MovieChat Forums > Charade (1963) Discussion > 250k part 2 (Spoiler Alert)

250k part 2 (Spoiler Alert)

posted 13 years ago by epdi
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Can someone clear this up for me....The $250k in question throughout the movie is from the WWII gold buried by Charles and the others. That was in the 1940s and was presumably hidden until Charles unearthed it circa 1963. Or did he retrieve it many years earlier and use that money to start a life with Reggie? Reggie is obviously well off at the beginning of the movie and returns home to find all their worldly possessions gone as Charles had sold everything at an auction - for $250k. If the stolen money from the war was not retrieved until shortly before Charles' murder, then wouldn't he have had $500k as a total net worth ($250 from the buried gold and an additional $250 from the sale of his possessions)? Not sure the movie explains it clearly (and if it does, I am missing it).

[–] murph24 13 years ago

BARTHOLOMEW: Carson was dying so they were forced to leave him. They finally got back to the base, made their report, and waited for the war to end. Only Charles couldn't wait quite as long as the others. He beat them back to the gold, took everything for himself and disappeared. It's taken Gideon, Tex and Scobie all this time to catch up with him again.

Based on what Walter Matthau's character says, it appears that Charles made it back to the gold before the war even ended, dug it up for himself, and managed to stay a step ahead of Tex, Scobie and Gideon for years; he used the money to finance a posh lifestyle for himself and Reggie. Charles undoubtedly dabbled in other less-than-legal activities to maintain his smart address (note his many passports and Reggie's claim that life with him was "secrecy and lies"), but when the contents of the apartment went on public auction, he walked away with $250,000 - the exact value of the gold he stole before the war ended.

[–] rrb 13 years ago

You're missing Bartholomew's telling Reggie at the cafe in Les Halles that Charles dug up the $250k in gold back in the 40s.