MovieChat Forums > 'Breaker' Morant (1980) Discussion > How Did That Help?

How Did That Help?

posted 19 years ago by tcrizzo-1
9 replies | jump to latest

I don't get Handcock's remark about a sliced/cut loaf. How did that help him in court?

[–] Nikon11 19 years ago

Yeah, I don't know.

Somehow that was supposed to rationalise tearing one off with a married woman.

It seemed to work for him, though.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Nikon11 19 years ago

So, it's less immoral to sleep with a married woman, because she's already been broken in - as opposed to an unmarried woman who's still a virgin? I think that's what you're saying. Yeah, I guess that's kind of what they're getting at.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Nikon11 19 years ago

Yeah, I think we both got it.

It's a strange concept. But, as I wrote earlier, it did seem to help his cause in court.

[–] cocreate 19 years ago

I'm not sure that the remark helped. The judge type guy rolled his eyes when reminded by their lawyer that his morality was not on trial and said something like, "Too bad it isn't." What helped was that the statements from the women provided Hancock with an alibi.

[–] The_Breaker 19 years ago

What he's saying is that he can sleep with Mrs Shiels and Mrs Bristow whilst their husbands are away and they won't know anything about it.

... The husbands that is, not the women.

Just a line to paint him as the typical Aussie larakin type.

Had nothing to do with the court case, it was a throw-away line.

Only relevance was that he'd just said he'd been seeing the women when he was being accused of shooting Heese. As it happens he pretty much had time to do both and the depositions from the women were most likely gained from them by Captain Taylor under duress anyway.

B

[–] rwsmith29456 15 years ago

Yeah, he was referring to doing a married woman as being an easy thing to get away with. And it didn't help him in court but they said his personal morals weren't the issue there.

[–] bluestocking-7 15 years ago

Lt. Col. Denny : I must say I find this sort of behavior… from a soldier in the British army… morally disgraceful. These were married women.
Lt. Peter Handcock : They say a slice off a cut loaf is never missed.

When I first heard that line and this movie is the only time I've heard of it, I cringed because the line by itself is pretty sexist.

But the remark suited the Handcock character so in the context of the movie, it was a very good line which sold him as a character who would tryst with two married women in the same day.

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