Anyone else feel these guys died stupid deaths...?
I mean the traps, and head shots were one thing.
But Sgt. Caspers bayonet charge into 4 barrels pointing at him...the guy leaning on the tree saying he dosent belong here...
anyone else feel me on this?
I agree. Casper and Mister I-am-not-supposed-to-be-here died pretty stupid deaths. I didn't care for the way Hill handled this, because Casper didn't seem to be in a state of panic. Inexplicably, he thought it'd be a good idea to buffalo his way toward 3 or 4 guys with shotguns, with just a lousy bayonet in hand. It doesn't make any sense.
shareglad im not the only one that felt that way.
great movie/story but i feel the acting could have been a tad better.
True, Casper and Simms were the two most three dimensional characters in the film until then. They weren't heroes, but they were perfectly believable and identifiable.
Casper was much like many leaders. He lived by the rules, and was a career military man. He probably was a good neighbor, and very likable. His militant attitude, quite believable, really led to their troubles. Anyone else would've left a few men with the body, and then tried to double back. Anyone else would've left the armed men behind and walked up unarmed to the trapper to ask for help.
We never know if he thinks the trapper is one of the guys who shot at them. It isn't surprising that Spencer was the only one who noted that there were hundreds or thousands of Cajuns living there, and the odds of this being one of the same guys was made even higher by the fact that he was alone and seeming to be minding his own business.
Simms lost it the one time, when he punched the trapper, but otherwise he was pretty cool headed. When he did lose it, we could believe it.
All in all, I could well believe I've actually worked with guys like Casper and Simms.
Which made their deaths very contrived, particularly Casper. It would've been more believable if he was just killed by a sniper. I guess they wanted to make it more dramatic.
Simms was pretty believable. Remember, they're in a swamp, going in circles, not knowing the way, with nothing to guide them. Simms doesn't even know which direction to run in.
I didn't buy the way Hardin killed Reese. I would've just shot him and claimed it was an accident. But I'm strictly goal oriented.
Overall, I was very impressed with the writing of th characters. Even the bizarre ones were believable. No one was at fault completely. One shot the blanks, one tipped over the canoes and blew up the hut, one belted the trapper for no reason, one tried to drown the Cajun, they all took the canoes.
It was a sum total of everyone's faults that led to the conflict, and that's what I find amazing about the film.
Hey I got a question. How are you planning to get back down that hill?