MovieChat Forums > Nevada Smith (1966) Discussion > why didnt he become a guard instead ?

why didnt he become a guard instead ?

posted 14 years ago by nolatecharges
7 replies | jump to latest

just saw the last 3/4 of the movie ... from when he got to prison...so why didnt he just become a prison guard there and then kill the guy, instead of getting himself thrown in prison. then he had to escape (very dificult ) but if he was a guard he could have just shot him anytime he wanted and then just said "hey he took a swing at me or he was trying to escape" then after ya shoot him , just quit the job and go after the other guy ?

other than that it was a pretty good western

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Howlin Wolf 12 years ago

He was supposed to be 16, and he was an outsider... The other guards might have been just as suspicious of him as they were when he was a prisoner.

"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 8 years ago

He was 16 in the beginning but not by the time he gets to prison.

[–] movies789 11 years ago

Yes, that does seem more logical than risking death in the robbery, in the prison, and in the escape - not to mention the possibility that escape attempts might have proved impossible or unsuccessful, and he just might have been stuck in prison indefinitely.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] p25735-261-505738 9 years ago

Or why didn't he just find a way to get into the prison. Who breaks INTO a prison after all. Besides, there weren't walls. He just needed to find out where it was at and get a boat.

[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

I thought that it was obvious that the logical way to get at a prisoner is to become a guard at the prison.

Possibly he asked for job and heard there were no vacancies, and thought about maybe making a vacancy by harming one of the guards. And maybe he thought that he didn't want to risk hurting a guard unless he was certain the guard was a sadistic bully.

Maybe he wanted to apply for a guard job but thought that it would be dishonest to become a guard just to help a prisoner escape, possibly having to shoot one of the other guards, and then murder the prisoner. Possibly he found out that guards had to swear to carry out their duties faithfully & obey the laws and thought that murdering a prisoner would violate the oath.

To me it seems really stupid to plan to get into a prison as convict instead of as a guard, unless he thought of becoming a guard but decided he couldn't do it ethically.

So it seems that Nevada was either stupid or hampered by his ethical code.