The time line

Something that always bugged me was the fact that the time doesn't seem to add up, and since you know that someone has been manually moving the clock in the background, you wonder why they couldn't have done a better job of it.

I will admit that I don't know what the Port Authority bus schedules for Asbury Park were in 1967, and we don't know what day it is (I always thought it was a Friday, because Shatner is leaving for the weekend, and Gloria's mother has left for the weekend, though), but I doubt the length of the bus ride has changed much. It's about 1:40 now, and it probably was then, too. Buses leave every hour or so between NYC and Asbury Park during the day. Maybe at night they leave less often-- in fact, you might not be able to get a direct one.

But that's the thing. Sam's bus leaves at five. He gets a cab to Port Authority at 4:30. He'll get to Asbury Park at about 6:40. At that point, someone will meet him with a note saying that his wife has had a slight accident, and is in Bellvue hospital. He would get back on the next bus, which would probably leave around 8pm. Unless there wasn't a direct one, but nonetheless, he'd be back on a bus soon.

6:45 is when Roat is playing "Roat,jr." in the Hendrix's apartment.

By the time Gloria is sent to Port Authority to meet Sam, it is 9:20. She may not get a cab right away, and the trip to Port Authority is about 20 minutes, unless there's traffic, which in the theater district (Port Authority in on 42nd St.) on a Friday, there will be. Gloria doesn't know where the buses arrive from Asbury Park, and has to ask. By the time she finds them, Sam will be there, and on his way to Bellvue. I suppose coincidentally, they could bump into each other, but it's a huge coincidence, because this is a huge place.

Now, maybe Sam didn't get a direct bus, but then Gloria will be in the wrong place, waiting for buses from Asbury Park.

The last time we see the clock clearly is 10:40pm, when Roat has the doll. Sam has not at that point gotten back from Asbury Park, gone to Bellvue, found out Susy was never there, and gone home. Also, Sam never called Bellvue from the bus station in Asbury Park-- yes, it's long distance, but operators would let you charge a payphone call to your home phone without much fuss, or you could just put a lot of coins in the phone. A five minute call might be 75 cents. That was a dumb chance for Roat to take. He would have been better off sending Sam on a snipe hunt for a non-existent business.

Anyway, the idea that Sam and Gloria somehow managed to meet up at Port Authority, and convince a couple of police officers to come in squad cars (maybe because no one was answering the phone), was awfully contrived. When it all happens off-stage, you don't think about it, but seeing Sam and Gloria getting out of the same squad car is too much for me.