I was wondering if anyone knows any information about the road runner head tattoo that H.I. and Smalls had. I know I saw that exact same image in ads from when I was a kid (60's and 70's) and remember it was called "Speedy". However when I to Google it I cannot find it. Does anyone else remember that image as a logo in the past?
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But what is the significance of this tat and why does the biker have it too? What does it all mean when H.I. finds out about it?
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I own you.
It's a visual joke. They both by coincidence have the same tattoo.
"Perhaps he's wondering why someone would SHOOT a man before throwing him out of a plane..."
It's not a coincidence, HI and Smalls are brothers, Smalls was given up by his parents on the black market.
shareI thought Smalls was HI's father. Didn't he say he sold a baby on the black market in 1954? That would make that baby about 33 at the time of the film -- much likelier HI than Smalls, age-wise.
Edited to add:
I just checked and Smalls says he himself fetched $30k in 1954. It seems unlikely for him to know that, even if true; but more importantly, he looks easily 50 to me (the actor was 47). HI is the one who seemed more 30-ish to me, especially given those multiple stints in an adult prison.
Also, I thought the bronzed baby shoes the biker carried were a trophy or remembrance from the sale of his son. But who knows, maybe they are brothers. Obviously, Smalls is symbolic, but I'm not sure he's entirely so, since Nathan Sr. and Edwina both interact with him in a relatively realistic way...
At any rate, nicely ironic Steinbeck reference -- this Lenny Smalls kills rabbits because he means to.
I don't come from hell. I came from the forest.