MovieChat Forums > The Hit (1985) Discussion > Why did he get upset when they didn't go...

Why did he get upset when they didn't go to Paris

posted 20 years ago by dammitgirl
43 replies | jump to latest

Possible spoilers in here, be warned...

I haven't seen this film in a few years, but after seeing it several times I have one nagging question about it. Originally, they are heading towards Paris, and Terence Stamp is very calm and relaxed in the car, playing head games with Tim Roth and John Hurt. But then when Hurt decides not to wait to kill Stamp but kill him near where they are, Stamp gets all upset and agitated. Was he thinking that he was to be rescued along the way or something else would happen when they got to Paris? Does anyone have an insight to this? I know I need to see it again but any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!!

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] olstan 13 years ago

there were clearly religious implications. stamp was dressed all in white - remember when he stood on the hill in front of the waterfall and hurt looked up to him? later, on the other hill it was like jesus on the mount of olives. stamp is wearing a blanket. jesus was prepared for death but when dawn broke he panicked. jesus was afraid of "tomorrow" too.

[–] horrorshowmovie 13 years ago

When I saw the movie a few years ago, my first thought was that he had spent 10 years (or whatever it was) preparing for his death. He was at peace with it, as long as it worked out exactly as he imagined. What made him panic at the end was the sudden change of plans.

I think the important message is that you can't beat that fear of death, even by being prepared. In the end, he's just a mammal and he's programmed to fight against his death.

The whole thing is similar to the ending in Breathless. The guy is calm at first, and rationalizes his fate. But he eventually panics (when presented with reality) and is killed.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] trdemings 13 years ago

This is discussed in the Commentary feature of the film. The director wanted to put two real life elements into the film. One being the scene where the guys in the gallery start singing "We'll Meet Again" and then the other was Stamp getting upset about his revised execution date. The Commentary said this was based on a Civil War incident where the man to be executed was very calm and cool but when his execution time was moved up a couple of hours it unnerved him and he lost his cool. So, it wasn't so much that he wanted to go to Paris, but that his day of execution changed.

[–] LTUM 13 years ago

the whole thing just ground to a halt very quick, and it was over

unsatisfying

"Cos... f__k's sake, who'd wanna keep trying to shoot a nice guy like me?" ---XXXX

[–] Brennan-8 13 years ago

Basically, what TRDemings said [poster above] - a Confederate soldier is supposedly brave and unafraid of death, until the date of execution is moved up.

The Commentary to this film was very interesting. It was amusing to learn that Tim Roth was so green - he had never been in an airplane before, never been out of England, never driven a car, etc. Cute.

Terence Stamp is certainly a magnetic fellow. Loved the DVD extra of his interview with Michael Parkinson. He's a remarkably honest guy too it seems. parky asked him about this mystique he has because he "disappeared" for 10 years, walked away from a very successful film career. Stamp said it was actually because his career cooled off, hit a lull much to his surprise and upset, and that he hadn't intended to be unemployed for 10 years, it wasn't intentional!

[–] LTUM 13 years ago

i liked that interview too

stamp is one of the coolest dudes ever.

(even when washing his ____ in the sink, eh keith? lol)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dKNeLqNas

[–] Bree_33 12 years ago

Philosophy vs. Reality.
http://dharveyphilosophy.blogspot.com/2012/12/theory-vs-reality.html

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~nec spe,nec metu :*•.. ¤°.¸¸.•´¯`»

[–] cubic2002 11 years ago

I personally think it's because he hadn't completed the full journey (to Paris) and that would have been his acceptance..OR he had a plan to escape, remember early on he did tr drive a wedge between the two assassins.

Just watched tonight after so many years!

[–] Gobobo 10 years ago

Of course he wanted to go all the way with young Myron. Gay Paris is a place in which we can forget ourselves, reinvent, expunge the dead weight of our past. Even the pigeons are dancing, kissing, going in circles, mounting each other. Paris is the city of love, and Willie certainly was light on his feet!

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We all go a little mad sometimes.

[–] wam251256 10 years ago

Because it was a poorly written naive script that was badly directed. A simply plot device to show humans are fallible, Willie was full of introspective wisdom but when it finally came to his mortality self preservation kicks in and is reduced to a base human. As they say: " There are no atheists in a foxhole".

[–] kevinosborne_99 10 years ago

We each live within a reality of our own making. Willie had become used to the reality of Spain, a warm, timeless existence with little responsibility. Then reentered his old reality, with a completely different set of requirements. When he realized by the nature of his captor that he was unquestionably going to die, Willie was able to fit that fact into a workable reality so long as he knew the parameters. There would be a predictable story and it would end predictably. When that predictability vanished he could not continue to create his own death and disagreed with that decision and ran from it just as he had run from England 10 years before.
The assassin lived a different existence, one in which change and adaptation ruled. He could easily do what occurred to him at the moment, kill Myron, spare the girl's life. That freedom to act had worked out for him in the past. When it didn't work out for him he adapted to it not working and accepted the inevitable.