okay.

Yeah that's the point.

Remove the context which the film sets up and you have this idea that it matters to have compassion for the girl who was beaten, raped, pissed on and thrown off a bridge, based on her skin color.

That's a pretty fucked up thought because it is based on the precursor that you wouldn't have compassion for any girl that happened to if she was not white.

I'm a father. 2 teenage girls. The description he gave was horrifying. I couldn't imagine that happening to my daughters but I guess that description triggered a parental reaction in me.

My point is the whole punchline it set up, (which I get in the context of the film in a racially divided area/time) just struck me as odd this idea ... oh NOW I am supposed to feel bad for this girl when you portray her as white, thus supposing that any man would NOT feel compassion for anyone put through that if she was not white.

That's an amazingly high bar of presumed racism to suppose people hear that and say "eh" ... then pull a 180 at that detail.

 

[Yehudim]

Yeah that's the point.

Remove the context which the film sets up and you have this idea that it matters to have compassion for the girl who was beaten, raped, pissed on and thrown off a bridge, based on her skin color.

That's a pretty fucked up thought because it is based on the precursor that you wouldn't have compassion for any girl that happened to if she was not white.

I'm a father. 2 teenage girls. The description he gave was horrifying. I couldn't imagine that happening to my daughters but I guess that description triggered a parental reaction in me.

My point is the whole punchline it set up, (which I get in the context of the film in a racially divided area/time) just struck me as odd this idea ... oh NOW I am supposed to feel bad for this girl when you portray her as white, thus supposing that any man would NOT feel compassion for anyone put through that if she was not white.

That's an amazingly high bar of presumed racism to suppose people hear that and say "eh" ... then pull a 180 at that detail.

It may have worked during comically racist times in American history like before the 1930s, but it was such a dumb line to be used in the modern day.

 

[BoomStronk]

Yeah that's the point.

Remove the context which the film sets up and you have this idea that it matters to have compassion for the girl who was beaten, raped, pissed on and thrown off a bridge, based on her skin color.

That's a pretty fucked up thought because it is based on the precursor that you wouldn't have compassion for any girl that happened to if she was not white.

I'm a father. 2 teenage girls. The description he gave was horrifying. I couldn't imagine that happening to my daughters but I guess that description triggered a parental reaction in me.

My point is the whole punchline it set up, (which I get in the context of the film in a racially divided area/time) just struck me as odd this idea ... oh NOW I am supposed to feel bad for this girl when you portray her as white, thus supposing that any man would NOT feel compassion for anyone put through that if she was not white.

That's an amazingly high bar of presumed racism to suppose people hear that and say "eh" ... then pull a 180 at that detail.

Hmmm. I see it backwards from that. That racism doesn't exist as like a conscious filter that screens out empathy for other peoples, but that the insidious part of racism is way down deep, that we can't readily empathize with someone who doesn't look like us. We can be conscious of our racial biases and to the extent we are intentionally pushing back against them, we can sort of resist them, but the old preconceptions and biases come sneaking back.

The "imagine she's white" line underlines this point and attempts to inject a sudden snap back to reality just before the jury renders its judgement. The message is something like, "acknowledge we all have enduring racial tendencies that need to be pushed back on by our better, more rational selves, do yhe right thing with your higher brains in this moment, given that you might unthinkingly have less empathy for this situation due to the fact the little girl is a black girl."

So, i guess what you're suggesting about the high bar is true. We know from coverage of the Ukraine war, for example - and from numerous other studies that people of all types absolutely do have different levels of compassion for other people relating to how similar to themselves these other people look/seem. Do you disagree with this contention, do you think that the average white person, say, has precisely the amount of sympathy(edit: I meant "empathy", not "sympathy") for a black victim than a white one?

 

[BoomStronk]

It may have worked during comically racist times in American history like before the 1930s, but it was such a dumb line to be used in the modern day.

Disagree.

"Comically racist" people would have just batted away that invitation to imagine the girl was white. They'd say something like, "well she isnt white." Or they may even say something like, "well if she was white it would have been a worse crime. But she wasnt."

Overtly racist people would have no reason to bite on the comment. The line only works on people who claim or aspire to be non-racist. It fits perfectly in the historical context of the south.

 

[Yehudim]

Disagree.

"Comically racist" people would have just batted away that invitation to imagine the girl was white. They'd say something like, "well she isnt white." Or they may even say something like, "well if she was white it would have been a worse crime. But she wasnt."

Overtly racist people would have no reason to bite on the comment. The line only works on people who claim or aspire to be non-racist. It fits perfectly in the historical context of the south.

I think you’re out of touch with people outside of major cities on the east and west coast, if you ever thought that 1996 middle America or southern America was ever so racist that they would be indifferent to the rape of a pre-teen because she was black.

There’s really nothing else to debate, because there’s no way we can convince each other we’re right, I just felt the need to put that out there.