Sam was married to a woman whose name we don't know. They had Nick and Corey.
She died (assumption, but she's clearly out of the picture.)
You need not assume. It was clarified, but you have to listen very carefully. Towards the beginning there is a scene where Nick and his dad are arguing somewhere in the house, while Cory is in his room throwing darts at a big map. If you listen closely you can here the answer.
Sam: "What bothers me is that you have no respect for me, and no appreciation for living in this house!!"
Nick: "What do you care what I do anyway? Jimmy's in a home and you don't care. If Mom were still alive she'd be sick!"
Sam: (Interrupting): "Don't you tell me what I care about!!"
Not sure if that's verbatim, but it's pretty close. So yes, Sam's first wife died after Corey and Nick were born. Jimmy is only 3 or 4 years younger than Corey, so we can assume that she probably died when Corey was at the very most 3 years old. I doubt he even remembers her. Nick certainly would though, being some 4 or 5 years older than Corey I figure.
Sam married Christine and they had twins (Jimmy and Jennifer). Jennifer died, and then Sam and Christine divorced. Sam took custody of Nick and Corey (his sons with his first wife, who died). Christine took custody of her and Sam's kid Jimmy (Corey and Nick's half brother). Then she married Bateman, who is a complete douche.
I didn't notice this important bit of back story until I'd seen the movie many times.
Corey is only 6 years older than Jimmy
Putnam says to the pinball kid that 'one is 9, one is 13'. Corey is 3 or perhaps 4 years older than Jimmy.
Astonishes me that this film still inspires such conversation so many years later. A flawed movie to be certain, but a VERY memorable one to us NES kids that grew up with it. I'll always be a fan.
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Ditto-head
11 years ago
Putnam says to the pinball kid that 'one is 9, one is 13'. Corey is 3 or perhaps 4 years older than Jimmy.
Thanks for the clarification on all the points. For some reason I thought Jimmy was seven. I also hadn't made out the dialogue so clearly in the shouting match between Nick and Sam.
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herbsuperb
11 years ago
No problem. I think the actor that played Jimmy was 8 during filming, and looked much more like 7 than 9. I kind of wish they'd shown that scene between Nick and Sam. Sounds like Beau Bridges got pretty intense during that scene. But I guess the idea was to show it from Corey's point of view. Something that most kids can, sadly, relate to.
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GrtOne41
10 years ago
Agreed on that scene as while if you listened very carefully you could make out what they were saying, on the surface it just sounded like a lot of random yelling which is I'm sure what adults fighting like that sounds like to kids.
For the family ties, I think it's pretty easy. As mentioned, here is the order of it:
1) - Sam married an unnamed woman
2) - They have two children together - Nick and Corey. Sam is their father and she is their mother
3) - Unnamed woman dies
4) - Sam remarries to Christine - Christine is now Nick and Corey's stepmother
5) - Sam and Christine have two twin children together - Jimmy and Jennifer. Sam is their father, Christine is their mother and Nick and Corey are their half brothers
Corey and Nick are brothers
Corey & Nick and Jimmy are half brothers
Corey & Nick and Jennifer were half brothers
Sam is the father of all four of them
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king_of_bob
9 years ago
A flawed movie to be certain, but a VERY memorable one to us NES kids that grew up with it
To me, I feel like the flaws with the movie are all related to the Nintendo aspects. The family story is actually really solid. This could have been a great movie if it weren't so interested in pushing Nintendo products.
The new home of Welcome to Planet Bob:
http://kingofbob.blogspot.ca/
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psychozealot
8 years ago
you've cleared it for all others, thanks, but a single sitting was enough to understand what you have explained, as long as you were paying attention because they present the data in disorder, which is realistic.
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