MovieChat Forums > The Mechanic (1972) Discussion > Arthur Bishop details

Arthur Bishop details

posted 18 years ago by hamptongirl
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In chapter 13{"Marked"}of the Mechanic DVD there are some very intersting details about Arthur Bishop that are presented. They come up when he finds the file about him in the desk at the McKenna house while trying to find Steve McKenna. They detail his family background, medical history and other personal information. Use your DVD players pause and zoom features to see this material. Altough there is nothing here that changes anything to do with the story line, it does to some degree fill in the blanks a bit about Arthur Bishop. Would be interested to hear anyone`s take on the information presented here or on any of the other subtle details of "The Mechanic".

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jetliner-theduke 18 years ago

I looked at the scene from "The Mechanic" that you posted about and found it very interesting. For a film that is largely about Arthur Bishop, we aren't revealed much about his backstory other than that his father was "in" and was a "very important part" of the organization that Arthur Bishop works for. I did notice on the police department injury report from when Bishop passes out at the aquarium that under "victim's occupation" it states that he is an "investment counselor". I suppose this is his cover to appear "legit". Interestingly, as a parallel to the film, the novel of "The Mechanic" has a brief part where Bishop is working on some stock market calculations.
One other thing I noticed as I paused the DVD on the scene where Bishop begins his work-up on Harry McKenna is that the floor plan to the McKenna house in Bishop's dossier doesn't match the house that is used as the filming location for the scene where Bishop is summoned for a meeting by Harry McKenna in a previous sequence.
I guess one of the things that makes this film so cool is that some of it's details are only implied and therefore our conclusions about these implications must come from our imagination.